By Scarlett. C

France is the biggest wine export country, the following are Italy, Spain and Australia respectively. This time, I will share how to read the wine label of Italy, Spain and the new world wine. Hope it can help you know more about wine. 

全球葡萄酒出口，法國是第一大國，緊隨其後就是意大利，然後是西班牙，第四位是澳洲。所以今篇會分享如何閱讀意大利，西班牙及新世界嘅酒標，希望可以幫你更加了解葡萄酒。

Italy 

It separates different regions and has a wide range of diversification as much as France. 

Very similar with France’s, the highest level of wine in Italy which is DOCG(Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita)> DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)> IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)> VDT (Vino da Tavola).

The devil is in the detail. IGT has looser regulation. As long as produce in Italy, at least 85% of grape is from the legal wine region, don’t have any maturation regulation, they can be marked as IGT. Winemaker can have more freedom under this level. They can base on their style to decide how to make the wine. You may find some wines which have strong personal style, some of them even have high score in the wine tasting. For example, the major varieties of Tuscany (Italy) are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon. They are not the legal varieties, therefore the wine from Tuscany cannot claim as DOC/DOCG. However, the blending is very well for the result, finally the Italy’s government need to create a special region- “Super Tuscany” for them.  

Not all the IGP wines have strong personal style. If you are the wine beginner in Italy, not only ask more suggestion, but also you can start from DOC/DOCG. The government has a strict law controlling the region, variety, picking process, maturation and bottling. DOCG would be harsher than DOC.

Superiore and Riserva would be other words you may read in the wine label. Superiore always label after the region name, it has higher level compare with no “Superiore” sign. Normally they will have high ABV and longer maturation. “Riserva” is similar with “Superiore”, but different region has different rules, such as Barolo normal level needs to be maturate at least 3 years and “Riserva” needs to be maturate more than 5 years; Barbaresco normal level only needs 2 years and “Riserva” needs 4 years. 

意大利

佢細分了很多產區，葡萄品種多元化，可以和法國媲美。但再複雜的酒標都會有門路探索。

意大利和法國的相類近，最高級是DOCG(Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita)> DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)> IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)> VDT (Vino da Tavola)

不過魔鬼在細節，IGT產區的規定比較寬鬆，只要是在意大利境內釀製，至少有85%葡萄是來自法定產區，沒有規定陳年時間。對釀酒師而言，是比較有自由度的一個級別，他可以按著自己的風格去決定葡萄品種的比例，和熟成時間。你可以在IGT中可以找得到具個人風格的葡萄酒，有些甚至得到很高的評分。例如位於Tuscany產區種植大量的Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon等不是意大利法定葡萄品種，所以這地區不可以算是DOC/DOCG. 不過這產區的混釀效果出乎意料地好，令意大利政府不得不劃出一個Super Tuscany的標示。

可是不要盲目地認為所有IGP都是具有強烈個人風格的好酒，如果作為初探意大利酒的朋友，除了可多問問別人的推薦，也可以先由DOC/DOCG入手。政府嚴格規定了產區，葡萄品種，採收標準，陳釀和裝瓶準則，而DOCG的規定會比DOC嚴格得多。

另外會在酒標上經常會看到Superiore和Riserva的字眼。Superiore通常在產區後，級數自然會比沒有標示Superiore的酒款高一級。通常酒精含量也是會高一度，陳年較長時間。而Riserva其實和Superiore相似，不過不同產區有不同要求。例如Barolo普通級別至少要陳釀3年，而Risreva則至少要陳釀5年; 但Barbaresco普通級別只少要2年，而Riserva則至少要4年。

Spain

Accept the regional Classification, you also need to learn the maturation Classification. 

For the regional Classification, the highest level is DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada)> DO (Denominación de Origen)> Vino de la Tierra> Vino de Mesa.

Vino de Mesa means table wine, Vino de la Tierra means VDP (Vin de Pays) from France. DO equal to DOC, DOCa is the highest level, only Rioja and Priorat classify as this level.  

When over 2/3 wines from Spine have DO or above level, it doesn’t matter for the regional classification, but you need to attention to the maturation classification : Gran Reserva> Reserva> Crianza

• Crianza:   it must be aged for two years, with a minimum of one year in an oak barrel and for another year in the bottle before it’s sold. 
• Reserva: it must first be aged for at least 3 years prior to sale, with one of those years being in an oak cask or barrel.  If the vintner is producing a Reserva white wine, the Spanish require that it be aged for 2 years prior to sale, with 6 months being in oak. 
• Gran Reserva: it be aged for a minimum of 5 years, with two of those years being within an oak cask or barrel.

Take the below label as an example, the first raw is Grand Reserva, which means this wine maturate at least 5 years; the next raw is the name of the wine label, and the next raw is region. Because it is from Rioja, so it can be listed as DOCa at the next row. 

西班牙

西班牙的酒標除了要學懂地區分級，也要學懂陳年分級。

先說地區分級，依次序為DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada)> DO (Denominación de Origen)> Vino de la Tierra> Vino de Mesa

Vino de Mesa是指餐桌酒, Vino de la Tierra則是 法國的的VDP (Vin de Pays). 而DO則是法國的DOC, DOCa則是西班牙最高等級，暫時只有Rioja和Priorat可以列為這個等級。

不過當有2/3的葡萄酒都有DO或以上級別，那麼其實地區分級制凌相對上思義便沒有那麼大了。反而要留意的是陳年分級: Gran Reserva> Reserva> Crianza

• Crianza: 紅酒至少陳年兩年，其中有半年是在橡木桶中；白酒或粉紅酒至要陳年一年，在橡木桶中半年以上
• Reserva: 紅酒至少陳年三年，其中有一年是在橡木桶中；白酒或粉紅酒至要陳年兩年，在橡木桶中半年以上
• Grann Reserva: 陳年五年以上，其中一年半以上在橡木桶中，裝瓶三年以上才能上市；白酒或粉紅酒則是四年以上其中至少半年在橡木桶中。

可以參考以下的酒標，可以看到第一行是Grand Reserva, 即這支酒陳年至少5年，下一行是這支酒的名稱，名稱以下是產區。因為它是產自Rioja, 所以它可以列為DOCa, 並列在下一行。

New World 

New world is simple than old world. First, it writes by English which is easier to read. It also marks the variety concisely, which aims to let the consumer grab the big picture for the wine. 

You can find the wine variety and year easily in the following label. Consumer can base on brand, variety and year to find the target wine quickly.

It’s hard to being the expert in wine label, when you spent more time, you can find out the trick in it!

新世界

相比起舊世界，新世界會比較簡單。首先大部份都是由英文寫成，所以比較易讀懂。另外它會顯眼地標明葡萄品種，目的旨在讓消費者對該酒的味道有一定掌握。

以下來自新西蘭的Cloudy Bay 可以看到，它很醒目地標明了葡萄品種和年份，消費者可以很快分辦出大約的味道，加上酒莊的釀造手法從而區分不同酒款。

要看通所有酒標不是容易的事，除不同語言外，還要懂得當區的地理，懂得天氣對該年的影響。不過只要掌握到方向，常常留意，很快便會摸清當中竅門了。大家加油！