Bottled at the property
- 16 December 2011
- Last Updated: 23 April 2012
- Hits: 9381
Bottled at the property?
Some informations required are listed on the bottle labels. These informations are differents depending on country of sale, they are dependent on the laws of the country. Thus, the words "contains no ..." only means that the quantities analyzed are below the legal concentration and not a total absence of these molecules. In addition, the alcohol content can vary within narrow values. Among the informations required, the place of bottling is the most dubious.
"Bottled at the chateau," "bottled at the domain" or "bottled at the property" these criteria are considered as a guarantee of quality by many enthusiasts. In most cases this criterion does not mean anything. A winery can change the words "bottled at the property" or "bottled at the domain" after a simple administrative declarations. This does not involve the quality of wine.If a piece of property resembles a castle, it can also label "Bottled at the chateau". The real castles or domains live due to their good reputation and they usually take care of the quality. However, the price of wine varies mainly depending on demand and not according to quality criteria : if you can believe that this little light and fruity wine requires a lot of expertise, feel free to buy 5-6 euros or more one bottle (prices in France).
The photos below shows a truck equipped to bottling and packaging of bag-in-box.
Official documents on the circulation of wines in France
Réglementation applicable aux capsules représentatives de droits (CRD), Circulaire du 3 février 2011
Réglementation officielle : Combien peut on acheter de litres de vin en vrac ?, pour les particuliers et les professionnels.
Aucune obligation
A winemaker, a wine cooperative or a wine merchant can also buy bulk wine, buy the service of a truck bottling on site and then stick labels "Bottled in ...". Bring a truck of bottling is a little expensive but it's not out of reach. If you manage to sell 3-4000 bottles around 3 euros it just remain a good deal
Beware especially when the criterion "Bottled at the property" is too much emphasis, it is hiding something and you must find out what! A special note for the words "Bottling in the region of production" ("Mise en bouteille dans la région de production"): here, there is a good chance that the product is poor and cheap.
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