| You may have heard of the term "cola" used | | | | fast as 4 days. A huge benefit as the label approval |
| frequently in the wine industry around wine labels. | | | | step in the bottling process can often get forgotten by |
| Perhaps you thought, what does soda have anything | | | | wineries. There have been many cases where the |
| to do with wine? Do soda drinkers also tend to be | | | | labels were actually printed before a label approval |
| wine enthusiasts? Is is a descriptor term in some way? | | | | was granted, which meant another revised printing had |
| None of these are the case. The acronym COLA | | | | to be done at the expense of the winery. No happy |
| stands for certificate of label approval. All wines, | | | | campers when this happens! |
| (actually all alcoholic beverages to be sold in the US) | | | | Also coinciding with the development of their COLAs |
| are required to have one of these. These approvals | | | | online system the TTB now has their Public COLA |
| are given by the same federal agency that regulates | | | | Registry. This can be accessed by anyone and is |
| the wine industry, the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & | | | | used to look up label approvals for reference |
| Trade Bureau. (they of course get an acronym too, | | | | purposes. If you look up approved labels at this site |
| thank goodness, as the TTB for short.) | | | | you will come across the two versions of label |
| A winery generally submits a set of wine labels to the | | | | approvals. Many are still the "old-fashioned" paper form |
| TTB for label approval when they are coming up on | | | | that would have been submitted to the TTB by mail, |
| bottling the wine. The approval process used to take | | | | and then you will see the other electronic style which is |
| weeks, as the most common route was through the | | | | distinctly different. It is an interesting experience to view |
| mail. However in 2002 the TTB took another step into | | | | the myriad of examples of labels by using this site. It |
| the age of technology when it activated the online | | | | does not contain all of their label approvals in entirety, |
| COLAs system. This process allows wineries to | | | | but does currently go back up to 20 years ago so |
| submit their label approvals online, and just one of the | | | | plenty of examples to view. |
| benefits of that is that the turnaround time can be as | | | | |