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!

Behind the Cork™ Wine of the Week

2014 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel ($10)

Just having featured "Old Vine Zinfandel - Is it Better?" I thought it would be good to bring back a wine that was featured in this blog last year. This old vine Zinfandel comes from vines that are 60 to 80 years old. These old vines produce small, concentrated clusters of grapes that result in an incredibly rich and intense wine.  It has great dark fruit flavors and a bit of spicy notes from the use of two-year old American oak.

Old Vine Zinfandel - Is it Better?

Often, you'll see the words "Old Vine" on the label of a Zinfandel. But what does it really mean and does it equate with a better wine?

First, you need to realize that "Old Vine" is not a regulated term.  It can appear on any bottle of wine. Most in the wine industry consider 50 years and over to be worthy of the title.  And, in many cases, these old vines are more toward 100 years of age.  So, let's assume that wineries are using the 50+ definition for their old vine Zinfandel. The question remains - Is it a marketing gimmick or does the fruit from these old vines really result in a better wine?

Let's take a quick look at the life of a grape vine. When first planted, it may produce fruit in the first year or two, but these fruit-baring vines are often pruned before the grapes ripen. Typically, after about five years a vine is capable of producing a harvest-able annual crop. The vines really hit their stride in their teens and twenties, but their decline begins after that. At age 50, the vines are really in their fading years but are now worthy of being called "Old Vine."

Their deep roots that grow to a depth of approximately 25 feet are able to pull moisture and nutrition from the ground in the driest years and not create bloated fruit in wet years.

But, in their golden years, the vines are producing fewer and smaller grapes. This is where the difference can be.  The juice of these smaller grapes tends to be more concentrated in flavor. And, after pressing, the concentrated juice is less affected by the smaller amount of skin in the mixture, leading to lower tannin and a smoother wine.

So, yes, an old vine Zinfandel can be better. Or the vines can be badly in decline and in need of being dug up. But with good land, weather and proper farming an old Zinfandel vine can produce some great wines.

Given the choice on the store shelf, or on the wine list, I'd say go with the old vine. Cheers!