Wine and champagne
labels can be frightening to new or inexperienced wine drinkers.
How to to decipher the foreign symbols, words and numbers can
be confusing without some idea of what everything is supposed
to mean!
Novices tend
to look for simple labels with pretty pictures and many newer
wineries are actually making labels that appeal to the label-challenged.
While this is probably a good thing, so is learning how to understand
the information on the more traditional labels, especially when they appear on French, German or Italian wines..
The label
tells you everything you need to know about the wine inside the
bottle -- and with a little practice it really isn't that hard.
While the front of the label will give you basic information, some winemakers provide additional information. On the back label, especially, look for more details on the grape varieties used in production, tasting notes, ("a good balance of oak and fruit") and food pairing suggestions ("perfect accompaniment to richly flavored entrees.")
Around the Web, top sites on the subject will help you to learn more about what the labels
mean if you need the tutoring and will showcase some unusual labels
for those already label-literate...
More about how to read wine labels around the Web:
Professional Friends of Wine - Understanding Wine Labels
- This is the definitive text on how to read wine labels with
pages sorted into basics, appellation labels, generic labels,
plus good selection of other online resources that cover the topic.
Wine
Buyer Guide - Labels - This site sells wines online and
they have some excellent resources to help you decipher exactly
what it is you are thinking about buying. The section on French,
Italian and American labels is extremely easy to understand and
should make label reading a bit less mysterious.
Understanding
Wine Labels - This is the Wine for Dummies version
of how to read a wine label. Like most of the resources in this
series, it manages to give a simple explanation of the whole subject.