What makes a reserve wine

In the TTB — the government organization that regulates U. Don't miss a drop! Get the latest in beer, wine, and cocktail culture sent straight to your inbox.

Well, it depends. For most wines, a riserva label will require at least two years of aging, with some wines requiring four or five years of aging before earning the label.

However, as far as the U. While the label itself may not mean much, wine collectors can still find and hunt down exceptional wines the old-fashioned way: by tasting wine and identifying excellent producers. In order for a member winery to call a wine "reserve," it means only 3, cases or 10 percent whichever is greater of a winery's production can be labeled as such. These wines must be designated by the winemaker as higher quality and higher priced. Apr 5, Dear Dr. Vinny, Could you please explain the term "reserve" when added to a wine label?

Dear Bud, For the most part, the term "reserve" has no real or legal meaning in the U. In this way, the term had nothing to do with the actual fermentation or blending process but instead was used after the fact as a signpost for quality. There are plenty of winemakers who truly do put their best foot forward in only labeling exceptional products with the term.

Unfortunately, there are just as many wineries that fall on the other side of the spectrum. Important to understand when discussing reserve wines is that the vast majority of wine producing regions throughout the world are not required to follow any types of rules when it comes to using the term. The worst case scenario, on the other hand, is that the term was only used to help move the bottle off shelves — far more common than most in the industry would like to admit.

Two very important exceptions to the rule are Spain and Italy, both of which feature strict guidelines for using the terms reserva and riserva respectively.