Month: January 2025

The WineLines post sent earlier this morning contained some errors in content. Please disregard the previous post and enjoy this version of WineLines.

How do you choose a bottle of wine when you’re in a wine store or  supermarket? The type of grape or vintage year? The “expert” ratings? The price? The country or region? The producer or Chateau name? The store’s promotional tag? Well, perhaps one or more of these are included in your criteria but you might be surprised to learn that the design element on that wine bottle influences most buyers and maybe even, at times, the more knowledgeable wine drinker.

So what information is provided on a wine bottle label? Let’s start with the legal/regulatory requirements and for purpose of this article, I’ll only address United States rules. The “Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau” (TTB) regulates most of the information required on labels, even including the type, size, font and to some degree the placement of this information.

How do you choose a bottle of wine when you’re in a wine store or  supermarket? The type of grape or vintage year? The “expert” ratings? The price? The country or region? The producer or Chateau name? The store’s promotional tag? Well, perhaps one or more of these are included in your criteria but you might be surprised to learn that the design element on that wine bottle influences most buyers and maybe even, at times, the more knowledgeable wine drinker.

So what information is provided on a wine bottle label? Let’s start with the legal/regulatory requirements and for purpose of this article, I’ll only address United States rules. The “Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau” (TTB) regulates most of the information required on labels, even including the type, size, font and to some degree the placement of this information.

But first, some of the basics. Many holiday meals involve a healthy serving of turkey. “Why turkey?” you may ask. It turns out that goose was the favorite holiday meat for quite a long time – it was relatively cheap and abundant and, according to some, tasted good. Turkey, in addition to being sleep-inducing right before football games, was considered less pedestrian than goose and apparently favored by King Henry VIII, who mandated the big switch. Head-chopping may have entered into Henry’s decision making, but we’ll leave that for another time.