Quality Guaranteed
These may not be necessarily the best wines on the market. It doesn't
mean that if it's an AC or a DC it has the best quality. It's just to
guarantee that the wine comes from where it says it comes from. In
theory, the wines have to be of a certain quality to gain their ranking.
The Vintage
- Another important piece of information you're likely to find on
the label is the vintage date.
- A vintage wine is any wine that comes from a single year.
- Some vintages are better than others. But some New World
countries have, on the whole, fewer vintage variations than most
European countries.
- Only small proportion of wines are meant to be stored for
long periods to mature. Some wines are made to be drunk as soon as
they are available in the shops, whatever the vintage.
- Most wines will deteriorate if you keep them too long.
- Don't try to keep inexpensive white wines more than a couple of
years after the vintage date: they don't improve with age.
Growers vs. Merchants
- Some wine comes from individual growers, who have grown the
grapes on their own land and bottled the wine themselves, and some
comes from merchants who have bought wine or grapes from growers and
blended it to a particular style. There can be differences in
quality. In most cases, a grower's wine has more character.
Co-operatives
Co-operatives are groups of growers who band together to form a
company. They have a central winemaking facility and own it jointly.
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