The phrase “bottled by” has less of a risk of misinterpretation than “vinted by.” If no other phrases are noted on the bottle, then the winery indicated simply bottled the wine. They may be lower cost or blended to be more palatable to new wine drinkers. These wines may be drinkable when they’re very young, rather than improving with age. There is nothing inherently wrong with this process as it may produce wines that have different characteristics than what is possible through a single winery made wine. Long Barn Chardonnay is one example where Long Barn is the winery on the front of the label, but the description on the back indicates that they may not have actually made more than 10% of the wine in the bottle. For example, the winery might by a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, blend them together, and call it a “California” Cabernet.
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If the label states the wine was “vinted and bottled by”, the winery may have purchased the bulk wine and processed it further by adding additional sugar or water, blending with another wine, filtering it, pasteurizing it, or even just simply refrigerating it. If the label states the wine was “vinted by” but has no other descriptions, it’s possible the wine simply was stored or moved through the wineries facilities already bottled. This means that they did not process the grapes themselves and make the wine in house. “Vinted by” is used synonymously with “cellared by” to indicate that the winery indicated may have treated the wine with some additional process, but likely bought wine in bulk from another winemaker. In this instance, “Vinted by” means that the winery indicated made less than 10% of the wine in the bottle. In California, there are legal definitions for many of these phrases. This phrase may mislead wine buyers unless the buyers know what it actually means. Vinted is the past tense of the word “vint” which means to make or produce wine. We will explain what these descriptions really mean and how they may impact the finished wine. These wines are created for specific purposes that cater to different markets, including low-cost bottles, or easy to drink wines, among other reasons. The wine maker may source grapes from other vineyards, or sell their wine to other wineries for further production, or send their wine to a bottling facility. Wine may change many hands during the growing, crushing, fermenting, bottling, and aging process.
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Vinted and Bottled By are descriptions to inform the buyer how involved the winery on the label was involved in the production of the final, purchased bottle of wine. Modern buyers are more curious about where their food, products, and even alcohol originated to help them make more responsible choices, including wine. However, if you aren’t sure what the notes mean, then you may feel like you are in the dark. Wine bottles will often have notes on the label to help buyers understand what they are buying. Published by OFW Strategic Director Brian Mounts in line with our editorial policy. This Article Was Reviewed, Fact-Checked, and Edited by Staff Sommelier Rob Wyngard