Vat & Bin

What do the terms Vat and Bin, followed by a number, mean on a wine label? Traditionally, certain wine, aged in a specific vat, tasted better than others, so it was bottled with that vat number on the label to distinguish it. Some bottled wine, stored at a winery awaiting shipment, may have tasted better than others when opened, so it wore its bin number on the label. Today, however, little of this concept is valid. More often than not, the use of bin and vat on labels are merely marketing ploys to make the consumer think the wine is somehow special, but really isn’t. Some of this labeling has evolved into branded names. Just be aware of this type of labeling and read back labels to see if the term carries any significance.

Vintage Charts

It’s a fact; some years are just better than others for wine. It generally always has to do with the weather. That’s where vintage charts can help. A vintage chart for a specific country or wine region reveals the quality of each year and how good that year was for its wines. Usually on a scale from 1-10, 1 being the worst and 10 the best, it makes sense to purchase wines from a better vintage, especially for aging purposes. In a better vintage, grapes are more concentrated and structured because of good weather and the resulting wines superior. These charts are available through many sources but the easiest way is on your computer. Simply Google “vintage chart” for any of your favourite wine regions. Cheers!

Grape Growing - Cool Climate vs. Warm Climate

Grapes grown in warm climates versus cool climates present winemakers with different winemaking issues. In warm climates, because of heat, there is usually no problem getting enough sugar in the grapes and higher potential alcohol results. However there might be problems attaining enough acidity, the sour component. In cool climates, acid levels are never usually problematic, but sugar content may be lower due to cooler temperatures. So wines produced in warm climates tend to have higher alcohol and lower acid while cool climate wines generally have lower alcohol with higher acid, with some variations according to the growing season. Of course, vineyard location and winemaking tricks can combat this somewhat.

Hard Press vs. Soft Press

Once grapes, including the skins, are crushed to make red wine, they must be pressed to produce juice. Did you know there are two methods of pressing red grapes - a hard press and a soft press? A hard press is like an Archimedean screw within a tank that aggressively squeezes the juice out. Here metal pushes against metal yielding maximum juice but it may contain bitter components and phenols from the skins. A soft press utilizes a rubber bag within a tank, that when slowly inflated, gently coaxes the juice out. No bitter components are included. The majority of inexpensive and commercial wines are made via a hard press while better wines are generally the result of a soft press. Now you know!

Focus on Wine Label Means Quality

The more focus on a wine label, generally the better the quality of wine! So if the label says simply table wine and product of a specific country, it means the grapes that went into making it come from anywhere in that country with minimal quality control. If it says a specific region, like Burgundy, then all the fruit comes from that region, with a little more focus A village name, like Beaune, indicates that only fruit from that particular village went into making the wine. Better quality still! And the best quality will come from wines labeled Chateau or Domaine, meaning the fruit that went into making them, came from one piece of land or vineyard. No matter where in the world a wine comes from, this concept holds true. Cheers!