How is still wine made? What are the wines. Varieties, classifications

It is not enough to find your taste, to understand what kind of wine you prefer: juicy fruity Chilean Merlot or silky Pinot Noir with a strawberry tint, delicate rose from Provence or spicy Australian from Shiraz, i.e. to know about the categories of wines, it is also necessary to be able to understand low-quality wine. Today on the shelves of our supermarkets wine abundance reigns, in which it is easy to simply get confused. To learn how to choose wines, you need to know their classifications according to international standards ...

By type, all grape wines are divided, according to the common European classification adopted in France. According to it, wines are divided into two fundamental groups: sparkling (containing dissolved carbon dioxide formed in fault naturally fermented and not intentionally removed) and quiet (not containing carbon dioxide).

The group of still wines is divided into three more subgroups: natural, liqueur and flavored. Natural still wines are the simplest wines that are obtained naturally: the fermentation of grape juice with the help of yeast, which converts sugar into alcohol. The strength of still wines ranges from 8 to 15 degrees. All table wines are of this type. Liquor (fortified) and flavored wines are made on the basis of still natural wines. Fortress liquor - 15-20 degrees. This is achieved by adding strong alcoholic drinks, most often brandy, to still natural wine.

Liquor wines include Madeira, sherries, ports, marsala. Flavored wines are obtained by adding quiet natural spices, herbs and spices and a little bit of grape spirit. The most famous flavored wines are vermouths. The most famous sparkling wine is champagne.

Each wine has its own style, which means two things: the color of the wine (white, rosé, red) and the degree of its sweetness (dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet). White wine can be made from any variety of grapes. The main thing is the way it is processed. When processing white wine, the squeezed grape juice is immediately filtered and fermented without pulp (skin). The color of white wine varies from cognac to light straw.

Wine with a reddish tint is called red. Its color ranges from deep ruby to pale scarlet. Red wines are made from red grape varieties, and the squeezed juice ferments along with the skins.

Rosé wines are made from white red grapes. The must ferments with the pulp for only a few hours, then the pulp is removed. The colors of rosé wines range from pale red to pinkish pale. Most natural wines are dry. All the sugar contained in them is "dry" fermented into alcohol.

There are natural semi-sweet or semi-dry wines in which sugar remains - due to the natural characteristics of the grape variety. But, unfortunately, such wines are very rare and expensive. Most semi-dry and semi-sweet wines are made using artificial inhibition of fermentation.

In terms of composition, Europe divides wines into blended (from a mixture of different grape varieties) and sepage (varietal, made from one grape variety). If a wine is named after a grape variety, such as Cabernet or Merlot, then it is varietal, or sepazhny.

When buying sepazhny wine, you know roughly what to expect from it, based on the characteristics of the grape variety. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that not every grape variety produces a harmonious wine. It is interesting that from a mixture of rough, disharmonious wines, an amazing fragrant product with excellent taste can turn out. On the label on the back of the bottle you can read which grape varieties are used to make the blend.

According to aging, wines are divided into young and aged. The beginning of the aging period is considered to be January 1 of the year following the harvest. Young wines are sold until this date. Ordinary wines (wine without aging) are sold from January 1 of the year following the harvest. Aged wines are wines that have been aged for at least six months.

Wines made from first-class grapes and aged in barrels for at least 18 months are called fine wines. The best examples of such wines fall into the collection category, which require an additional aging of at least three years. This classification is not entirely perfect, since wines without aging can include both low-grade, ordinary wines, and high-class ones that simply do not need long aging.

According to the same European classification, wines are classified according to their place of origin. When buying a bottle of wine in a store, read the label carefully. If the place of origin of the wine is not indicated, it is an inferior quality wine, which, according to European standards, is called table wine. For us, this is an ordinary natural wine. For residents of Europe, this is a synonym for low-grade, cheap home brew, a bottle of which costs no more than one or two dollars.

When the place of origin is indicated on the label (local wines), this means that the quality of such wine is much higher than that of table wine. After all, indicating the place of origin of his drink on the label, the manufacturer must have a license that confirms the compliance of his wine with the standard parameters for this region.

If the label indicates the place of origin of the wine, which also gives an idea of the type of drink, this means that the wine in front of you is guaranteed to be of the highest quality. To be assigned such a category, wine must be made from strictly defined grape varieties, in accordance with the standards for its cultivation adopted for a particular area. Such wines have an original bouquet and a specific taste, characteristic only for the area indicated in the name of the drink.

wine label- this is not just a beautiful image on the bottle, it can be safely called a wine metric. So, the label can tell what grapes the drink is made from, where the vineyards are located, who is its producer. And, having this information, you can already get a rough idea of what will be inside the bottle.

At first glance, nothing complicated. Indeed, on many labels everything is clearly marked, although there are often such inscriptions that are not always clear.

New World wine labels

New World wine labels are the easiest to understand. They are always made in English, which for the majority today is the "second native", which greatly facilitates their perception. In addition, in the countries of the New World there is no clear regulation and classification of wines, which also simplifies the perception of wine labels. As a rule, the following information is indicated there: the grape variety from which the wine is made, the name of the producer, the year of harvest, as well as the country and region of production.

Notably, some high-end New World wines can be identified by batch number, vineyard name, or owner's name. In this case, the grape variety from which the wine was made must be looked for on the counter-label.

1. Manufacturer's name.
2. Region of origin of grapes.
3. Grape variety (predominant variety listed first).
4. Vintage (the year of harvest).
5. Alcohol content per unit as a percentage of volume.

Important: Recently, Australia introduced a rule to designate wines from its best vineyards as Superior and Outstanding. In other countries of the New World, there is no official classification of wine quality that would be guaranteed at the state level.

European wine labels

European wine labels are much more difficult to understand than their counterparts from the New World. This is due to several factors: firstly, all European producers produce labels for their wines in the state language. That is, if you want to buy a bottle of French wine, you will have to deal with the inscriptions in French. If you want to get acquainted with the wines of Italy - labels are waiting for you, completely executed in Italian.

Secondly, in Europe there is no rule to print the name of the grape variety from which this or that wine is made. To understand what a drink is made of, one can only know the region of its production - most often, according to the legislation of wine-producing countries, a certain grape variety (varieties) is assigned to each region.

We also note that in Europe there is a classification of wines, which is controlled and guaranteed at the state level. The general meaning of this classification is to control the origin of the grapes. That is, if you buy a bottle of wine with an established abbreviation, you can be sure that this wine was produced in accordance with the rules defined at the legislative level (the grapes were grown in the established region, the production method and aging were observed).

Below is a table of correspondence between designations in the classifications of European wines (according to Oz Clark).

Note: table wines in Europe are wines that have no history, no territory of origin, and no strictly established production methods. It is also worth emphasizing that not always even the highest category of wine can insure against disappointment - it all depends on the particular producer. You can get acquainted with good producers by studying the world's leading wine ratings, as well as by getting advice from a professional sommelier.

France

The French label is often the hardest to read because there are so many labels and they are all in French. Although, for the sake of fairness, it is worth noting, despite some difficulties, it is the French wine label that allows the consumer to find out the most complete information about the wine.

1. The name of the wine.
2. "Mis en bouteille au château/domain" means that the wine is bottled on the estate. In addition to this designation, on the labels of French wines you can find: "Mis en bouteille a la propriété" (wine bottled in the place of its cultivation and production), as well as "Mis en bouteiile dans le région de production" (wine bottled in a given geographical area) .
3. Classification of vineyards from 1855: "Premier Grand Cru Classé" or other derivatives of "Cru" - the highest category, meaning the best or the best vineyards.
4. Name of the appellation (wine-growing region) - classification of quality and place of origin. It should be noted that according to the French rules for the production of wine, it is this name that tells the consumer the grape variety from which the wine is made.
5. Manufacturer's address.

Note: in some Bordeaux wines you can find the designation Grand vin. As a rule, this is the name of the main wine of the winery. However, this does not mean at all that this bottle contains "great wine".

Advice: often, looking at the wine label, you can see the intricate designation Superieur (superior is the Italian version). In this case, the prefix "super" does not indicate the quality of the wine - it simply says that the wine has been aged for a longer time and has a higher alcohol content than the ordinary wine of the same name.

Italy

Italian labels are in many ways similar to French ones:

1. Manufacturer's name.
2. The name of the region (in this case, Chianti). The prefix "Classico" is applied to wines that were produced in the historical part of the region.
3. DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) - the highest qualification of Italian wines by geographical origin.

Note: Reserva means that the wine has been aged longer in oak barrels than the ordinary wine of the same name.

Spain

As for the labels of Spanish wines, I would like to note the main distinguishing feature. So, they must indicate the duration of aging of wine, which is strictly regulated by law.

1. Manufacturer's name.
2. Gran Reserva means that the wine has been aged for 5 years - 2 of them in barrels.
3. The name of the region where the wine was produced.
4. Denominación de Origen Calificada - the name of an appellation of geographical origin.

Note: aging classification of Spanish wines: Crianza - 2 years, of which 6 months in barrels; Reserva - 3 years, of which 12 months in barrels; Gran Reserva - 5 years, of which 2 years in barrels.

Germany

On the labels of German wines, in addition to the classification by region, as is customary in Europe, the classification is also indicated by the level of sugar content in the wine, as well as the ripeness of the grapes.

1. Manufacturer's name.
2. Region of origin of the wine.
3. Vintage.
4. Village and vineyard
5. Grape variety.
6. The degree of maturity of the grapes.
7. General classification of wine quality.

Note: Qualitatswein mit Pradicat (the highest category of German wine) is divided into six different styles, determined by the level of ripeness of the grapes:

Kabinett - the lightest wine of the QmP category, as a rule, semi-sweet (unless it has other designations);

Halbtroken - semi-dry wine;

Spatlese (late harvest) - most often sweet wines, although there are also dry and semi-dry ones;

Auslese (selected) - wines from selected bunches of very ripe grapes. Often sweet, sometimes dry;

beerenauslese (selected berries) - sweet wines, from selected bunches of grapes affected by noble mold fungus;

Trockenbeerenauslese (withered selected berries) - sweet wines from selected bunches of grapes, withered under the influence of noble mold;

Eiswein (ice wine) - wine made from frozen grapes harvested in winter.

A bit of history

The wine label has its origins in ancient times. So, looking into the distant past, you can see the label not as a drawing, but as a thread element. It is noteworthy that the first labels can be considered inscriptions on amphorae and clay vessels, which were used by the Romans to transport wine.

The oldest wine label that archaeologists have been able to find dates back to 51 BC - the inscription "Lun-Vet/A-III-R/X/M/Valeri Abinnerici / Cornelia" (Old Moon, age three years, red) has been preserved on the amphora. , produced by Valerio Abinnerici and Cornelia"). In turn, in Northern Europe during the same period, barrels were actively used for transporting wine, so the inscriptions were made with chalk or charcoal.

Years passed, and when the glass bottle became commonplace for winemaking, the wine label took the form of a wooden plank or rolled parchment, which was tied to the neck of the bottle with a rope.

But as they emerged from the dark era of the Middle Ages, the market gradually expanded and wine bottles finally received label. The most important role in the formation of this marketing move was played by the acquaintance of Europeans with the great Asian invention - paper. It is much easier to apply images to paper than to bottle glass or hard wood, and gluing the paper itself to a glass surface is not a problem at all.

China gave labels another valuable technology - printing. In the eighteenth century in Germany, color lithography developed based on Chinese inventions, and this took the art of the label to the next level - print design.

Now bottle labels could be standard, informative and, most importantly, attractive to the human eye. Now it is difficult to imagine a bottle of wine on sale, on which there is no image or inscription - nevertheless, even at the beginning of the 19th century, many wines of even well-known brands had either an absolutely “naked” bottle or were sold for bottling in the buyer’s container.

In France and southern Germany, printers produced extremely curious, monochrome labels, which indicated the type of wine, and the manufacturer had to leave a note about himself by hand. The labels of this series rather resembled the standard form of a document issued by state printing houses, that is, they were in type, without graphic images.

The art of the label developed and reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century. This is the heyday of romantic art and the early modernism that came to replace it. Labels did not lag behind the general trend in art and were drawn in a very sophisticated way. At this time, we can practically observe the complete displacement of exclusively font labels, and in return for them there is an exquisite color lithography with gold stamping.

It is this time in the history of the label industry that without a shadow of a doubt can be attributed to the golden age of artistry in this industry. Printing matrices for wine labels were created by the best artists virtually by hand, which has never been the case since. In addition, due to rapid wear, labels were not produced at that time in mass editions. And even if they were repeated, they did not copy each other at all, as happened in the twentieth century and today.

But since the 50s of the 20th century, most wine-producing countries have adopted laws that decreed that the label on a bottle of wine should carry as much information as possible about the wine and its producer. In view of this, most winemakers have stopped decorating their wines with overly artistic creations. Such rules exist in the world of wine today.

Reading a wine label is a moment of getting to know a particular wine: knowing how to read the necessary information, you will be able to get a general picture of what is inside the bottle. Although, of course, personal taste preferences and experience can become the final factor when choosing a wine.

Still wines, as opposed to sparkling ones, do not "play" - they do not contain carbon dioxide and those delicious bubbles that champagne pleases with. They attract with a delicate aroma, rich taste with many shades and a long pleasant aftertaste.

It is not enough for every wine lover to know what "still wine" means - it is necessary to understand all the diversity of this category. Here are the main sections of the classification of still wines.

by color

By sugar concentration

Russian standards divide wines into 4 categories according to sugar concentration. In other countries, the classification may differ.

Dry - contain less than one percent residual sugar, or no more than 4 grams per liter.
Semi-dry - the process of sugar fermentation is not completely completed, 4-18 grams of sugar remains in one liter of wine.
Semi-sweet - contain 18-45 grams of sugar per liter.
Sweet - more than 45 grams of sugar in one liter of wine.

By exposure time

In most cases, wine aging has a positive effect on its taste and aroma, but there are also varieties that do not need aging, for example, Beaujolais - it is customary to drink it young. The wine material is aged in French oak barrels, steel tanks or in bottles. Depending on the exposure time, there are:

young wines - not subjected to aging;
aged - matured for at least six months in large volume wine tanks before reaching the bottling line;
vintage - high-quality wines from a certain region, aged for at least one and a half years for table wines and at least 2 years for fortified wines;
collection - the best samples of vintage wines, which, before being sold, matured not only in barrels and tanks, but also for at least 3 years in bottles.

The oldest wine on the planet is stored in Strasbourg. It has no name, but the date of manufacture is known - 1472. For all the time of its existence, it was tried only 3 times, and according to the latest chemical analyzes, the wine has such a high acidity that it looks more like vinegar or lemon juice. In the Crimean museum "Massandra" there are several bottles of Spanish sherry harvested in 1775. One of them was opened in 1964, another was sold at auction for $50,000, and three bottles should remain forever in the museum's funds.

By grape varieties

Monosepage wine - made from one variety of grapes, marked with the year of harvest.
Blended wine - made from a mixture of grapes of different varieties. For example, the famous Bordeaux blend is made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Occasionally Cabernet Franc replaces Malbec or Petit Verdot.

Now you know that this is still wine, and you will not feel embarrassed if someone offers you a glass of still wine. This is not something special and specific, but the very familiar still wine.

The Greek historian Thucydides once wrote that people living in the Mediterranean ceased to be barbarians when they mastered the cultivation of the olive and the vine. Wine is really as old as civilization itself, so it can be quite difficult to understand all the nuances of its production and use. Universal advice for everyone who is afraid of not mastering the science of wine and for this reason refuses wine itself: what you like is good, and it doesn’t matter what sommeliers and venerable critics think about it.

Story
One of the cradles of mankind was Mesopotamia, and the first evidence of grape juice fermentation was found... More...

Technology
Having harvested the grapes (ideally, the grapes should be fully ripe), the winemaker immediately sends them under the destemmer (however, many producers do not remove the stems completely, believing that excess tannins will not damage their wines), and then under the press. Read more...

Varieties

Regional division
All wine-producing countries can be divided into Old and New Worlds. The Old includes European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal), the New includes the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the countries of South America, South Africa. Read more...

grape varieties
International grape varieties include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Semillon, Syrah. Merlot wines, for example, are produced in France, and in California, and in Chile, and everywhere successfully. Autochthonous varieties are inherent only in a particular country or even region. In other countries, these vines either do not take root, or the wine from them turns out to be rather mediocre. If you want to try Nebbiolo wine, you will still not find anything better than the Piedmontese sample, although now Nebbiolo is also produced in the USA. And even more so, you will not find anywhere outside of Italy the producer of Barolo and Barbaresco - wines from 100% nebbiolo with DOCG status. Read more...

Vintage

Vintage in winemaking - wines or harvest of a certain year. This term, unless we are talking about ports and some sparkling wines, does not at all mean exceptionally good raw materials from which the wine was made. Wines of any vintage can be rated by critics as 98 points out of 100 possible, as well as 77, because vintage does not mean "classic" or "excellent" at all. If the harvest was in 2005, then the wine was aged for more than a year in oak and was bottled only by 2007, the label will still be 2005 - the vintage year. Read more...

Legislation and Reading Labels

A wine label for a person who encounters wine for the first time is a collection of words and abbreviations that hardly shed any light on what to expect from this wine and how appropriate it is as a gift or for this or that cocktail. We will try to understand this issue using the example of wine labels from France, Italy and Spain.

Still wines: classification

Still wines from Italy, Spain, France and Portugal are world market leaders.

Still wines depending on composition:

Canteens (strength 8.5-14%).
Dry (strength 9-14%).
Semi-dry and semi-sweet (ABV 9-12%).
Strong (strength 17-20%).
Dessert (12-17%).

Depending on the aging time, still wines are:

Aged. Such a high-quality drink, before being bottled, is aged in large barrels for at least half a year.
Vintage. Still table wines must be aged for at least 1.5 years, and strong and dessert wines for at least 2 years.
Collectible. These are special still wines. They are subjected to aging not only in a stationary container, but also in a bottle after bottling - for 3 years.

Still wines differ from each other depending on the color of the grapes:

White.
Pink.
Red.

Those who are interested in what these are “still wines” need to understand, the drink can change color - this is directly affected by the conditions of their content.

Still wines of Italy

Italy is a country with an ancient history of winemaking and worthy of competing with France, constantly making adjustments to the standards and improving the skills of its employees. Still wines (what it is noted above) can be of several categories: DOCG, DOC, IGT and Vino da Tavola (VdT). The first three include drinks that are produced under strict control and in compliance with specific technologies. These still wines are considered prestigious and expensive. The last abbreviation marks table wines at a fairly affordable price for most consumers. In terms of taste, still wines are not inferior to expensive analogues. It is also very important that such drinks are produced from a crop harvested in one year.

Conclusion

Still wines are quite a popular drink. The only thing that many buyers do not like is that the year of production is not indicated on the label. Delicate aroma and unsurpassed taste can fall in love with the wine of any ordinary consumer.

Wine classification

Wine is a constant companion of our life, and knowledge about it is an element of our culture. Since ancient times, grape wine has been called a sunny drink. The grapes from which it is made accumulate solar energy in their berries and give it to people. Quite rightly, they believe that everything bright and joyful was given to him by nature, and everything dark and evil - unreasonable people.

What are the wines

Grape wine is a drink obtained by fermenting grape must (squeezed juice) with or without pulp (seeds and skins of crushed grapes). In the process of fermentation, ethyl alcohol is formed due to the sugar of the grapes. If the sugar is fermented completely (dry), then dry wines are obtained.

Fermentation is a complex biochemical process caused by microorganisms (yeast) that convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide with the release of heat. At the same time, bubbles of carbon dioxide (DU) appear on the surface of the wort or pulp - this is a sign of the onset of fermentation. After two or three weeks, fermentation gradually stops, a cloudy liquid without sugar, but enriched with alcohol, is formed. It's already wine. It is removed from the yeast sediment, kept for some time in wine cellars, and treated to improve, clarify, develop aroma and taste. This is a short way to get natural dry wine. If, as a result of fermentation, part of the sugar has not fermented, then the resulting wine is called semi-dry or semi-sweet natural.

All wines are divided according to purpose, color and composition of the main components, grape variety, origin, aging period, preparation technology and aromaticity.

The fermentation of the must can be stopped by adding ethyl alcohol (from food raw materials) to it to produce fortified wines. This technological process in winemaking is called fortification, as a result of which strong or dessert wines can be obtained. For the production of natural wines, grapes with a sugar content of at least 17 g/100 ml of sugar are used.

By appointment wines are divided into table (used as a flavoring addition to the table) and dessert (served with dessert).

by color white, rosé and red wines are distinguished. White wines are wines that have a light straw to amber color or the color of strong brewed tea. Rose and red wines have a lot of shades from light ruby to dark garnet. White wines become darker with age, while red wines turn paler as the coloring matter precipitates.

By carbon dioxide content wines are divided into sparkling, containing DU, and still wines. Still wines do not contain an excess of DO.

Wines containing DU are subdivided into:

Saturated with natural DU as a result of fermentation under pressure in a hermetic container. These are sparkling wines obtained using a special technology by secondary fermentation of high-quality dry wine materials in special tanks or bottles. Classic sparkling wines produced in bottles and aged in them for at least three years are called aged and collection wines. In the Crimea, during fermentation in hermetic tanks, sparkling wines are obtained, for example, "Muscat Sparkling", "Red Sparkling", "Sevastopol Sparkling", etc.
Effervescent or carbonated - wines artificially saturated with DO. These are the wines "Aligote Sparkling", "Bakhchisarai Fountain", "Southern Sparkling", etc.

By sugar content wines are divided into table semi-dry (1-2.5 g / 100 ml), semi-sweet (3-8 g / 100 ml - table and 5-12 g / 100 ml - dessert), sweet (14-20 g / 100 ml) and liquor (21-35 gr / 100 ml).

still wines according to the composition are divided into the following groups:

table wines obtained without the addition of alcohol;
dry, containing alcohol of natural fermentation from 9 -14% vol.;
semi-dry, semi-sweet wines with an alcohol content of natural fermentation from 9-12% vol.;
fortified wines produced using rectified spirit;
strong, containing 17 - 20% vol. alcohol;
dessert with an alcohol content of 12-17% vol.

Soil and the location of the vineyard, climate and human labor play an important role in the formation of wine, but grapes remain the main thing.

By grape variety wines are divided into varietal, sepazhny and blended.

Varietal wines are made from one grape variety, although the addition of up to 15% of other grape varieties of the same botanical species is allowed (Cabernet Massandra, Port Red Livadia, Bastardo Massandra, Aleatico Ayu-Dag, etc.) .

Sepazhny wines are prepared from a mixture of grape varieties by mixing them proportionally during processing ("Sunny Valley", "Black Doctor", "Black Colonel", etc.).

Blended wines are produced from two or more batches of wine materials made from different grape varieties (White Muscat Red Stone, South Coast Red Port Wine, etc.).

By quality wines are divided into ordinary, vintage, collection, old. For dry table wines, aging must be at least 1.5 years, with the exception of Kakhetian type wines, for which aging is at least 1 year; for strong and dessert wines aging - 2 years or more.

Vintage wines of higher or highest quality are called collection wines if, after aging in oak containers, they are stored in bottles for at least 3 more years.

Among vintage wines, CNP wines (Controlled Designations of Origin) stand out in particular. They are produced in strictly limited geographical areas from specific grape varieties, and the use of their names in other areas is prohibited. The production of these wines is controlled by the producing country. But in the CIS countries and in the Crimea such wines are not produced today.

In wine-producing countries, a new category has recently appeared - local wines. It combines high-quality vintage and ordinary wines, the name of which necessarily indicates the place of their production.

Ordinary - these are wines consumed the next year after the year of their production without aging.

Vintage high-quality wines are produced from certain grape varieties and aged in oak containers for at least 1.5 - 2 years, counting from the first of January of the year following the harvest.

Old wines can only be found in enotecas.

According to the technology of preparation wines of traditional, classical methods of production (barrel aging, bottle champagne) and modern progressive technological methods (reservoir sparkling, continuous sherry) stand out.

A bottle of collectible wine can tell a lot about the weather conditions of the year in which it was made, about the method of preparation, aging conditions, its heyday and aging characteristics. The most short-lived wines are table wines. They usually die off by the age of 40, turning into a tasteless liquid with a high content of volatile acids. Fortified wines such as port, Madeira, sherry are most fully developed by 80-100 or more years of aging. Dessert wines are the most unique decoration of the collections. Like strong vintage wines, they are preserved, improving the quality. In the practice of winemaking, the oldest Crimean dessert wine is pink Muscat "Magarach" harvested in 1836, listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

According to European wine law, wines are divided into table, local and vintage.

Table wines are produced in different regions of a particular country, contain alcohol at least 9% vol. depending on the locality. These wines can be mixed with similar wines from different regions of the country and are intended for everyday consumption. On average, in the countries of Western Europe, they produce about 50% of the total volume of wine production, which often creates an excess of them, which is annually withdrawn from trade for processing into alcohol.

Vintage high-quality wines are controlled by:

according to the origin of the area, the boundaries of which provide for the homogeneity of soils,
according to grape varieties historically identified in each locality,
according to the method of growing grapes (distance between bushes, pruning, care, etc.),
by production technology, including aging.

Vintage high-quality wines have an additional set of quality rules:

list of grape varieties to mix in percentage terms,
the maximum allowed grape harvest per hectare,
alcohol content.

The volume of production of these wines is up to 30% in France, 14% - in Italy, up to 90% - in Germany.

French vintage wines from small areas of grape cultivation in their names have mandatory indications of accurate production data, the highest yield per hectare, and controllability of origin.