Wine Tasting 101 - How to Read a Wine Label: The 4 – V’s

When you pick up a bottle of wine at your favorite retail establishment, how do you make sense of what you see on the wine label? In my monthly Wine Tasting 101 class, my students learn the 4- V’s of a wine label. They are: 1)VINTNER, 2) VARIETAL, 3) VINTAGE, and 4)VINEYARD LOCATION. If you are looking at a traditional wine label, chances are you will see this basic but informative information on the front label.

The first V, the VINTNER or Winery, is the most important and can tell you a lot about what to expect when you open up that bottle of wine. Is it a trusted winery with a proven track record, such as Robert Mondavi, or some obscure winery that you have never heard of that has an eye catching cartoon label? A winery works hard to build a reputation
and the name of the winery/vintner is probably your best information in regards to buying a great or just mediocre wine. Rest assured established wineries will not release a bad bottle of wine under their label and put their reputation at risk. If the wine doesn’t meet their quality standards, chances are it will be sold to someone else.

The second V, VARIETAL tells you what actual variety of grape was used in the production of the wine. If the wine says Cabernet Sauvignon on the label then you can be certain at least 75% of the grapes used to make this wine were indeed Cabernet Sauvignon as opposed to some blend of multiple red wine grapes. If you are familiar with a Cab’s characteristics, you will also know what to expect in regards to its flavor components etc.

The third V, VINTAGE is probably the least important fact on the label of a California wine. The vintage year, if listed on the wine label, tells you that 95% of the varietal wine grapes used to make this wine were grown in that vintage year. The reason that I say that the vintage year is not that important here is that, for the most part, every vintage year in California is a good year, with great weather producing commercially acceptable wine in our golden state.

This is not the case in other wine producing countries such as France, or Germany where unpredictable weather can equate to a disastrous growing season thus producing an occasional bad wine.

 

Wine Tasting 101 - How to Read a Wine Label:The 4 – V’s
If this happens to be the case, a wine collector would know that this specific year, with the bad weather, was a bad vintage and avoid it like the plague.

The fourth V, VINEYARD LOCATION, for example Napa, Lodi, Sonoma, I feel is the second most important fact on the label right after the Vintner. The vineyard location tells the consumer where the varietal wine grapes were actually grown. The vineyard location also tells the consumer what style the wine will be. If it is a Cabernet Sauvignon grown in a warmer growing region such as Lodi, you can expect a fruit forward, jammy, and high alcohol Cab. If it is a Cabernet Sauvignon grown in a cooler climate such as Sonoma, you can generally expect a less fruit forward and lower alcohol wine due to a longer and cooler growing season.

Remembering the 4- V’s can help you be a better informed wine consumer.

Healthy Tasting! —Brian