Spanish Wine Laws and Labels
Spanish wine laws were first enacted in 1932 and have been revised as recently as 1970 and are the only wine regulations in the world based on the archaic French Appellation d'Origine's meaning that wines are from specific geographical regions, not ownership as we think of here in the United States.
Spain has 54 officially recognized and geographically defined wine regions with Rioja standing above the rest as the only region counted as a Qualified Denomination of Origin, or great wine region.
Lastly, especially given the recent flap with Gallo buying what they thought was French Pinot Noir (only to find out it was in fact Merlot) the Spanish government has given each wine growing region their own governing control board.
These boards are responsible for everything from vinicultural and winemaking standards as well as limiting the total acreage that can be planted, maximum yield of the fruit, time the wines must be aged..
..
and perhaps most importantly running a laboratory to ensure that each bottle actually contains the wine that consumers have paid for.
Spanish wine labels are as easy to understand as the wine laws themselves.
At the top of the label you'll see the name of the winery with the date of the wineries founding directly underneath, typically in much smaller print.
In the middle of the label will be the name of the wine, with a small name underneath which tells you where the wine was actually bottled.
This is a significant different from new world producers as Spain gives you all relevant information while in the United States we typically only see where the grapes came from.
At the bottom of the label you'll see the quality level of the wine, such as Reserva and the year of the vintage, which is the year when the fruit was picked off the vine.
At the lower right hand corner you'll see the common marks of alcohol level by volume and volume of the bottle itself.
If you see Denominacion de Origin listed anywhere on the very bottom of the label, you have found a wine that is not only controlled by the same government agency which will ensure that all information provided is in fact true.
I hope you've enjoyed this look at Spanish wine labels and laws.
Compared to many other old world producers Spain makes it relatively easy to understand and feel comfortable with the wine that you're buying.
Spain has 54 officially recognized and geographically defined wine regions with Rioja standing above the rest as the only region counted as a Qualified Denomination of Origin, or great wine region.
Lastly, especially given the recent flap with Gallo buying what they thought was French Pinot Noir (only to find out it was in fact Merlot) the Spanish government has given each wine growing region their own governing control board.
These boards are responsible for everything from vinicultural and winemaking standards as well as limiting the total acreage that can be planted, maximum yield of the fruit, time the wines must be aged..
..
and perhaps most importantly running a laboratory to ensure that each bottle actually contains the wine that consumers have paid for.
Spanish wine labels are as easy to understand as the wine laws themselves.
At the top of the label you'll see the name of the winery with the date of the wineries founding directly underneath, typically in much smaller print.
In the middle of the label will be the name of the wine, with a small name underneath which tells you where the wine was actually bottled.
This is a significant different from new world producers as Spain gives you all relevant information while in the United States we typically only see where the grapes came from.
At the bottom of the label you'll see the quality level of the wine, such as Reserva and the year of the vintage, which is the year when the fruit was picked off the vine.
At the lower right hand corner you'll see the common marks of alcohol level by volume and volume of the bottle itself.
If you see Denominacion de Origin listed anywhere on the very bottom of the label, you have found a wine that is not only controlled by the same government agency which will ensure that all information provided is in fact true.
I hope you've enjoyed this look at Spanish wine labels and laws.
Compared to many other old world producers Spain makes it relatively easy to understand and feel comfortable with the wine that you're buying.
