There's a load of info on a wine label, if only you knew what it meant...
January 24, 2007
Except for the attentions of your somewhat wine-nerdy but well-meaning salesperson at the local wine shop, the label is really all you've got to go on most of the time when you're shopping for wine. Consumers use the label to orient themselves -- it's good to know all the stuff with a kangaroo on it is probably Australian. If you can remember a bull's head with horns and keep asking for it, you'll eventually find yourself standing next to some Turnbull wines, and that's a whole spectrum of good wine, from the $16 sauvignon blanc up to the $30 syrah and $45 cabernet. Anyone can spot The Screeching Lemur or Hopping Roo labels from a distance. We react to their broad bright graphics the way a trout reacts to a flapping fly on the canvas of the water: we get closer, sometimes close enough actually to read the label.
People find wine labels hard to decipher, and they think it's their fault, that they're doing something wrong, and somehow suddenly not worthy of understanding. Folks who otherwise understand, at least in summary, what E=mc2 means, claim they cannot figure out a wine label. Does this really mean a wine label is more difficult to understand than E=mc2, or does it just feel that way?
One of the things that makes wine labels tough to comprehend is another formula, held secret till now by wine label designers: the more important the information, the smaller the type. In fact, some of the most important information on a bottle of wine isn't even on the front! It's on the back label in the teeny-tiniest type ever. Just as hard-core music lovers read the liner notes on a CD down to the names of production staff and instrumentalists on different tunes, emotionally invested wine lovers flip the bottle over and study the detail on the back label. Sometimes, almost nothing of value is expressed there. Sometimes, it's a rich set of hints and clues that this particular wine was made by someone somewhere somehow who cared. All other things being equal, go for the wine made by people who give a damn.
On the front label, you get big-picture information: the vintage year, the kind of grape, maybe a vineyard name. On the back label, you have to look harder for more subtle clues to quality. "Barrel fermented" and "barrel aged" mean time and money were intentionally invested in barrels and everything that goes along with them, probably for some good reason."Estate grown" means the grapes were grown in the winery's main vineyard. The implication here is that the winery has the best and longest experience with this close and familiar vineyard, and that familiarity translates into predictably good wines. In practical terms, it's the first vineyard they get to when something goes wrong, not the last, and over time, that's a subjective but decided advantage.
Some wine label claims are hard for average wine lovers to understand, but the forgiving soul thinks the wine label writer wouldn't have mentioned "pre-Cambrian soil" unless it was a good thing. I'm more interested in how long the winery has been in business (decades, generations, or centuries?) and how many cases of wine they make (less is more, in the case of cases).None of these things is a guarantee on its own, but they're all clues that can be taken together to shore up your confidence.
Marketing The Sizzle
Many wines make it commercially in the US because they have talented and committed people behind them, organizing, selling, and promoting like wild. These salespeople often work for distributors and importers who control a lot of what we get here. Like it or not, it's their taste and good work habits that account for a lot of the wine on our tables. Usually, their names are on the back label, small and inconspicuous. In the case of Oriel and Tangent, these identities have been expanded and promoted to the front label where they belong.
Both Oriel and Tangent represent highly modern flat-earth business models that are departures from current style. In the second half of the 21st century, many wine companies will operate this way.
2004 Oriel "Palatina" Riesling (about $20, national availability list at www.oriel.net or call 212-242-6783)Oriel is the brainchild of John Hunt, international wine maker in both Spain and Australia. In essence, Oriel hires about 20 of the planet's best and most talented wine makers and lets them make a limited quantity of whatever they want. The largest production of any one wine was about 3,000 cases in 2006. Most are in batches of 500 cases or so. Like a talented importer, Oriel has a somewhat wildly diversified stable of 27 wines from 24 appellations in eight countries.
All the wines share the basic Oriel label identity, but each bottle goes deep in the different region it comes from. The Oriel Palatine riesling is from the Mosel River valley, west of the Rhine, much closer to France, and much better food than just 25 miles east of there. It is bright, zippy, and tropical with lots of mineral notes: rainwater, wet sidewalk, sand and shells. It is deliciously dry, and with the sugar reduced in this riesling, it reveals a much more interesting world of soil, sky, and sea flavors. I would drink it first with a bracingly icy plate of raw oysters, then some steamed mussels, and crusty bread.
2005 Tangent "Paragon Vineyard" Pinot Gris (about $17, available at www.tangentwines.com and nationally, 805-597-8250)The tangent the name refers to is figurative. It represents the company's pursuit of only white wines and only white wines from grapes that are eccentric and tangential to mainstream wines. Tangent makes only a handful of wines: explosive sauvignon blanc, an exotic albarino, pinot blanc and gris, and an unexplainable but yummy white blend called Ecclestone. There's not a single chardonnay in the line up.
Tangent pinot gris is really tasty, ripe and flavorful with lots of nice crisp tropical fruit contributing what the marketing materials call "lively acidity." This is a wine that really wakes up your senses when you drink it. The perfume is high and penetrating. I'd drink it with the best sushi in town.
Understanding Wine
2004 Happy Camper Merlot (about $8, distributed nationally, availability list at www.happycamperwines.com)Thank you for understanding us, Happy Camper! Sometimes, we need a place to pull over and rest on the side of the road. 1957 would be a good place, and I think it's the next exit.
A gentle glow warms up the night around the homey camper on the label. I am sure there are people inside -- people just like me and my wife, coincidentally enough -- cooking up something high in fiber and protein on a miniature stove. They're also enjoying a tasty and affordable merlot, just like this. It is frankly much better and more authentic than wine snobs will want to give it credit for.
Boston Wine Expo Tickets Give Away
Thanks to generous friends and colleagues at the Boston Wine Expo, I have 5 pairs of tickets to give away for Sunday, February 11, 1-5 pm. To win, just send email to expo@invinoveritas.com and answer this question: What makes wine the best beverage on the planet? Answers will be judged by a set of completely arbitrary criteria, and winners will be notified by email before February 1 and announced in my Boston Wine Expo preview column February 7. Visit www.wine-expos.com for more information about the Boston Wine Expo. Good luck!
© 1988-2009 by Jonathon Alsop
336 Washington St. Brookline MA 02445-6850 617-784-7150
jalsop@invinoveritas.com
Guarantee of Privacy Copyright Reminder