8 Wine Label Words to Know Before You Start

By the WNLQ9.shop sommelier team · Published 2026-10-17

Short answer

Eight words cover most wine labels. AOC/AOP is a legally protected place name. Vintage is the harvest year. Grand Cru ranks a vineyard or village. Domaine or Château is the grower’s estate. Mis en bouteille au domaine means bottled on that estate. NV is a blend of years. Brut means under 12 g/L of sugar. Vieilles Vignes means old vines, with no legal definition.

Key facts

Vintage: harvest year
Brut: under 12 g/L sugar (EU)
AOP: EU-level name for AOC
Vieilles Vignes: no legal definition in France

AOC / AOP: a place name protected by law

AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) means the wine comes from a defined area and follows that area’s rules on grapes, yields and winemaking.

AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) is the same idea at European Union level. French wines may use either, and they mean the same thing. On the label the place name usually sits in the middle, as in Appellation Bordeaux Contrôlée.

Vintage: the harvest year, not the bottling year

The year on the label is the year the grapes were picked. The wine may age for years before release, but the number stays the harvest year.

It matters because weather changes every season. A hot year gives riper grapes; a cool or wet year gives leaner, sharper wine.

In the EU a wine that states a year must take at least 85% of its grapes from that year. No year on the label usually means a blend of years, called NV.

Grand Cru: a rank of land that changes by region

Grand Cru means "great growth". In Burgundy it names the 33 top vineyards. In Champagne it names the 17 top-rated villages.

In Bordeaux, Grand Cru Classé ranks châteaux instead. Check which region the label comes from before reading anything into the words.

Words about the maker, the sweetness and the vines

The other five words tell you who made the wine, how, and from what kind of vines. The table shows which of them are regulated.

Word	Meaning	Regulated?
Domaine / Château	An estate that grows its grapes and makes its wine	Yes: grapes from that holding, wine made there
Mis en bouteille au domaine	Bottled at the estate	Yes: must be bottled on the holding
NV (Non-Vintage)	A blend of several years, no year shown	Not a legal term: it just means no year
Brut	Dry sparkling wine	Yes: under 12 g/L sugar
Vieilles Vignes	Old vines	No: each producer sets its own bar

Domaine is the usual word in Burgundy, Château in Bordeaux. A château on a label need not be a castle; it only has to be an estate that grows and makes its own wine.

Mis en bouteille au domaine (or au château) tells you the grower kept control through bottling, rather than shipping the wine to be bottled elsewhere.

Brut applies to sparkling wine. EU rules set it at under 12 grams of sugar per litre. Drier still are Extra Brut (0–6 g/L) and Brut Nature (under 3 g/L).

Vieilles Vignes has no definition in French law. One producer uses it for 30-year-old vines, another for 60-year-old ones. Old vines give fewer grapes, often more concentrated, but the words only tell you what the producer intends.

In three lines

Vintage is the harvest year; NV blends several years for a steady house style.
AOC and AOP are the same system; Grand Cru means different things in different regions.
Brut has a legal sugar limit; Vieilles Vignes has no legal definition.

Questions people ask

Is there a difference between AOC and AOP?

No. AOC is the French name and AOP is the same protection under EU law. French producers may print either.

What does Mis en bouteille au domaine mean?

Bottled at the estate. The people who grew the grapes also made and bottled the wine.

Does NV mean lower quality?

No. NV means wines from several years are blended so every bottle tastes consistent. Most Champagne is NV, and it must age at least 15 months.

Is Brut sweet?

No, Brut is dry, with under 12 grams of sugar per litre. Extra Brut and Brut Nature are drier.

Sources

For education only. For readers aged 20 and over.