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:
“For the elemental creatures go
About my table to and fro,
That hurry from unmeasured mind
To rant and rage in flood and wind....
”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Thales claimed that everything was water. He also put wine into water to sterilize it. Did he really believe he was putting water into water to sterilize it? Parmenides, like most Greeks, knew that wine was not water. But while lifting a glass of wine to his lips, he denied that motion was possible. Did he really believe that the glass was not moving when he lifted it?”
—Avrum Stroll (b. 1921)