Wine bottle labels have many things listed on them & they all refer to different details. Are they all relevant? I'll explain the ones I believe will tell you the most:
Varietal (for North America...in Europe grapes are identified by their region of origin. We'll describe the North American method here.) The varietal(s) is/are the type(s) of grapes used to make the wine. If more than one type of grape were used, the first varietal listed will be the primary grape in the blend. Each varietal has its own unique characteristics that will contribute to the taste of the wine. Once you gain familiarity with some of the different straight varietals, it's easier to tell what blended wines may taste like based on the different components of each grape. For example: Gewurtztraminer is typically a sweeter tasting grape with notes of tropical fruit, lychee & aromatic spice. Riesling is generally sweet-tart, quite literally like the little pressed powder candies, with notes of white peach & a crisp and refreshing acidity. So in a Gewurtz/Riesling blend, the rich sweetness of the Gewürztraminer will be balanced out by the tartness of the Riesling, thus becoming a rich tasting wine with a crisp & refreshing finish.
Year: this is also referred to as "vintage" or "vintage year". This is the year that the grapes were harvested. It's not necessarily the year the wine was made, or when the wine hit the shelf...it's the year the grapes were harvested. You can use this info to formulate a guess of how the wine may taste based on weather conditions during the growing season in the area where the grapes were from. When you're growing wine grapes, a drier season is better. If you have too much rain, or insufficient drainage, the grapes will soak it up & you'll wind up with larger grapes that have a more diluted flavour. Also, if it's "young" or "aged" it will have a different taste. Younger wines tend to be a bit more vibrant or sharper. Aged wines (as long as it's a wine that was appropriate for aging) will be richer and more complex in flavour. If it was a wine that may not have been appropriate for aging, it will surely be sharper in flavour & not have as crisp of a finish.
VQA? VQA stands for Vintners Quality Alliance. In Ontario when you see "VQA Ontario" on the label, this ensures you are getting 100% Ontario grown grapes. This is helpful if you support "buying local", or if you are familiar with how a certain region's grapes taste. There is also a "VQA British Columbia". Quebec and Nova Scotia also have grape growing regions which aren't yet recognized as Viticultural Areas, but rather "Growing Areas" The VQA logo on a bottle of Canadian wine is the assurance of origin, quality production, content, varietal percentage, appellation, and vintage. Some other countries' premium wine authorities include France’s AOC, Italy’s DOC and Germany’s QmP.
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