more info. on wine labels!

I was wondering if, like me, some of you would like to see more info. about a wine you might like to buy. Other than Wine Enthusiast, no one gives alcohol content, and that includes Wine Spec.,TWA, Wine & Spirits and Decanter. Residual sugar and total acidity when available would be far too much to ask! Instead we get price (always valuable) and cases produced, (not so valuable) especially since they had to go out of their way to usually get that info. but abv is right there on the label. I also prefer knowing EXACTLY the abv content and not just some generic 14.5% as so many list. A Chardonnay of 13% abv may be a totally different animal than one with 14.5% abv. I always respected Ch. St. Jean for giving LOTS of harvest and finished wine data on their late-harvest wines. This info. taught me a lot about how much R.S. vs total acidity I prefer. Champagne is another issue. Lots of producers offer a code on their bottles that can(if you go to the trouble) reveal disgorgement dates and vintages included in NV wines. Just give me the info. and let me sort out which of it I consider valuable! O.K.....I feel a lot better now.

Absolutely!!

For me the single most annoying piece of missing information is on dryness/sweetness, mainly in white wines, especially Riesling. A rant is about to spill over, so I will confine myself to saying that it should be mandatory to give this information. A few Alsatian producers do so (I like the pendulum) but in no standardised manner. Above all there should be no hiding behind uselessly vague descriptors like "off-dry".

Another thing I'd love to know about is the degree of oakiness but I don't see how that could codified for back labels. Reviewers should, however, not fail to mention it. The problem there is that so many influential reviewers tolerate/love a high degree of oakiness and their comments are unreliable for many other palates.

Thread title highlights wine labels but body is mostly about magazine reviews, and it's hard to see why wine magazines don't give abv as that is shown on the wine label, but general publications, such as newspapers I can understand why they keep the clutter light - they point the way and it's up to the piqued punter to check, which is eay with the bottle in hand or on a online retailer website (at least a UK online retailer website.)

As to accuracy of abv as shown on a wine label......

Often printed before wine is finished and in the US and some other places having to get prior label approval from regulatory authorities means finished wine could be not exactly the same abv as during production, e.g. abv is lost during maturation

Winereis are allowed a leeway on difference between actual and label abv. And, it's a crazy EU law that actual abv is not allowed on label unless it is a whole or whole.5 value.

An interesting quetion is how often the regulatory authorities check actual abv against label....

Indication of dryness vs sweetness of a wine is difficult as that is a drinkers perception -- the Riesling scale is excellent as an indication but many very dry Rieslings have a surprsingly high amount of RS as the variety is very acidic.

[David M. Bueker]

I think it is a really slippery slope. I also do not think consumers, even some wine geeks, understand the difference between analytical data and wine taste. I could see many a fine red or white with 1 g/l of residual sugar being passed by because it is "sweet" when that level is completely untastable and combined with the acidity of the wine renders it a completely "dry" drink.

[David M. Bueker]

Thoughts on this label?

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I took a bottle of Alsatian Gewurztraminer to a New Years Eve dinner last night , Barmes Buecher 2011 Rosenberg, knowing it was sweet. It was well liked as a sipping wine. I did not know it was sweet, although stated on the back label, when I bought it on a flash sale internet site. That was info. from the seller that could have been very helpful.

Thoughts on this label?

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The Ridge labels are my favourite, I named them as such in my Marilyn Merlot book and it remains true.

Classic good looking clean design that doesn't noticeably change, and lots of info. Great wines, superb labels.

[David M. Bueker]

I posted that one because I have a couple of friends who will no longer drink Ridge because the disclosure of egg whites used for fining grossed them out. I have not told them that it's a very common practice. Better to not spoil all wine for them.

[Robin Garr]

... the disclosure of egg whites used for fining grossed them out. I have not told them that it's a very common practice. Better to not spoil all wine for them.

Or that the finings and the sediment they carry have precipitated out and been racked away from the finished wine? Or that they should be glad Ridge doesn't use fish bladder or ox blood?

More curiously, we're all looking at the Geyserville label, but the forum software is telling me that it hasn't been downloaded yet. Maybe "views" don't count as "downloads"?

[David M. Bueker]

I think that is the case.

If they are grossed out by the concept of egg white fining, I wonder what they'd make of the photograph of old-style winemaking in one of Broadbent's books. It shows a couple of naked winemakers standing waist-deep in a big fermentation vat, pushing down the cap with their hands.

-Paul W.

How about an 1865 list of components in wine
Alcohol
An odorous principle (volatile oil?)
Blue coloring matter of the husk (in red wine)
Tannin
Bitter extractive
Sugar (especially in sweet wines)
Gum
Yeast
Acetic acid (from commencement of the acetous fermentation)
Malic acid
Tartaric acid
Bitartrate of potass
Bitartrate of lime
Sulphates
Chlorides
Phosphate of lime
Carbonic acid (especially in the effervescing wines)
Water

At least this list and the cap management technique described by Paul was consistent for their time

Salute