How do we read the label of Romanian wine?

How do we read the Romanian wine label? Well, we must pay attention to the following details found on the labels of a wine bottle.

Wine labelling represents: mentions, indications, factory or commercial brands, images, signs, symbols, which we can see on any packaging, document, announcement, label, ring, cuff, hood, stopper, presentation in the online environment, which accompanies a certain wine product or refers to it.

Any wine product sold in Romania in containers of maximum 60 liters must be labelled according to the legislation in force (wines (quiet, effervescent or special), musts, wine vinegar, marc and wine by-products). Each manufacturer, bottler or trader can customize their label, but personalization goes as far as choosing a certain form of glass, a certain shape of the box, hood or the like.

On the wine label of a Romanian wine we must find at least the MANDATORY INDICATIONS. This would be the technical label or the main label. Most wines bottled in the bottle also have a counter-label, which contains graphics, brand / brand and other personalization elements, so this secondary label can be called the artistic label. What this artistic wine label will contain is left to the choice of the one responsible for design or marketing. Therefore, we will identify only the technical label and the mandatory information, together with some optional information that can accompany the product throughout its life from bottling to the consumer.

THE MANDATORY INDICATIONS must be grouped in the same field of vision (not to have to rotate the glass in order to be able to read them), to be written with clear letters / number, easy to read, by nesters and large enough to stand out from the background on the wine label which they were printed.

The mandatory indications are:

• WINE
• Name of controlled + its name sor geographical indication+ its name,for example: Wine with a controlled designation of origin BANAT orWine with geographical indication Viile Carasului
• Acquired alcoholic strength (in characters of 5 mm, in glass of 0.75 l), e.g.: 12,5 % vol.alc.
• Country of origin: Produced in Romania
• The name of the bottler, written with the smallest characters and with all the contact details: address, phone, e-mail, site / GPS coordinates (as the case may be)
• indication of the type of effervescent wine according to the sugar content (glucose and fructose), in the case of sparkling wine, sparkling wine, quality sparkling wine or quality sparkling wine of aromatic type. One of the following variants will be written: Gross-natured, Extra-gross, Gross, Extra-dry, Dry, Demi-sec, Sweet, ,as the case may be.
• in the case of sparkling wine and aerated semi-sparkling wine, an indication of the production method: ‘obtained by the addition of carbon dioxide’; It will be written: "sparkling wine obtained by adding carbon dioxide"/ " "pearlescent wine obtained by adding carbon dioxide",”,as the case may be.
• the nominal volume of the container (in characters of at least 5 mm, in a bottle of 0.75 l), e.g.: e – 0,75 l/ 75 cl/ 750 ml.
• mentions indicating the sugar content: dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet,,as the case may be.
• indication of the batch number allowing identification of the date of bottling, e.g.: _MO21or fullL034MTO2021_MO21 sau 2022-06-30
• Varietal wine, if the wine is obtained from the varieties accepted for the production of varietal wine and has neither a designation of origin nor a geographical indication
• Name of importer with all contact details, if applicable
• The indications : "sulphites" or "sulphur dioxide", "eggs", "egg proteins", "egg products", "lysozyme from eggs" or "egg albumin", "milk", "milk products", "milk casein" or "milk proteins" or the corresponding pictograms, as the case may be; At least the phrase"contains sulfites" ”. must be written.
• The certification mark of origin and authenticity received from O.N.V.P.V.V., for wines with a controlled designation of origin, geographical or varietal indication produced in Romania