A phone number. This will require some extra time, because we're talking about tiny type on the back of a label, but you'd be surprised how many small-production wines these days include a phone number on the back and an invitation to call the winery. We have found that this is a sign of a highly personal winery. We have called those numbers many times over the years and it's amazing how often the winemaker or winery owner answers the phone.

Details, details, details. When we were young, we were fond of the late Hanns Kornell's Sehr Trocken, one of a handful of sparkling wines he made at his California winery. On the back label was a hand-printed date of when the wine was 'disgorged,' when the sediment in the neck of a bottle of bubbly was removed and the temporary cap replaced by a real cork. On the front of each bottle was this notation: 'Naturally fermented in this bottle,' which was a big deal because that's the way real Champagne is made, with the bubbly fermentation taking place in the bottle and not in a huge tank. We love information like that and some wineries still give it, including the dates when the grapes were harvested and the wine bottled. Details like these make the point that these things mattered to the winemaker and that he or she understands that they have meaning for the consumer, too. They add to the feeling of the wine's authenticity.