Product Code Database
Table wine (rarely abbreviated TW) is a wine term with two different meanings: a style of wine and a quality level within wine classification.
In the United States, the term primarily designates a wine style: an ordinary wine that is not fortified wine or expensive and is not usually sparkling wine.
In the European Union wine regulations, the term is the lower of two overall quality categories, the higher of which is quality wines produced in specified regions (QWPSR). All levels of national wine classification systems within the EU correspond to either TW or QWPSR, although the terms that actually appear on are defined by national with the EU regulations as a framework.
Most EU countries have a national classification called table wine in the country's official language. Examples include vin de table in France, vino da tavola or sometimes vino da pasto ( pasto meaning meal) in Italy, vino de mesa in Spain, vinho de mesa in Portugal, vin de masă in Romania, Tafelwein in Germany, and επιτραπέζιος οίνος ( epitrapézios oínos) in Greece. These classifications generally represent the lowest level of classification in their country.
For the lowest vin de table level in France, the producers must use postal codes to prevent the name of an appellation from appearing even in fine print on the label or its vintage date (though "lot numbers" which can bear a striking resemblance to dates are permitted). The new appellation vin de France permits a vintage date.
| Vinho de Mesa, "Table Wine" |
| Stolní víno, "Table Wine" |
| Трпезно вино, Verë tryeze, "Table wine" |
| Столовое вино ( Stolovoye vino), "Table Wine" |
| Стоно вино ( Stono vino), "Table Wine" |
European table wines are generally made from the highest-yielding sites and Winemaking in an industrial manner. In the 1950s, when per capita consumption of wine was much higher, there was a need for vast quantities of cheap wine, but now much of it goes into the European Union's troublesome "wine lake". Even today it is possible in France or Spain to purchase a litre of thin, pale wine, packaged in a box rather than a bottle, for the equivalent of a couple of U.S. dollars.
The best-known examples are the wines called Super Tuscans, which are made either with more than allowed quantities of grape varieties (grapes not indigenous to Italy such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon) or without the once mandated inclusion of small proportions of Canaiolo, Malvasia and Trebbiano per the relevant Tuscan appellation (i.e. Montevertine's Pergole Torte).
In 1992, Italy created the Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT) specifically to permit Super Tuscans to leave the table wine classification and become quality wine. Still, wherever legitimacy in a given appellation is stipulated by something more than a geographic boundary, one may find producers willing to ignore limitations in pursuit of extreme quality.
In common usage vin de table is the fourth and lowest ranked wine under the French wine classification. These wines are the cheapest to buy and to make (they can be bought from €0,80), and are generally drunk accompanying a midday meal or used to make wine-based cocktails.
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