The ancient language!

Hungry for wine?Buy it!

You probably can literally vividly see yourself in a wine shop, longing to find a name you find familiar and comfortable for your eyes to accept. But let's face it honestly, deciphering wine labels can be quite a pain, especially when it comes to a lot of traditional wine labels. Ya? All the different producers, wine-sites etc. They really do drive me crazy at times. So you might probably prefer the younger winemaking countries which seriously helps make reading wine labeling a layman stuff now. However, let not the sophisticating labels deter us from our reach to these lovely historic wine, or so it seems to be.

Here's a little guide I found:

See no grape varieties? Oh, maybe you're holding on to a classic French label! Because usually the name of the château takes precedence for traditional Bordeaux label and the grape varieties are not usually mentioned. Why? Well, you'll start to realise if you put in some extra attention and you'll notice that French wines are often labeled by their "Mother-land" i.e the origin of the wine. So for French wines, you might need to put in more effort to know the classic grapes of each region in order to really know what you want to get.

Feel yourself entering the world of the past as you are welcomed by the gothic script on traditional German wine label. Grape varieties do appear here. You'll probably find it all worthwhile to indulge in the historic appearance that these labels bring to you because despite the old-fashioned look, its inner beauty often brings new excitement and love to you.

After much cluttering appearing before your eyes, say "Hi" to a clearly much neater and simpler label that is usually from a newer winemaking country. Just a few words is all it takes to deliver its message across to you. Its brand, its grape, its vintage, and its region. Walla, you are ready to choose and go with this clear labeling!

However, while we know the newer wine-producing countries are countries such as Australia and Chile, having a clear and simple labeled bottle of wine in your hands today no longer guarantee that it is from these countries anymore. This is because some of the European, German and French wines are also adopting more modern style labels. So do see the labels clearly before your purchase! Additionally, French wines are also not the only ones that do not show the grape variety in the labels. Italian wines or rather the great classics of Tuscany and Piedmont do not label their wines by grape variety as well. And as for French wines, note the exception of Alsace because winemakers of this region do state the grape varieties on the label.

Other information that you can usually find on the bottle would be the alcohol level, the volume of the liquid, the country of origin as well as the producer. But understand that the way that a bottle of wine is introduced is probably never really fixed. Some just love to give you a more scenic kind of explanation about the origin while others do not.

I hope this short journey has made you regain your confidence in stepping into the wine shop once again. Now that you're more sure about what you can expect from the thousands of bottles lying in the wine shop, may we succeed in conquering the ancient language that once seems so far from reach to us. =)

P.S. The above information is gathered from :
- "International wine guide" by Susy Atkins