In countries such as the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and India, the term “reserve” may be used as a marketing tool without any legal or definitive meaning. It could imply that it’s the best wine in the producer’s portfolio/ the wine is the producer’s finest offering, has undergone extra ageing, or is simply labelled as such to attract buyers. However, in countries like Italy (Riserva) or Spain (Reserva), the wine must undergo minimum ageing to qualify to use this term on their wine labels.
Have you ever tasted a wine labelled as “reserve”? Was it a genuine product or just a marketing ploy?