Beginner's Guide To Reading A Spanish Wine Label

Problem
Reading a Spanish wine label - how can I read, remember and recognize it at a glance?

Here's a Spanish wine label.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Translation and Explanation
PLACE NAMES
Alta - high
Haro - old town in the Rioja region, a base for touring the wineries (Easy to remember because it sounds like Harrow in England)
Rioja - region in northern Spain. (Not a grape, not a brand a region. R for Rioja, r for region.)
Rioja region has a large number of wineries around the old town of Haro. We spent a few days there visiting all the vineyards and wineries.
E s p a n a - Spain

Spanish words (which may form part of a brand name)
a g r i c u l t u r o - agriculture
bodega / bodegas (plural) - wine cellar or grocery shop selling wines and foods, often in a wine town, originally a wholesale warehouse but now a small or large shop
contiente - contains (ingredients / additives)
de - of
del - of the
dulce - sweet
en - in
e m b o t t e l a d o - bottled
este - this
finos - fine (plural)
f u n d a d a - founded
Gran - grand
i n v e r n o s - winter (like the French word h i v e r which sounds like hibernate) (I had to insert spaces because the spell checker turned the word into the place name Inverness, in Scotland!)
la - the
ministerio - ministry
N o r t e - North
o r i g e n - origin
producto - product
real - royal
rosado - rose or pink
torre - tower
v i n e d o s - vineyards (I had to insert spaces because automatic spell checker turned the word into videos!)
vino - wine
vinos - wines

BRAND NAMES
CUNE
Lopez de Heredia
Muga


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher. Please share these posts.

Reading and Translating a Spanish Wine Bottle Labels

Here is the wine bottle and the labels back and front which I shall translate. Isn't Google translate wonderful. You don't even need to tell it which language any more. It just translates automatically from its bank of dictionaries into English. Here goes with the label translation.

Marques means marquis, as I guessed.

According to Google translate Heredos del - heredos del is Spanish for inheritors of. I thought of translating it as descended from. But inheritors of includes people who have bought the company or work for them or with them. Del is Spanish for of, like de in French. Os is a Spanish plural, just like English adding s for a plural. 

Denominacion de origen - place of origin. Denomaination=naming or of the name.

Elciego I guessed was a place name.

1. Elciego is a town and municipality located at the southern end of the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Wikipedia
   
   Bodegas fundadas en - Bodega (literally cellar - now wine cellar or winery) founded in
   
   bodegas - wine cellars
   
   The label on the back tells you that the company was founded in 1860 and they believe they are the oldest bodega in the Rioja region. I have not checked when anybody else makes a rival claim.
   
   The label also informs you that the wine has a fruity bouquet (meaning aroma) and a lingering oaky flavour. Oaky flavour comes from oak barrels. (The oak from France or elsewhere such as in the USA may have a different flavour.) The French oak with strong flavour is needed to match the strength of flavour of a rich red wine.
   
   

   

   This is the Marques de Riscal hotel designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, mentioned in my earlier post.
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   Photos of the town of Elciego (Eltziego in Basque) by Nicola from Wikipedia

   
   

   

   
   

   Picture from Wikipedia of the town of Elciego, photo by Nicola and Imamon or unknown

   
   

   RIOJA IN LONDON

   If you want to taste Rioja in London, note in your diary that September is the month when the trade shows are held in London for the importers. Sometimes the trade show is daytime in working hours in a hotel conference room. A public show may be held in the evening. A charge might be made. Customers who buy regularly from a wine shop or wine organisation might be sent a free ticket to one or both of these shows. Look out for dates of shows, blogs about shows and the new wines.

   
   

   If you see Gran Reserva on a bottle, this means that the bottle has been reserved, not sold but saved for more years. It is worth doing this only with the best wine. Most of this will come from Rioja in the north, which they will tell you has the best wines. The rule for red Rioja is that a Gran Reserva must be stores for two years in the barrel, then another three bottles. The winemakers owner must wait for five years and invest in costly barrels and equipment and manpower, so this is only done in regions with the best wine.

   
   

   Unfortunately this length of time  2 in barrel then 3 in bottle, is the rule made by the Rioja Region 'guardians' (my word, not theirs) to preserve the quality and consistency and reputation of wines sold under their region's name. So another region might store wines for different lengths of time. However, all most members of the public need to do is look for Gran Reserva on the label. 

   
   

Spanish Wine Labels - What do they tell you?

SPANISH WINE LABEL - RIOJA

Spanish - English  

vinos - wines

finos  - fine ones (plural adjective matching plural noun)

de - of

vina - wine

Haro - main town in the Rioja area - see my hotel review on Tripadvisor

alta - high, as in high altitude

y - and

vinedos - vineyards

bodegas - wine cellar(s) (or grocery stores)

Madrid - capital city of Spain

fundada - founded

en - in

To translate labels go to the winery website and click on the union Jack top right of screen to convert text to English or try website google translate and copy into the box a word or phrase or longer section from the label 

translate.google.com

(I'm adding more labels from other countries so come back to this post over the weekend)

Some wines are made in the traditional oak barrels which add a distinctive flavour. You can take tours and see how they make barrels. 

For more about wine see wikipedia Rioja wines.

Rioja [ˈrjoxa] is a wine region, with Denominación de Origen Calificada (D.O.Ca. Qualified designation of origin) named after La Rioja, in Spain. Rioja is made from grapes grown not only in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, but also in parts of Navarreand the Basque province of Álava. Rioja is further subdivided into three zones: Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa.

denominacion - denomination (naming)

de - of

origen - origin

calificada - qualified

alta

baja

For touring around the area see:

http://winetourismspain.com/wine-tourism/rioja/