How to read a wine label

When you’re shopping for a bottle of wine in-store or online, a quick glance at the label will reveal key information about its origin, as well as the vintage, grape variety and more.

We asked wine expert Kathryn McWhirter to demystify common wine-label jargon, so you know what to look out for when choosing your next bottle. 

Find out about wines that aren't vegan-friendly, hidden allergens – and what regional and award stickers and designations such as grand cru really mean.

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Vegan labelling: why is some wine not vegan?

It may surprise you to know that many wines aren't vegan, because of products used during processing.

Wines appear cloudy following fermentation because the proteins in them clump together. These are natural ingredients and not harmful, but brands prefer to sell a clear, pure wine. 

Fining agents are used to help the proteins clump together and sink to the bottom of the wine, making the sediment easier to remove.

Some commonly used fining agents contain animal products, which is why certain wines are a no-go for vegans. Albumen (derived from egg whites) is sometimes used in red wine, while milk protein (derived from dairy cows) is used in white wine. Other animal-derived fining agents include bone marrow and fish oil. Most of it is removed but traces can be left in the bottle you buy. 

Vegan fining agents do exist, though, and the trend for using alternatives to animal products in the winemaking process is growing. Wines that are made using them will be marked as vegan in the supermarket.

See our independent expert wine taste tests to discover the best wines for vegans.

Allergens

You might not be expecting to find sulphites, milk or egg products in your wine, but plenty do contain these ingredients.

Sulphites are used as a preservative in almost all wines and in most places they must appear on the label: this is the case in the EU if the wine contains more than 10mg of sulphites per litre. Most wines contain more than that, with reds and high-acidity dry whites likely to contain the least. 

Wine producers using egg whites or milk protein for fining (the process of clarifying wine during production) have to include them on the label of bottles sold in the EU if residues exceed 0.25mg per litre. 

Otherwise, alcoholic drinks with more than 1.2% alcohol don’t need to list ingredients, such as fish products (also used for fining). So if you specifically want a vegan wine, look for a label declaring it as such.

Wine award labels

It's probably safe to assume a silver, gold, platinum or trophy-winning wine is going to good quality, but there are so many wine competitions in so many countries, each with their own rules, that it's hard to know what they all mean. 

Some are judged by panels of winemakers, some by sommeliers, some by wine trade folk, and some by punters. Even professional tasters sometimes disagree. Some competitions will take an average, while others allow discussion and consensus.

As a general rule, those run by professionals at national level give more reliable results than the ones in smaller, local competitions. 

In Which? taste tests, we gather a panel of leading wine experts to sample wines blind, so they don't know which wines they're trying, and each is tested in a random order. We also focus on widely available supermarket wines.

Classico 

Where you see this depends on how much weight you should give to it.

The official Italian classification (as in chianti classico, soave classico) denotes the historic parts of wine-growing regions, which are usually better and where winemakers must generally respect stricter rules.

This is not to be confused with the Spanish clásico, which is unofficial and often part of a brand name.

Cru/grand cru/premier cru

'Cru' literally means growth in French, and it's used to refer to the country's top vineyards and the wine that's made there. 

Several regions use the term and its significance varies. Some crus were classified in the 19^th century and have barely changed since, while others are checked regularly, so it can be quite a confusing indication of quality.

The Beaujolais region has 10 crus, with villages such as Fleurie, Morgon and Saint-Amour named on the label. They reliably make better quality wines than the basic beaujolais.

The best whites and reds from the Burgundy region are ranked grand cru, such as chablis, with premier cru one step down. Top Alsace vineyards are grand cru.

Designations in Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux go from premier grand cru classé at the top, to premier grand cru, then grand cru.

Meanwhile, across the Gironde river from Saint-Emilion, wines rated in 1855 as the most prestigious in the Médoc region of Bordeaux go from the best at premier cru down to cinquième cru (first to fifth growth), with cru bourgeois modestly bringing up the rear. 

These Médoc crus apply to château ‘brands’ rather than defined vineyards. There’s nothing to stop third growth château X buying the neighbour’s vineyards and, so long as they’re in the same village, calling the combined wine third growth château X. 

Classifications

In 2011, the EU decided to streamline the classifications of wine from member countries. So DOC (denominação de origem controlada in Portugal, for example, or denominazione di origine controllata in Italy) has been replaced and now labelled – depending on the language – PDO (protected designation of origin, in the UK, for example) or DOP (denominazione di origine protetta in Italy, for example). Meanwhile, lesser quality wines are now PGI (protected geographical indication, in the UK) or IGP (indicación geográfica protegida in Spain, for example).  

One thing to note is that the French AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) has now become AOP (appellation d'origine protégée). 

Any expression with 'origem'/'origine/'origin' or the equivalent is the better quality, while anything with 'geografica'/'géographique/geographical' on is a step down. And luckily these are written out in full on the label. 

It's worth noting, though, that regions and producers in certain countries were allowed to continue using the old terms. 

Italy currently has 75 examples of denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG), and Spain has denominación de origen calificada (DOCa), for example.

Deciphering German wine terms

The long, compound words on German wines can be mind-boggling for non-German speakers. 

Many wines these days are trocken, or dry. German law on wine sweetness, unlike in the rest of Europe, is based on the balance between sweetness and acidity. Just as a spoonful of honey tastes less sweet taken with lemon juice, so the gentle sweetness of some trocken German wines is offset by their natural high acidity.

Trockenbeerenauslese, however, is particularly sweet. It means dry berries selection, and is made from grapes left to raisin on the vines. 

If you’re buying expensive German wine, the terms Grosse (or Erste) Lage indicate Germany’s historic top vineyards – they translate as great (or first) growth, ie grand cru. Grosses Gewächs wines are the dry version.

Traditional or champagne method

The Champenois, the people of the Champagne region, could sue anyone outside their borders who calls their bottle-fermented (as opposed to tank-fermented) sparkling wine méthode champenoise, or champagne method. 

Since 1994, fizzy wine makers outside Champagne have to label this equally time-consuming technique the traditional method.

See our pick of the best champagnes and best sparkling wines for the best budget supermarket bottles.

Grape varieties

If a single variety is named on the label in Europe, at least 85% of the wine must be of that variety, from the same vintage. If two varieties are named, it must be from only those two, and the predominant one must come first. The same goes in Australia and New Zealand. 

It's also worth knowing that grapes go by different names in different places. The tempranillo of Spain is called aragonês in southern Portugal and tinta roriz in northern Portugal. Syrah and shiraz are the same grape.

Argentina’s malbec came from France, where it was and is known at the côt or the auxerrois, although astutely the French are beginning to put malbec on their labels.

Old vines 

You might spot phrases such as vieilles vignes, viñas viejas and vinhas velhas – these are old vines, which give low yields and concentrated flavour.

How old varies considerably by country, though. In Portugal and Spain, it can mean 80 or 100 years.

In France, 25 years is getting on a bit, although the French have a few older vineyards, too.

Réserve/reserva/reserve/riserva

Historically, this would have been a wine judged good enough to keep back to age for a while before sale.

In some countries, it has acquired a specific legal meaning, eg so many months in oak, so many months in bottle. In many (Australia, New Zealand, Chile, for example), it has no legal meaning, but will be a producer’s more expensive wine. That could mean it’s tastier, or that it was kept longer in oak than you might have liked.

In Italy, different regions regulate the time a riserva must be aged to between two and five years. In Spain, reserva reds are aged for three years, with a minimum of one year in oak; Spain also has gran reserva, which means a minimum of two years in oak and three in bottle.

Supérieur/superiore

This is a legal step up from basic. In France, bordeaux supérieur grapes can come from right across the huge Bordeaux region, but they must be a little riper than those for basic bordeaux, and grape yields must be a little smaller.

In Italy, a lot of regions have a superiore level, likewise with more stringent rules than for the basic wine.

Please drink responsibly. See Drinkaware for advice.