Two different neck labels of Hudelot Noellat Clos Vougeot 1990

WINE TALK
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Can anybody explain?

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Ask Rudy K…

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Labels have differences between them too - different font type for Appellation Clos de… and one having the recycling logo and the other doesn’t (although I suspect that could be if one was meant to be exported and the other not?).

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Since it’s common in Europe to store inventory without labels, I’d guess that they were labeled and released at different times. The recycling symbol would be one indicator of that. Does anyone know when those came into use?

Of course, as you said, Illka, the recycling swirl might just reflect a label for EU sales.

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Also, the 750ml is written on opposite sides of the label. The bottle on the right appears to have an accent on the first e in controlee (Or is it dirt? I can’t tell), while the first doesn’t.

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The one on the right is better since it has gold on the neck label.

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Clearly different main labels, too … which means labelled at different times …

I’ve never seen the gold neck label on the right bottle …
if this is not typical for H-N, it could also be fake … meaning a different vintage (later exchanged by someone using a vintage label from another producer)
.

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I can understand a winery labeling the wines at different times but why would they print the actual labels at different times? I would think even if they were planning to label the same vintage at different times that the labels would all be printed at the same time. And, unless one bottle was for export, makes little sense that they would change the crest design, fonts and the placement of the ABV and 750ml statements after using the label already on the vintage. Things that make you go hmmm. :thinking:

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Reaching out to Hudelot; hopefully they will have an answer.

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This was very common in Piedmont until recently. They would print up a bunch of labels and label the bottles as they sold them. When they needed more labels, they ordered more and changed them as needed.

Here’s an example from the 1989 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Riserva:
http://www.finewinegeek.com/rinaldig/Brunate1989R.html

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Thanks Ken I did not know that. :+1:t2: Seems like a lot of wasted $$ - short print runs are usually very expensive (at least domestically).

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With neck labels, you don’t need the vintage on the label, so one of those main labels could have been on multiple vintages before 1990 and the other on those after 1990. I think vintages on main labels came about when printing got cheaper.

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They could also have purchased generic 1990 neck labels on a repurchase.

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Exactly.

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Or borrowed from a neighbor if they ran out.

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