Style and flavour
A soft, sweet red with ripe dark fruit, dried vine fruit and a little spice, finishing warm rather than dry. At 13.7% it is lighter in alcohol than most fortified wines and has none of the bitterness of a European aperitif.
Key ingredients
- Fortified grape wine with flavourings and sweeteners (no producer ingredient list is published)
- Sulphites
History
Red Label is a sweet red wine made and bottled in Kingston by J. Wray & Nephew, the Jamaican rum producer better known for its white overproof rum. In Jamaica it is sold as Red Label Wine; in the UK the same product is labelled Red Label Aperitif, and UK retailer copy describes it as the biggest-selling wine in Jamaica.
The brand passed to Campari Group in 2012 with the acquisition of a controlling stake in Lascelles deMercado, J. Wray & Nephew's parent; Campari's announcement named Red Label among the local brands in the deal. Campari's UK consumer information site now lists it under the Wray & Nephew brand at 13.7% ABV.
Its place in Jamaican Christmas baking is well documented. The Jamaica Gleaner ran a Red Label Wine Christmas Cake Contest in the late 2000s, and in December 2021 both the Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer reported a Red Label shortage that left bakers short of a key cake ingredient, which J. Wray & Nephew attributed to supply chain problems.
Culture
Red Label is a staple of Jamaican Christmas baking, used alongside white rum to soak the fruit for Christmas cake (black cake), and Jamaican newspapers treated its 2021 shortage as national Christmas news. It is not marketed as a tonic wine, but it is one of the most recognisable Jamaican wines on UK shelves.
How to serve
Serve chilled or over ice as a sweet aperitif. It is also widely used to soak dried fruit for Caribbean Christmas cake and to moisten the cake after baking. For more ideas, see our tonic wine recipes.