David Arthur Chardonnay -
How to Read a Wine Label

This label comes from a a David Arthur Chardonnay. The front label gives pretty much all information that the average wine drinker is interested in. First, the winery name in big letters, so you know what you're getting. Next, the year, so you know how old the wine is.

You next have the region name - Napa Valley - and the grape type - Chardonnay. This lets you know that the wine is from a very highly rated area, and that it's a certain type of white wine that many people adore.

The bottom line information, "reserve", is on the meaningless side. Reserve in the United States is a term with no set definition, so each winery can randomly put the word on any and all wines they want. If you know the particular winery well, you might know that they make a "normal" and a "reserve" version of a given wine, and know which one you prefer. In general though, the word reserve tells you no additional information.

On the top, the label says "Estate". This means that the grapes used in the wine were actually grown on site with the winery. If a wine is not an estate wine, it means the grapes were grown in other peoples' vineyards and then brought in to make wine by the winemaker. Note that not all labels bother to say "estate" on them. There is no requirement to say if your grapes are grown on your estate or elsewhere.

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