wine labels
21 Jan
/ By

Wine labels play a very important role in the wine industry. Not only are they used to attract the customers attention, but also used to provide important product information and in many cases they are a legal requirement. As a winemaker, it is totally up to you to design and create the type of wine label you desire. You can put as much or as little information on your wine label as you like. Some wine companies design their labels in a very simple and straightforward way while others make their labels a bit complex and highly communicative.

Designing a wine label of your choice helps you to communicate the contents of the wine and also create an attractive look to the bottle as well. Certain information is usually included on the wine label such as your brand name, region or geographical location, volume, quality, type of wine, country of origin, alcoholic degree, variety, producers of the wine or the importer. You can also add other information such as your website address and a label with QR code with vintage specific information.

Wine Labeling Laws

Each country has its own rules and regulations for what should or should not appear on wine labels and on ones imported from foreign countries. Most countries require wine labels to include information like, the content of alcohol in the wine and whether the wine contains any allergens. If you are looking to design a wine label for your wine producing line here are some pieces of information you will need to include on your wine label.

  • Brand name: What do you want to name your wine? Get more creative with the wine name to make your brand more attractive.
  • Alcohol content: This information is very common on almost all wine labels on the commercial shelves. It is important to include the alcohol content on the label, especially if you’re going to sell your wine to the general public.
  • Volume: This is an indication of the amount of wine contained in the bottle.
  • Vintage: You can include specific vintage information on what year the grapes or the fruits used to make your wine were picked.
  • Region or geographical location: This information indicates where you make the wine. If your wine is for commercial sale, you have to indicate the location where you got the fruit as well as the location of the wine distillery.
  • Variety and varietals: Some wine makers, particularly in big wine producing countries, show their fruit variety or blend on their wine labels. However, not all wine producers mention grape and fruit varieties on their wine labels. Inclusion of varietal labeling due to consumer demand is starting to become more popular in the winemaking industry.

Wine Label Vocabulary

Wine labels must be communicative, attractive and law compliant all at the same time. To make sure that that there is consistency, wine makers use well-developed set of terms, phrases and concepts for their labels. Most of the terms used on wine labels are carefully controlled and officially defined. These terms relate to simple ideas, such as the grape variety or blend in the wine and also other complex concepts found in the wine world. This vocabulary is used to keep consumers informed about what kind of wine is in the bottle and the fruit or grape contents. Wine vocabulary can be included on the wine label if you so desire. For example, there is a small but significant difference between Barossa and Barossa valley, and a big difference between Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is a wine from the town of Montepulciano in Tuscany and Montepulciano which is a grape variety.