Stage 1
Understanding the Label
Key Facts
General Label Terms
Cuvée:
A blend. Often part of a brand name
Barrel/Barrique aged/fermented:
Indicates that the wine has spent a period in oak barrels and is likely to have absorbed oak flavours
Oaked:
Oak flavours have been added using chips, staves or barrels
Unfiltered:
In order not to alter the wine’s character, it has not been filtered before bottling, so it may not be perfectly bright and may have thrown a big deposit in the bottle.
Vegetarian:
No meat or fish products (e.g. Isinglass) are used to clarify the wine.
Vegan:
No animal proteins (from eggs, milk etc.) were used to clarify the wine.
Organic:
The grapes were grown without using synthetic chemical treatments.
Botrytis/Noble Rot:
Indicates a sweet wine made using nobly rotted/botrytis affected grapes.