What "Cellared and Bottled by..." Means on a Wine Label

I recently visited a “Winery” on a weekday in the downtown part of a city to check out their wines. When I entered, I was greeted by a hostess that grabbed a lunch menu and wanted to seat me in their large outdoor patio. I told her that I just wanted to look around and check out the “winery.”

Aside from the large restaurant, I did find a small bar serving mixed drinks, beer and glasses of wine. Then I found the “Tasting Room” that was closed and learned that it is only open on the weekend.

I then wandered over to their wall of bottled wines and pulled down a few. On the back label of each wine was the phrase “Cellared and Bottled by” followed by the name of their winery.

So, let breakdown the facts about this “winery”:

Growing the Grapes: The “winery” did not grow the grapes

Crushing the Grapes: The “winery” did not crush the grapes

Fermentation: The “winery” did not ferment the juice (the must) to produce the wine

Cellared: This means that the “winery” took possession of the wine after it was produced and was somehow responsible for storing (i.e., cellaring) it. This might involve aging the wine further or simply keeping it in tanks

Bottled: The “winery” was responsible for transferring the wine into the bottles, sealing them, and putting their label on them

So, technically this establishment is a “winery” but they don’t grow the grapes or produce the wine. This doesn’t say anything about the quality of the wine in the bottles. But, it does tell you exactly what kind of a “winery” they are.

Ever Wonder? What Do these Terms Mean on a Wine Label?

Photo by Chilli Charlie on Unsplash

• "Estate Bottled" or "Grown, Produced and Bottled by": These terms mean:

  (1) 100% of the grapes were grown on a winery's own vineyards

  (2) The grapes all come from within a single AVA

  (3) The wine was made by the winery on its own estate within the given AVA.

  Basically, every aspect of producing the wine happened at the named winery. Estate Bottled wines generally are of higher quality and therefore a bit more pricey.

• "Produced and Bottled by": The phrase “Produced and Bottled by” means that only 75% of the grapes were fermented by the winery itself. The other 25% is uncertain. So, basically, this means that the winery has purchased grapes and then makes the wine themselves.

• "Vinted and Bottled by": This means the wine was produced by someone else, but the winery selling it did do something such as blend the wine or age it.

• "Cellared and Bottled by": This means the wine was made by someone else.

• Single vineyard wine: A wine in which 95% of the grapes must be from the named vineyard.

A lot of information on a wine label is actually just marketing. But, at least you can trust these terms. Cheers!

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!