04/18/07 The Back Label

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Although it isn't mandatory that a winery have a back label on their wine bottle most of them will. It's how they use it that I find interesting. It is a huge opportunity for the winery to tell us more about their wine. On today's program we will talk about the back label on a bottle of wine. Always read the back label if there is one, since it may contain a description of the wine and give you an idea of the style that it was made in or anything that is unique about it's origin. If it is a blended wine hopefully it will tell you what combination of grapes were employed to create the blend. If the label is big enough, or the print is small enough, there may even be some recommendations as to foods that pair well with the wine. The back label is also where some of the information that is required by law may be found, such as the alcohol content by volume. I have also seen back labels with maps showing the region where the wines are from. In the case of wines from other regions of the world; very often importers will customize back labels for the specific market that the wine is being sold to. A front label that is in Italian but exported to the United States may have information on the back that is in English for the U.S. market. So in most cases the back label is where you go in hopes the winery put some effort into helping us to understand and appreciate their wine. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on todays Vine to Wine.