On a fine wine’s label, the finest words are the optional ones.
A fine wine is a bottle you cannot taste first. What you can read before you buy is the label, and on an Australian label the words do not all carry the same weight. The year, the grape and the place are optional; once printed, each has to be true to a share of the wine.
General information about Australian wine labelling law. Each rule names its source; check the regulator’s page before you rely on it.
- The promisesThe words a maker may print or leave off. Once printed, each must be true to a share of the wine, and the shares are set by the Wine Australia Act 2013 and the Wine Australia Regulations 2018.
- The required wordsThe words a bottle of wine for retail sale must carry, set by the Food Standards Code and trade measurement law.
- The seller’s wordsThe words and duties that come with the sale, not with the bottle, set by state liquor law: New South Wales first, with Victoria and Queensland where this site holds them.
The promises
The year, the grape and the place are the words a bottle is sold on, and not one of them is required. A maker may leave all three off. But a claim, once printed, has to be true to a share of the wine, and the shares are set in the Wine Australia Regulations 2018: 85 parts in 100 when one year, one grape or one region is named, and 95 parts in 100 when two or three regions share the label, each of them at least 5. Wine Australia gathers the three rules under one name, the blending rules.
Year
A year on a bottle is a claim about the harvest. At least 850 mL in every litre, which is 85 parts in 100, must come from grapes harvested in the year printed. The rest may be wine of other years.
Region
A region is a claim about where the grapes grew. One region printed means at least 850 mL in every litre came from grapes grown in it. Two or three regions must together account for at least 950 mL in every litre, each of them at least 50 mL, printed largest first. A label that uses an Australian registered geographical indication may carry no more than three registered geographical indications and foreign place names together, and the register that holds those names is kept by Wine Australia.
Grape
A grape name is a claim about what the wine is made of. If one grape is printed, at least 850 mL in every litre must be that grape. If more than one is printed, they must together account for at least 850 mL in every litre, in descending order, and each named grape must be present in a greater proportion than any grape the label leaves off.
The required words
Wine packaged for retail sale here carries words no maker may leave off, most set by the Food Standards Code and the volume by trade measurement law. They are the plain half of the label: what is in the bottle, how much alcohol and how many standard drinks, the warning for pregnancy, the sulphites, the volume, who supplied it, and the lot it came from.
| Word | Required by | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol content | Standard 2.7.1, s 2.7.1-3 | Alcohol by volume; for wine, accurate to within 1.5% alcohol by volume |
| Standard drinks | Standard 2.7.1, s 2.7.1-4; Standard 1.2.1, s 1.2.1-8(1) | The approximate number of standard drinks the package holds; a standard drink is 10 g of ethanol at 20°C |
| Pregnancy warning | Standard 2.7.1, s 2.7.1-8 | A prescribed alcoholic beverage must carry a pregnancy warning label; its form and its size depend on the package |
| Sulphites | Standard 1.2.3, s 1.2.3-4; Schedule 9 | Added sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more must be declared; the prescribed name for wine is “sulphites” |
| Volume | The National Trade Measurement Regulations, as Wine Australia sets the rule out | The volume of wine in the package; on a 750 mL bottle the characters are at least 3.3 mm high |
| Name and address | Standard 1.2.1, s 1.2.1-8(1)(c); Standard 1.2.2, s 1.2.2-4 | The name and business address of a supplier in Australia or New Zealand; a postal address will not do |
| Lot identification | Standard 1.2.1, s 1.2.1-8(1)(b); Standard 1.2.2, s 1.2.2-3 | A lot code; Australia prescribes no format for it, and it is usually a letter-and-number code |
The seller’s words
Wine is sold under a licence, and the state’s law begins there. In New South Wales the person who delivers wine sold by retail must not hand the package to anyone under 18, whichever state the sale was made in, and the Act sets out what may be taken as proof of age: a current document bearing the person’s photograph, such as a driver licence, a proof of age card or a passport. Victoria and Queensland each set their own list, and their own penalties.
The guides
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What does the vintage year on a bottle mean?
The share of the wine that must come from the year printed, what a label may say about other years, and the record behind the claim.
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What does the region on a wine label actually guarantee?
One region, two or three, and the register of place names that defines each one, down to the subregion.
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Why can’t Australian sparkling wine be called Champagne?
The place names the register keeps for wine made elsewhere, and the dates each one took effect.
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Is a wine labelled “Shiraz” at least 85 percent Shiraz?
One, two and three grapes on a label, drawn to scale, and the rule that decides what the rest of the wine may be.
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Who checks that a wine label tells the truth?
The records behind the year, the region and the grape, who may ask to see them, and what a false description costs.
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What must every bottle of wine sold in Australia say?
Every word a bottle must carry, each set beside the clause of the Food Standards Code that requires it.
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Who checks your age when you buy wine online?
Who may sell wine, what counts as proof of age, and the rule that stops a delivery to a minor.