Decoding Wine Names
When it comes to sleuthing out the name of the wine found on the label there are two things to consider: the grape and the ground. Two completely different engines run the culture of naming wines. These engines are sometimes loosely referred to as "Old World" and "New World" wines or regions. With the Old World belonging to Europe and the New World encompassing...virtually everywhere else.
What's in a (Wine) Name?
Look at a wine label and you will either find a grape name or a "place" name. If the bottle is produced from a New World wine region, then the grape's varietal name will likely be running front and center. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and the like are all the names of a specific type of grape. However, if the bottle is produced in a European country, then the place that the grape is grown and bottled takes label precedence. If Chardonnay is the go-to grape and there's interest in trying it under the French flag, then you would look for the places in France that Chardonnay is grown (namely Burgundy or "Bourgogne" in French).
Grape Vs Ground
In New World wine regions, the dominate grape varietal carries the label. By law, in the U.S. if a wine bottle designates a specific grape on the front label, then 75% of the wine in that bottle must be from that grape. In Old World wine regions, the place the grapes are grown often carries more clout than the individual grapes themselves.
Europeans buy wines from a specific place, not necessarily a specific grape - though the two often go hand-in-hand with certain grapes growing best in certain places.
Where the Rubber Meets the Wine Road
In Bordeaux, for example, the key red wine grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc. These wines will be labeled as "Bordeaux" at large or a more specific place in Bordeaux like Medoc or St. Emilion (village names), and savvy consumers understand the wines of Bordeaux are typically a blend of the three red wine grapes, with certain places carrying more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blends (villages on the left bank of the Gironde River) or more Merlot (in general, from right bank village names).
This is where label lingo gets tricky and geography plays a hefty piece of the wine buying puzzle. Europe's concept of terroir, all of the geographical, climate and growing influences that exert themselves on a vineyard, gives significant rise to the role of the place verse just the singular role of the grape on the final wine.
Most European wines find their fame in the places that they are grown. The small villages surrounded by vineyards that have seen grapes come and go for centuries eventually earn themselves a reputation of sorts. The best vineyards and their respective villages gain notoriety and label prestige and price can quickly follow. It's these village names and regional designations that are often the unfamiliar words on European bottles. Puligny-Montrachet, Mersault, Pommard, Gevrey-Chambertin, and Mâconnais are all the names of wine-growing villages in Burgundy. While Cote d'Or, Cote de Nuit and Cote de Beaune, and Chablis are Burgundy's regional wine names (though Chablis is also the name of the small village that gives name to the entire northern, white wine growing region of Burgundy). Various styles of Chardonnay emerge from the quaint villages of Burgundy, so a working knowledge of these village-influenced nuances can only be gained by experimenting with Chardonnay from different places and producers. Same story with Bordeaux and the regional village-driven wine themes found in the red wine capital of France.
The Meet and Greet of Wine Names... A rose (or grape) by any other name is still a...
Have a favorite grape? Then check out how it varies when produced in another wine region. Taste first hand how the terroir really does influence the grape's expression. Need quick label clues on wine names when searching for the same grape in both New World and Old World wine regions? We've gathered some of the most popular grape varietals and tied them to their more familiar Old World regional roots for an easy to find wine label guide below.
Love Sauvignon Blanc? Then take a sip of Sancerre from France's Loire Valley. A Pinot Noir fan? Find some red Burgundy and see how the grape's original Old World home handles it compared to New World soil. The French wines of Alsace are one the Old World's welcomed exceptions, with wine labels carrying grape names, not place names. Same with many of Germany's Riesling wines, though those get tricky when ripeness levels, which translate into degrees of sweetness, clog the label.
Grape Names vs. Place Names
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