Drink Locally - Reading U.S. Wine Labels

By Marc

In the United States, wine is produced in nearly every state, providing a chance for almost everyone to "drink locally." But how can you tell whether the grapes were grown nearby or on the other side of the state?   Answer:  By reading the label (and sometimes consulting a map or reference book).  U.S. wine labeling laws (administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the various States) contain strict rules about the use of geographic information on wine labels.

The Wine Institute, a public policy advocacy association of California wineries, has a guide to the Federal and State requirements for geographic labeling.  For a winemaker to put the name of a state, county, viticultural area or vineyard on their wine label, a certain percentage of the grapes must have been grown in the specified area. 

The percentage varies for each geographical unit, as follows:

• To list a state name on the label, 75% of grapes must be from that state, except for California, which requires 100% of the grapes to be grown in California.   
• To put a county name on the label, 75% of the grapes must be from the county.  .
• To put more than one county on the label, all grapes must be grown in the counties specified.
• For a label to include the name of an American Viticultural Area (A.V.A.), 85% of grapes grown in the A.V.A. ( here is a list).  Keep in mind, however, that some of the A.V.A's are can span for hundreds of miles across several states (Ohio River Valley A.V.A.) or across a single state (the Central Coast A.V.A. in California).
• When the label contains the name of a vineyard, ranch, orchard, or farm, 95% of the grapes must have been grown in that place.  The AVA will also be on the label so you can determine the rough location of the "Rocky Top Vineyard," or whatever is listed.

The name of an AVA is usually derived from a geographic location (Guenoc Valley, Napa Valley), but sometimes gives no hint of its location--Rockpile (Sonoma County, CA), Rocky Knob (Floyd and Patrick Counties, VA), and Fair Play (El Dorado County, CA), for example.  A good salesperson should be able to tell you the location of the A.V.A. (or will have a reference book handy).  The appendix at the bottom of this post has more information about A.V.A.'s. 

Use of the term "Estate Bottled" on a label signifies that all grape growing and wine-making activity occurred within the same A.V.A. (27 CFR §4.26).  In this case, the winemaker's city will be within the A.V.A. 

The use of the terms "produced by", "bottled by", "packed by", which appear on the label are governed by 27 CFR §4.35, and generally mean what you expect them to.  For example, if a label says "Produced and bottled by X Wines, Napa, California", all steps were performed at X Wines.  If the label says, "cellared and bottled by Y Wines," then the pressing and fermentation were performed at another facility, and the wine was aged and bottled at Y Wines.

The photos below give two examples.  The first, a J winery Pinot Noir, has the words Russian River Valley and "Estate Bottled" on the label, meaning that 100% of the grapes are from that A.V.A. (which is located in Sonoma County, California).   The second label (what a great name!) contains the designation "California", which means that 100% of the grapes were grown somewhere in California.  The "Reserve" tag just above the winery's name has no legal meaning--it is all about marketing and product definition (i.e., the Zinfandel vs. the 'Reserve' Zinfandel).  The back of the label says "Cellared and bottled by Marc Cellars, Graton, California," which means that the wine was produced in a facility somewhere outside of Graton (Sonoma County), then shipped to Graton for aging and bottling. 

Another label in my collection has the following descriptive items on the label:  "Estate Bottled", "Shenandoah Valley of California", and "Rocky Top Vineyard."  The combination of these three terms tells me that all of the grapes came from the Rocky Top Vineyard, which is part of the Shenandoah Valley AVA (near Plymouth, California).  (The "of California" part is to distinguish it from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley)

Although the grapes used in your wine might be local, there are there are significant ecological concerns about grape growing--for example, replacement of diverse native habitats with a monoculture, sucking streams dry to irrigate vineyards, or river damage from vineyard erosion--so you might need to do some research into the winery's vinicultural practices.  Some winemakers act in a relatively responsible way, and others bulldoze vast stands of ancient oak trees to make way for their grape vines.   

Organic viticultural practices can reduce the ecological impact somewhat, and the number of organic grape growers is on the rise (and often not specified on the wine label).  However, few wines are certified organic because of strict standards that basically forbid the use of sulfites.  A recent article in the S.F. Chronicle covered this subject in early May, and the Organic Consumers Association also has some background.

Marc lives in Berkeley, California and writes Mental Masala, an enticing blend of food, history, travel, and nature.

Image credit for grape photo:  Image from ndrwfgg's Flickr collection, subject to a Creative Commons License.

Appendix:  Definitions

From the BATF's FAQs :

A viticultural area should be based on features that affect the growing conditions of the area (climate, soil, elevation, physical features). A viticultural area may extend across political boundaries, and there is no maximum or minimum size for a viticultural area. However, the entire area should possess a unifying feature that distinguishes it from surrounding areas, and the evidence submitted with the petition should show this contrast.

The Wine Institute's definition of AVA

Viticultural areas are to appellations like grapes are to fruit. Viticultural areas are one kind of appellation. Not all appellations are viticultural areas. An appellation of origin can be the name of a country, the name of a state or states, the name of a county or counties within a state. Viticultural areas are a hybrid appellation. In size, they range from extremely small to extremely large (larger than a few states). In terms of plantings, a viticultural area may be filled with vineyards or could be almost sparse. In terms of quality, there is no guarantee that a wine labeled with a viticultural area is any better or worse than wines that don't bear such information.

Comments

[Birdsong]

This is great, useful information.. I sure wish other food products had to create such detailed labeling to help us figure out where the food comes from. Thanks for sharing.

[cookiecrumb]

Ditto. I'm amazed by what I learned here today. Thanks.

[cookiecrumb]

I just want to say I thought this was a most useful post, and a great read. THANKS!

[Marc]

Thank you for your kind words about my post. I learned quite a bit while writing it (the "estate bottled" rule was new for me).

The subject of labeling is an interesting one, and certainly worth another post by someone. I imagine that the importance of accurate and thorough wine labeling is very old, probably going back to the Roman Empire days at least, when wine came from all over the Empire, and one could tell which social class you belonged to by which wines you purchased or drank. Accurate labeling was therefore sought by both the buyer and the maker of the wine, for the purpose of avoiding a rip off and maintaining confidence in the product, respectively. A related story from long ago: expensive taste in wine doomed Roman politician Marcus Antonius in 87 BCE during Gaius Marius' purges of allies of his rival Sulla. Marcus was hiding in the house of an associate of lower status, but his cover was blown when the host's servant asked for wine at a local shop that was in a class far above the host's status. The salesperson asked why he was buying such expensive wine, and the servant told him the name of the guest. Soldiers were soon sent to kill Marcus Antonius. This tale, and many other great ones about drinking are in A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage.

These days, the sellers of most types of food are more interested in efficiency and convenience (see Suzanne's post for one shop's response to request for better labels). After 9/11, there was a serious push to require country of origin labelling of all food products as a means to reduce the chance of culinary-terrorism. It almost went through, but the major food producers screamed that it would be an impossible standard, and the proposal was shelved. That said, there are no rules preventing a company from highlighting the source of their product (not yet anyway...).

[Marc]

While browsing the blogs, I ran across the 50 States. 50 Wineries. 50 Weeks project at the Well Fed network. It might be a good resource for those looking to drink local wines.