Guide
How to read a Bordeaux label in 60 seconds
Every line on the front is required by law, regulated by decree, or marketing. Learn which is which.
The short answer
A Bordeaux label holds 3 kinds of writing: what the law requires, what a decree regulates, and marketing. The appellation and the bottler are required. Mis en bouteille au château (bottled at the château) is regulated. Vieilles vignes (old vines) has no definition in law.
- 1The château name: the estate talking about itself; the law protects it only on appellation wine
- 2The appellation: the one word that says where the wine is from and under which rules it was made
- 3The rank words: look for Classé; Grand Cru on its own may be part of the appellation’s name
- 4The vintage
- 5Mis en bouteille au château: bottled where it was made
- 6The alcoholic strength and the volume: required, in one field of vision
- 7Who bottled it and where it comes from: required
- 8The sulfite warning, the pregnancy pictogram, and the lot number: required; they may stand outside the field of vision
The 60-second reading
Find the appellation first, because it is the only word on the bottle that says where the wine is from and under which rules it was made. Then look for a rank, and check whether the word Classé appears or whether Grand Cru is simply part of the appellation’s name. Then read the bottling line, which tells you whether the estate made the wine or a merchant bought it.
Everything else on the front is the estate talking about itself.
The half that cannot lie
Every bottle of French appellation wine sold in the European Union carries the same required details: the appellation, the actual alcoholic strength, the volume, where the wine comes from, who bottled it, and the sulfite warning. It also carries a lot number and, for wine made since December 8, 2023, the ingredients and a nutrition declaration.
Most of these must sit in one field of vision, legible without turning the bottle. The lot number, the importer, and, when the ingredients sit behind a QR code, the sulfite warning may stand outside it. The ingredients and the nutrition declaration may go behind that code, except the energy (calorie) figure, which stays on the bottle. In France, a ministerial order (arrêté) of October 2, 2006, under the law of February 11, 2005, adds one more: the pregnancy warning.
That is the dull half of the label. It is also the half that cannot lie.
Phrases a decree makes you earn
| Phrase | What it means | Who may print it |
|---|---|---|
| Mis en bouteille au château (bottled at the château) | Made on the estate it names and not moved off it before bottling | Only that estate |
| Mis en bouteille à la propriété (bottled at the property) | Bottled on the estate that grew and made the wine, or at the cooperative that made it | Estates and cooperatives |
| Mis en bouteille dans la région de production (bottled in the region) | Bottled inside the appellation’s delimited area, not necessarily at an estate | Open to a merchant |
| Cru Classé, Grand Cru Classé, Cru Bourgeois (opens in a new tab) | A rank in a classification recognized by a regulatory text | Only an estate in the list in force |
| Élevé en fûts de chêne (aged in oak barrels) | At least half the volume aged at least 6 months in oak | Anyone who does it |
| A grape variety | At least 85% of the wine is that grape | Anyone who does it |
Read the 3 bottling lines from the bottom up and they narrow: the region, then the property or its cooperative, then one estate and nowhere else. In France the word château is itself reserved for wines with an appellation, a rule set out in the guide to what château means.
Words with no definition in law
Vieilles vignes is not defined anywhere in French or European law. Nor is grand vin (the estate’s first wine) on its own, nor a good deal of the rest of the poetry. They are not forbidden; they simply carry no definition, and the only rule that applies is that the label must not mislead.
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine has recommended keeping vieilles vignes for vines of at least 35 years. No such limit exists in French or EU law.
Where to go next
Sources: DGCCRF, the rules for labeling wine · Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 of 17 October 2018 · Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1606 of 30 May 2023, the ingredients and the field of vision · Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux, the labeling rules · Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux, the bottler and the bottling terms · Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux, information note on the word château (June 27, 2016)