Around the world different countries have different laws regarding what must figure on the labels. The United States is a specific example. To be safe at Château Haut-Brion the information concerning the name of the locality, the appellation, and the year figures :

on the corks on the capsule on the labels on the cases

Specifications such as 'content' figure in centiliters for the European Community and in milliliters for the United States. Certain information pertaining to the sender and the importer are obligatory in the United States. They also require information as to the color of the wine and whether or not it is sparkling. The content of the bottle must be displayed along with the percent of alcohol therein, judged according to the volume.

All this necessary data requires a special preparation of the bottles for each country concerned. This means that generally one cannot accomplish the processing at the time of the bottling.

The bottles are then packed in cases. The normal case holds 12 bottles, or 6 magnums, or 24 half bottles. Therefore one case always contains the same amount of wine : 9 liters.

Nowadays the larger bottles like the Jéroboam, Impériale and Salmanazar are packed in individualized cases. Exceptionally, different sizes from the usual case mentioned above may be used. Examples are cases for 6 bottles, a case for 3 magnums, or a case for 1 double magnum. These smaller cases are more and more in demand by the clientele.

If the wooden case remains closed it provides a very good thermal insulation against abrupt temperature changes. Therefore it is recommended that the case be left intact in the event that there is no cool storage room or special wine storage unit.