Wine Labels, Part 2, Producer Terms

Part one of understanding American wine labels was published a couple of days ago. That one covered the basics of government-mandated information on labels, except for producer info. Examples of this are "produced and bottled by" or "cellared by." These terms are confusing and are pretty important to your understanding of the quality of a bottle of wine. 

When I shop, I look at the appellation, the alcohol percentage, and this producer info to help me decide if I will like the wine.

Vinted by. The wine was purchased already bottled from someone else. A possible indicator of lower quality wine and a red flag for me.

Bottled by. The producer's address is on the label means they bottled the finished wine. When you see Bottled By the wine was probably grown, made, and cellared elsewhere. Also, a likely indicator of lower quality wine.

Cellared by. The winery did at least some cellaring/aging of the wine before bottling. It could be the entire time the wine was aging, it could be a day. Again, an indicator of possibly lower quality wine.

Estate grown. The producer owns the grapes. Per the TTB the word "estate" isn't legally defined in this case, so this is tricky and not necessarily a good indicator of quality. It can mean the winery had control over all the grapes, or it can be marketing folks aren't being completely honest.

Made and bottled by. The producer on the label fermented a portion of the wine (as low as 10% of it) on site and then bottled it. Legally, up to 90% comes from a third party source. So this can also mean it's a lower quality wine

Produced and bottled by. The producer must have crushed and fermented at least 75% of the wine and bottled and aged it on their premises. A reliable indicator of quality wine.

Grown, produced and bottled by. The winery owns or leases the vineyard where the grapes were grown and controls the farming. They produced at least 75% of the wine on their premises before bottling it. A top indicator of quality.

Estate Bottled. This is the strictest producer term. They grew all the grapes for the wine in the vineyards it owns or controls through a long-term lease. The wine is fermented, aged, and bottled on the premises of the producer in the same wine making region where the grapes were grown. The top indicator of top wine.

If you see two or more of these terms on the bottle, it just means they meet two or more of them. An example is Bottled, Vinted, and Cellared By. 

"Vinted and Bottled by"
The wine was made elsewhere then cellared
and bottled at Bread & Butter in Napa
This could just mean they don't have their
own winery.

Note that not of these terms is a guarantee of low or high quality. You might find a producer that found some great quality juice on the open market and couldn't resist buying and selling it at a decent price. Even though the wine is labeled only as Cellared By. Likewise, an estate wine isn't necessarily better than one where the grapes are purchased from a grower.

Yes, you might be more confused now than you were before, as it's a bit complicated. I still hope this will help.