Keeping non-essential elements off of wine labels

Is there anything on your wine labels that doesn’t need to be there? Too much unnecessary language or empty space might be a bad signal to consumers. Even worse than being unattractive, it could actively mislead them. Food & Wine’s Carson Demmon recently commented on the wine words that can confuse shoppers, at least in the U.S.

One prominent example Demmon gives is the word “reserve” and its variations. Unlike in Europe, the word reserve doesn’t have specific connotations, which leaves the meaning dangerously open-ended, especially if customers don’t have much knowledge of wine to begin with. This can put some responsibility on winemakers not to choose label terms that don’t have apparent definitions.

“While there are certainly honest winemakers out there with legit two-tier release programs (wherein a basic bottling comes out first—and is less expensive—than a reserve bottling which sees more time in barrel), most instances of Reserve are complete bunk,” Demmon said.

Wine buyers will likely have their own ways to ask about new vintages, and companies can respect that when working on new designs. Bon Appétit listed some of the questions consumers can ask to help decide on a new vintage, such as asking about pairings, cost and similar tastes. While there’s only so much space on each bottle, it may help to know exactly how customers are likely to find your bottles in the first place.

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