How to read the label of Brazilian sparkling wines – 12/13/2023 – Red or White

At this time of year, a lot of people face the drama of needing to buy sparkling wine for the end of the year and not even knowing where to start. Understanding what is written on sparkling wine labels is a good start. The terms written on the label of a wine, be it red, white, rosé or sparkling, provide several clues as to what we will find inside the bottle.

The problem is that each region of the world has its own rules for labeling and classifying wines. In the case of sparkling wines, however, to our delight, many terms are common, because they follow the Champagne pattern.

As Brazil produces great sparkling wines, at a good price, in this second text in the series “Learn to decipher the labels”, I decided to give here a label from one of the best national producers, Família Geisse, by Chilean winemaker Mario Geisse. The winery has great sparkling wines starting at R$74.00, but, when talking about the terms on the label, it’s always good to choose a more sophisticated one because they have labels with more terms, words that can also appear on the simpler ones. So, let’s understand what is written on the label of Cave .Geisse Blanc de Noir Brut (R$ 190.00).

1 – DO Altos de Pinto Bandeira – A DO is a Denomination of Origin, a special region that produces something absolutely original, that could only be made in that place. This applies to sparkling wine, wine and a series of other products that depend on local conditions to be made (in Brazil, there is a DO for yams, for example). A wine with a DO on the label means that it comes from that special region and is made according to the rules established for the DO.

DO Altos de Pinto Bandeira is the first exclusive designation of origin for sparkling wines in Latin America. It is located in the municipalities of Pinto Bandeira (76.6%), Farroupilha and Bento Gonçalves, in Serra Gaúcha, with an altitude of 520 to 770 meters.

This DO was created in 2022. There is an entire legal process for a region to become a DO Before the DO, the Pinto Bandeira IP (Indication of Origin) was established in 2010. In Brazil, both DOs and IPs are defined by Law 9,279 of 1996, which follows international protocols

For now, only four wineries have wines entitled to use the DO Altos de Pinto Bandeira: Família Geisse, Vinícola Aurora, Valmarino and Don Giovanni. These sparkling wines must be made from grapes planted only in the defined region. The permitted grapes are chardonnay, pinot noir and Italian riesling. Sparkling wine must always be made using the classic method (see below).

A sparkling wine from DO. Altos de Pinto Bandeira is, without a doubt, a guarantee of extra quality, but Brazil produces great sparkling wines in several places, even outside Rio Grande do Sul.

2 – Cave Geisse – It is one of the lines of the Família Geisse winery, the best known. Mario Geisse, its founder, was the first to bet on Pinto Bandeira as a great terroir for sparkling wines. In 1976, he purchased the land, while still a winemaker at Chandon, and founded the winery in 1979.

3- Blanc de Noir – A sparkling white wine made from red grapes. In this case, pinot noir. This term comes from France and is used all over the world. There is also blanc de blanc, when white sparkling wine is made only from white grapes. In Champagne, and also in Brazil, sparkling wines are usually made from a mixture of white and red grapes, so it is worth pointing out when this is not the case. Blanc de noir tends to be fuller-bodied than other sparkling wines and blanc de blanc is lighter.

4 – Brut – This term refers to the amount of sugar in the sparkling wine. A brut is considered a dry sparkling wine, but there are more dry ones, such as nature and extra-brut. According to Brazilian standards, sparkling wines can be: nature (with up to 3 g of glucose per liter), extra brut (more than 3 g up to 6 g), brut (between 6 g and 15 g), dry or sec (more than 15 g up to 20 g), semi-sweet, semi-dry or demi-sec (more than 20 g up to 60 g) and sweet (more than 60 g).

Nowadays sparkling wines classified as sweet are very rare. In Brazil, Moscatel sparkling wines are very successful, which are most often demi-sec.

5 – Traditional Method – This term refers to the production method of sparkling wines. As you may know, all wine is the result of alcoholic fermentation of grapes. Fermentation is caused by yeast. Today, these yeasts can be those present on grape skins and in the environment or yeasts selected and reproduced in the laboratory. In both cases, the yeast eats the sugar and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. And they die when the alcohol level reaches a certain level.

In the production of most wines, carbon dioxide is released into the environment. In the case of sparkling wines, at some point it is trapped to form bubbles. There are different methods to do this. First of all, it’s good to know that sparkling wine can go through one or two fermentations.

Today, the two most common methods use two fermentations. They are the charmat method and the traditional (or classic) method. In charmat, the second fermentation (which is caused by the addition of sugar and more yeast) takes place in a large pressurized tank called an autoclave that does not allow the gas to escape. Charmat sparkling wines tend to be fresher and more uncompromising.

In the traditional method, the second fermentation is done in the bottle. In this case, the wine usually remains in contact with the lees (remains of yeast) for longer, which gives a series of aromas that are highly appreciated in sparkling wines such as brioche, dried fruits and nuts. They are more structured and complex sparkling wines.

6 – 12% Vol.- This is the alcohol content. Sparkling wines tend to have less alcohol than other wines.