wine label

please help me settle an argument. If you have a number of wine tanks,say in a winery, that have the same variety grape , with the same wine making values,i.e. PH, Acidity,residual sugar, etc. But the taste is slightly different between tanks. Do you have to have different labels for each tank? Thanks Alex

You asked:

If you have a number of wine tanks,say in a winery, that have the same variety grape , with the same wine making values,i.e. PH, Acidity,residual sugar, etc. But the taste is slightly different between tanks. Do you have to have different labels for each tank?

Grapes harvested from the same vineyard on the same day, fermented at the same time using the same method, yeast and nutrients, and tucked away for a period of time in separate tanks/kegs/barrels/casks made from different materials i.e., oak (american and french) stainless steel, double density food grade plastic, or glass will age differently. each container will impart different (or no) flavors. The capacity of the container will effect the aging and maturation of the wine within.

For example, one ton of cabernet grapes fermented and then racked into two side-by-side French oak (59 gallon) barrels and aged for the same duration using the same topping wine and the same racking procedures, and the same fining materials will taste different from each other.

The short answer is no, but.

Now for the questions for the long answer:

Are the wines in the "tanks" from different vineyards or AVAs?
Are the grapes from a different harvest?

Do you intend to bottle as the "same variety grape" or will some of it be blended with other(s)?

If any of the answers to the above questions are yes, you may need new labels for each.

ted

Hello Ted, Thanks for the answer. We are a start up muscadine winery i n eastern N.C. My son and I are still learning . He is convinced that we need to use a new label just because their is a slight difference in taste between tanks. All the parameters are the same i.e. same vineyard, Same vintage, etc. Regards Alex

[Jenise]

Grapes harvested from the same vineyard on the same day...

Ted, I've enjoyed your posts in recent days and I see from your profile that you're a winemaker up here in my part of the world. I tried to click on the link you provided, but all I get is the error message "This Page Cannot Be Displayed". I'm not sure what's not operational, but I got the same error yesterday. So tell us about your winery, since we can't see for ourselves.

Under the circumstances you outline, and assuming that you won't as many wineries do, consolidate the wine into a single tank for bottling, I can see why he might have a concern about people buying 2 different bottles and getting different experiences.

I don't expect that your small winery even HAS a tank big enough to consolidate the two batches, so you could always have two labels - something like 'Batch 1' and 'Batch 2' or something to set them apart for discerning consumers. More fuss and expense for you, of course. If you didn't bother, there would probably be no consequence. Another solution - use a third small tank and introduce equal aliquots from the primary tanks, and then bottle from there, topping up as needed from the 'parent' tanks to create a uniform blend.

The wines should have different Lot numbers - the L numbers you see printed on the bottle.