How To Truly Learn the Phrases on A French Wine Label

France produces among the world’s most famed wines, crafted in a variety of types. The nation has eleven main wine areas starting from the Languedoc within the south to Champagne within the north, and legal guidelines governing wine manufacturing, honed over centuries, can differ from area to area. The result’s that French wine labels, that are ostensibly meant to speak to shoppers what’s contained in the bottle, have turn out to be a jumble of typically complicated phrases.

The broadest French wine legal guidelines apply to bottles labeled Vin de France (VDF), a class of desk wines that may be constructed from grapes of any selection, harvested anyplace within the nation. However past this base degree, label necessities and phrases can range not simply inside areas, however inside smaller appellations, and legislate all the pieces from the form of the bottle to what sort of grapes are permitted. 

One of the simplest ways to purchase wine with confidence is to know wine vocabulary. Let’s deconstruct a French wine label to determine what it means.

1. Who’s the producer?

A wine’s producer is commonly listed alongside a graphic or a crest on the high of the entrance label. In Bordeaux, the producer is seen sometimes alongside a drawing of the chateaux. 

The producer of the bottle above is Edouard Delaunay which is listed under their crest. A producer generally is a single individual or a bigger model with a number of winemakers, or perhaps a model that purchases wine after which bottles it underneath their very own identify. 

Mis en bouteille à L’Étang-Vergy per Edouard Delaunay is listed in small print on this wine’s again label. This identifies that Delaunay made and bottled the wine, versus simply shopping for from one other producer and placing their identify on it. It was bottled in Nuits-Saint-Georges, a commune within the Côtes de Nuits. 

2. What winery is that this wine from? 

Fine quality French wines are sometimes constructed from grapes of a single winery, or a number of particular person winery parcels. On the entrance label of this wine it says Les Rouards, the identify of the one winery or sélection parcellaire the place the grapes for this wine have been grown. The again label additional explains that this winery is planted at 375 meters of elevation.

Think about the producer and the winery just like the make and mannequin of a automotive. Within the case above, the producer Edouard Delaunay is just like the automotive’s make (let’s say Jeep), whereas Les Rouards, the winery whose grapes have been used to create the precise wine, could be the mannequin (let’s name it a Wrangler). Wines constructed from particular person vineyards by Edouard Delaunay all have related fashion, in the identical method all Jeeps share sure comparable qualities and share an innate Jeep-ness, however every parcel expresses its character in a singular method, a lot the identical as a Wrangler is vastly completely different than a Cherokee. 

This hyper-specific labeling is typically known as the “lieu-dit,” that means “location-said.” Wine in Burgundy is extremely terroir-dependent, that means the precise plots of land the place the grapes are grown can considerably influence the flavour. The area cares so deeply about these variations that the standard ranking system is predicated on the land, not the producer. 

Burgundy wine is usually organized into 4 ranges, discovered on labels of wines from the area, generally known as the standard pyramid. The bottom consists of regional wines typically labeled with a subregion or the generic Bourgogne, adopted by village appellations on the subsequent degree up, then premier cru, and eventually topping out at grand cru. Every of those classifications consult with variations in the place the winery is situated on a hill or slope, what path the winery faces (south and southeast are thought of greatest), and the way the soil consists. 

On the again label, Edouard Delaunay supplies extra element, telling us that the grapes have been grown on an east-facing slope composed of historical soils. This bodes effectively for the Les Rouards bottling — the grapes had ample daylight gentle, and as a result of slope, simply sufficient water for the vines to spend vitality producing and ripening fewer berries, yielding greater high quality fruit. 

3. Determine the wine area

In France, wines are labeled in accordance with the place they have been made, not grape selection, and shoppers are anticipated to already be acquainted with the grapes grown there. 

Burgundy grows primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and within the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits these are the one two varieties allowed. Since this bottle is a crimson wine, it’s a on condition that it’s made with 100% Pinot Noir. Producer Edouard Delaunay does us a favor by noting the wine’s selection on the again label, however this isn’t frequent observe. Since France has eleven main wine areas, remembering what grapes a specific area grows takes a while to study.