Year on label question

[KSU_Jim]

I am well into my first season of experimentation with numerous small batches of wine. I have started bottling and will be making labels for some bottles. I am wondering about the year on the label. If I pitched my yeast in Sept. of 2012 and bottled in March of 2013, what year should I put on the label? I am thinking that it was wine before the end of the year and has been bulk aging since then, so it should be 2012. I never thought about this until I started thinking about labeling. Any thoughts?

 

[ibglowin]

Most people put the year the yeast was pitched, sorta like a "born on this date" label. That is after all when it "became wine".

 

[saramc]

In commercial world the year is usually indicative of the year of the harvest..label requirements usually set by state (or country if outside of US). But I typically list the month/year that I pitched the yeast, obviously not commercial. Also, in US, your gallon per year count is based off of the year you started the ferment, not when you bottled.

 

[KSU_Jim]

Thanks for helping this newbie.

 

[GreginND]

And in the US fruit wines are not allowed to be labeled with a vintage year.

 

[Rocky]

Jim, the year on a label of wine is the "vintage year" of all or most of the fruit that went into the wine. Countries allow a specified amount of wine from another year to be blended in a particular vintage. In the US the amount allowed from another year is 15% (or 5% if an AVA wine). The idea is to distinguish variety from different years so that the effects of sun, rain, dry spells, etc. are appreciated. "Good years" and "bad years" are determined mostly by the weather in that area in that year. In my case, I enter the vintage year as the year that the grapes (or other fruit) was grown and I sometimes note the date bottled just for reference.

 

[KSU_Jim]

Thank you all. I am really enjoying this new hobby and it wouldn't be possible without all your help.

Cheers.

 

[JohnT]

Agree with all of the above..

The year is the vintage (or the year of the harvest/year of pitching the yeast which is always the same).

In cases where different havests (years) are blended, the vintage year is omitted from the label.

Still, whatever year you choose to put on your bottle, I am sure that no-one here will call the "Vintage Police".

 

[ibglowin]

Commercial wineries will sometimes use the designation NV (Non Vintage) on wines of this nature.

Some of the best "bang for the buck" bottles of wine in my Cellar are NV!

They will have a few left over barrels that are not enough to do much with by themselves but if you start adding them all up you can come up with a pretty darn good blend from these leftovers from several previous years.

In cases where different havests (years) are blended, the vintage year is omitted from the label.

 

[Bartman]

I have developed my own convention of labeling the month/year of bottling, followed by the month/year I pitched the yeast in parentheses, for my own reference. For example, my next labels may have:
"Cabernet Sauvignon (fresh grapes) April 2013 (Oct.'12)"

 

[ibglowin]

Your seriously bottling wine made from fresh grapes only 6 months after pressing?

 

[tonyt]

I put "Pitched Jun. 201 - Bottled Mar. 2013" that way I can tell folks I give wine to wait at least a year from the Pitched date and preferably a year from the bottled date.

 

[GreginND]

Commercially the year on the bottle is to designate the year the fruit was grown. That is the important information regarding the growing season and how it affected the grapes.

So, what if I had grapes harvested in 2010 that were frozen for two years before i pitched the yeast? It would still be a 2010 harvested grape. But it was not vinted and aged since then. It would be a much "newer" wine.

Perhaps we need three dates on the label? Harvest date, pitch date and bottled date?

Oh, we can make this hobby way too complicated, can't we?

I say throw it in a bottle and enjoy it!

 

[KSU_Jim]

Yes, Ibglowin, I am planning to bottle after 6 months. My fruits come from my mini-vineyard in the back yard. I have blackberry wine and strawberry wine, but my grapes are actually bronze "Carlos" muscadines that are my white wine. My red muscadines are yet to give a large enough crop to do much with. Half of my "white" was backsweetened with white grape/peach concentrate. I want to put back a few bottles of each with label and date to see how they change over time.

 

[JohnT]

Commercially the year on the bottle is to designate the year the fruit was grown. That is the important information regarding the growing season and how it affected the grapes.

So, what if I had grapes harvested in 2010 that were frozen for two years before i pitched the yeast? It would still be a 2010 harvested grape. But it was not vinted and aged since then. It would be a much "newer" wine.

Perhaps we need three dates on the label? Harvest date, pitch date and bottled date?

Oh, we can make this hobby way too complicated, can't we?

I say throw it in a bottle and enjoy it!

HMMMMM.

Seems a lot more complicated for you folks.

I alway pitch the yeast 1 day after crush and I only have 1 crush a year (except for chillean). There is not much to keep track of and just the one year tells me everything.

 

[dralarms]

Guess I'm doing it wrong. I put the date bottled on my labels.

 

[GreginND]

I say put whatever information YOU want on YOUR label. That's what counts. Otherwise, back to my original thought, just enjoy it!

 

[Polarhug]

Sometimes the kits I buy are a few years back, so i've been putting the harvest year integrated into the label (2010)... then I write by hand on a line "Bottled Feb 2013" for example. Because I usually have the labels done WAAAAY before the wine is done. That's my favorite part!

 

[Polarhug]

Guess I'm doing it wrong. I put the date bottled on my labels.

There is no "wrong" way. It's not for retail, this wine is YOUR baby so name it however you want!!

 

[JohnT]

I agree with polarhug, Whatever works for you is the best option. I promise that NOBODY here will call the label police!

BTW, TONYP,

AWESOME LABEL!!! Man, what a work of art! Did you create that one?