What Does "Estate Bottled" Mean on a Wine Label?

Last time we looked at the term "Vinted by" that may appear on a wine label indicating that somebody else grew the grapes and/or produced the wine. The sellers simply put their name on it.

A step up is the situation where the winery and the winery's own vineyards are not in the same viticultural area. Here, the winery may designate that the wine has been "Proprietor Grown" on the label.

In the best of all cases, that is becoming rarer, is when a bottle's label identifies that it is "Estate Bottled."  This means the winery produced 100% of the grapes used to make the wine, and the grapes were pressed, fermented, aged and bottled in the viticultural area stated on the label.

When looking for “Estate Bottled” wines from France, look for "Mis en Bouteille au Château," "Mis en Bouteille au domaine" or "Mis en Bouteille a la Propriete."  In Italy, it's bottigliato all’origine, while in Spain it's "Embotellat a la Propietat" and in Germany look for "Erzeugerabfüllung."

Estate Bottled wines generally are of higher quality and therefore a bit more pricey. But, while a lot of information on a wine label is actually marketing, you can trust that an Estate Bottled wine has been entirely made the label's winery. Cheers!

Behind the Cork ™ - Wine of the Week

2013 Rabbit Ridge Allure de Robles Rhône Style Blend ($6)

This Rhône style blend is a perfect fit for Behind the Cork ™ - Wine of the Week. It's affordable, it's attainable and it's a nice wine to enjoy any day of the week.  Being a Rhône blend, it is made from Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre (GSM). It's medium-bodied with flavors of blackberries, black currants and just a hint of pepper. Being aged in a bit of oak also add to the character of this easy drinking wine.

What Does "Vinted By" Mean?

Reading a wine label can be confusing. There's a lot of marketing being done to try to get you to buy a wine. Everything from fancy artwork to cute names. And then there's the back label that describes all about the aromas, flavors and quality of the wine.

But actually, the three most important things on a wine label are the vintage date, the place where the grapes were grown, and the grape(s) used to produce the wine. The vintage date tells you that 95% of the wine in the bottle had to be harvested in the year listed. The place (State, County, or AVA) on the label tells you that 85% of the wine comes from the listed location. And finally, the grape varietal identified on the label ensures that the wine is produced from at least 75% of that grape variety.

But then on the back label you'll see statements such as "Vinted and bottled by" or “Cellared and bottled by” along with a winery's name, city and state. This is where things get murky. These phrases are sometimes used when a label does not have their own winery and may have had little to do with the making of this wine. They may be buying grapes to produce wine or even buying bulk wine and bottle it themselves and just putting their "Winery" label on the bottle.

Under another scenario, the "Cellared and bottled by" wording must be used by law if, for example, a winery located in the Napa AVA is producing wines from grapes grown in Sonoma's Russian River Valley AVA. These wines are still the winemakers, but they can't claim to have produced the wine.

If it says “Produced and Bottle by” it means that, by law, 75% or more of the wine in that bottle must be made by the producer listed. If the wine bottle says “Made and Bottled” it means at least 10% of the wine is made by the winery or company listed.

Now don't get me wrong. These caveats on the back label don't imply anything about the quality of the wine. You just need to realize that someone other than the company listed on the label may have grown the grapes or made the wine.

Now, you may now be asking yourself "So how can I tell if a winery is actually growing the grapes and making the wine?"  We'll get to that next time. For now, cheers!

Behind the Cork ™ - Wine of the Week

2014 Foggy Veil Hillside Red Blend ($13)

This blend of 75% Syrah and 25% Grenache from Santa Barbara County is another unexpected winner. In the Rhone tradition, this blend has the big fruit, medium tannin characteristics of the Syrah with the Grenache adding its big fruit flavors and moderate tannins to yield a smooth medium-bodied blend.  Flavors include strawberry, black currant, black pepper and vanilla. This blend has excellent balance and a velvety finish. The winery suggest $25 for this bottle and it stands up as a $20+ wine, yet it's yours for just $13.  A terrific wine at an equally terrific price!

Behind the Cork ™ - Wine of the Week

Z. Alexander Brown 2014 Russian River Valley Uncaged Pinot Noir ($13)

The Russian River Valley is renowned for its delicious Pinot Noir. And this is another fine example. With aromas of red fruit such as raspberry and cranberry, this Pinot Noir leans more toward a medium-bodied wine with bolder flavors and some tannin.  Overall, it's a nice Russian River Pinot at a great price!