Gifts Of Wine Labels - What Do You Look For?
Posted on March 4, 2008 - Filed Under Uncategorized
If you’re a newcomer to the scene, you might wonder why people might want to give – or receive – gifts of wine labels. Yet the fact remains that for some people nothing can beat wine labels as a gift
There are two main reasons for giving gifts of wine labels. One is because you know that the recipient is a collector. Collecting wine labels has become really big in recent years! The other is because the recipient enjoys wine making. Wine makers always want unique and individual labels for their bottles. (Or of course you can simply put the label on a gift bottle of wine – it makes it so much more personal.)
Maybe you have never thought of giving gifts of wine labels and don’t know much about them, but you know someone who would appreciate them. What do you need to look for?
Of course the primary purpose of a wine label is to give information, but what information and how much is largely determined by the consumer laws of the country where the wine is marketed. For instance, wine marketed in the USA must have the following on its label:
- Brand - the name that gives the wine its identity.
- Class - this indicates the type of wine, most often Class I – Table wine – which must have alcohol content between 7% and 14% proof. Or it could be sparkling wine, aperitif, dessert wine etc.
- Alcohol content. If alcohol content is 15% proof or more, it has to be stated. If the content is less than this, stating it is optional.
- Name of the bottlers and where they are located.
- Net contents expressed in milliliters – usually 750ml.
- Whether it contains sulfites
- Government alcohol warning.
.
This are the mandatory contents of wine labels in the USA, but there are other permitted contents:
- Vintage year – this is only really important if it is from a particularly good year, but people often like to know anyway.
- The name of the wine e.g. Chardonnay, Chablis etc. This isn’t mandatory but is nearly always there.
- Reserve – this supposedly indicates that the wine has received extra aging, but it’s used so often that it has almost become meaningless.
- ”Estate-bottled” – this can be included if the bottlers also grew the grapes.
- Dietary information – calorie, carb and protein content etc.
So there’s a whole lot of information that can be on the label of the wine – yet none of this really answers the most important question of all! That is, how does the wine taste? And that’s why you get wine labels with such an amazing variety of designs, pictures and illustrations. You can’t describe a taste in words – all you can do is try to convey the feelings that the wine might create for the drinker.
And that’s why wine labels are so exciting and why there is such an infinite variety. Not because of the information – but because of the way the label makes you feel!
So whether you’re giving gifts of wine labels for a collector, or to put on bottles of wine, think how you want to make the person feel - and it will be a great gift!
For some unique and delightful ideas for gifts of wine labels, visit http://www.MyVintageWine.com/winelabels.html
Tags: gifts of wine labels, wine bottle label, wine label, wine labels
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