What does reserve mean
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What does 'reserve' mean on New World wines?

What does ‘reserve’ mean?

G Tunstall, Lincolnshire asks: I know riservas and reservas have appellation restrictions in Italy and Spain, but how about if a New World wine is labelled ‘reserve’ – is this a better wine or just a marketing tool?

Stephen Brook, Decanter contributing editor, replies: It is one of the advantages of wine production in the New World that it is far less constrained by rules and regulations than much of Europe.

The drawback is that labelling terms such as ‘reserve’ are undefined and thus meaningless. A ‘reserve’ bottling will certainly be pricier than a non-reserve from the same producer, and it may well be better, but there is no guarantee that this is so.

Reputable wineries will use the word ‘reserve’ to designate a wine from an outstanding parcel, or from the best barrels in that vintage, but they are not obliged to follow such criteria. Nor is the Old World without fault.

There is at least one leading Alsace producer for which ‘reserve’, annoyingly, signifies ‘entry-level’. In Italy and Spain the terms have legal definitions but are still not absolute guarantees of higher quality.

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Stephen Brook
Stephen Brook

Stephen Brook has been a contributing editor to Decanter since 1996 and has won a clutch of awards for his writing on wine. The author of more than 30 books, his works include Complete Bordeaux, now the definitive study of the region and in its third edition, and The Wines of California, which won three awards. His most recently published book is The Wines of Austria. Brook also fully revised the last two editions of Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion, and he writes for magazines in many countries.