Table wine is a wine term with two different meanings: a style of wine and a quality level within wine classification.
In the United States, table wine primarily designates a wine style - ordinary wine which is neither fortified nor sparkling.
In the European Union wine regulations, table wine (TW) 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 the QWPSR, although the terms that actually appear on wine labels are defined by national wine laws 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 in Italy, vino de mesa in Spain, vinho de mesa in Portugal and Tafelwein in Germany. These classifications generally represent the lowest level of classification in their country.
Read more about Table Wine: United States, European Union, Distribution, Naming Contradictions
Famous quotes containing the words table and/or wine:
“... So damn your food and damn your wines,
Your twisted loaves and twisting vines,
Your table d’hôte, your à la carte,
. . . .
From now on you can keep the lot.
Take every single thing you’ve got,
Your land, your wealth, your men, your dames,
Your dream of independent power,
And dear old Konrad Adenauer,
And stick them up your Eiffel Tower.”
—Anthony Jay (b. 1930)
“Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention. A drink is felt as the spinning out of a pleasure, not as the necessary cause of an effect which is sought: wine is not only a philtre, it is also the leisurely act of drinking.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)