• A - E
• F - J
• K - N
• O - S
• T - Z
  

Abboccato
An Italian term sometimes seen on Italian wine labels, meaning ‘off-dry’.

Acetic
Tasting term used to describe wine with a sour, vinegary taste.

Acetic acid (CH3COOH)
The acid component of vinegar. The product of oxidation of ethanol by the action of acetobacteria in the presence of oxygen. A volatile acid present in small quantities in all wines; excessive amounts result in a vinegary nose and taste.

Acidity
All wines have varying degrees of acidity, which is a natural component of wine. Wines without enough acidity do not age well and often taste ‘flabby’ and dull on the palate. Wines with good acidity taste crisp and fresh. Wines which are made from under-ripe grapes can taste too acidic if there is not enough fruit flavour to balance.

Aerobic
Anything that requires oxygen to live or occur.
 
Aftertaste
Tasting term used to describe the sensation left in mouth after wine has been swallowed. The intensity and duration can indicate the quality of wine; a long and pleasant aftertaste indicates a high-quality wine.

Ageing
The process by which wine changes certain characteristics (such as colour and taste) during the period of time it spends in the bottle or cask before it is drunk. The ageing process can be as short as a few months or as long as 100 years. In red wines, age causes colour to change from purple to shades of red and orange and finally to brown. The taste of both red and white wines usually softens with age. A peak occurs in the ageing process when taste is at its best. After that, however, the quality of wine tends to go downhill. The ideal length of ageing differs from wine to wine and is hotly debated among wine experts.

Aggressive
Tasting term used to describe a wine that has not aged enough. Its palate is hard and unapproachable, which is usually the result of too much tannin or acidity.

Airen
Although many people have never heard of it, this white grape variety is the most widely planted in the world. It is grown throughout Central Spain, where it is used to produce rather undistinguished white wine; it is also used in the production of brandy.

Albarino (Alvarinho)
This white grape variety from the Galicia region in northern Spain has become very fashionable in recent years. Well-made Albarino has an appealing peachy aroma and flavour and high acidity. In Portugal, the variety is called Alvarinho and is used to make the much less distinguished vinho verde.

Aligote
Burgundy’s other white grape. Although not nearly as popular or reliable a variety as Chardonnay, for which Burgundy is much better known, Aligote can be very good in ripe years. The variety tends to have very high acidity.

Almacenista
The Spanish name for an individual who buys and ages sherry on a small scale.

Almondy
Tasting term used to describe wine either negatively (smell of bitter almonds) or positively (pleasant smell of almond-paste).

Alvarinho (also called Albarino)
In Portugal this white variety is used to make white vinho verde. In northern Spain’s Galicia region, the variety is known as Albarino and has become very fashionable in recent years. When well-made, the variety has an appealing peachy aroma and flavour and is high in acidity.

Amabile
An Italian term used to describe wines that are medium-sweet.

Amontillado
Amber-coloured, dry style of sherry made by maturing fino sherry without ‘refreshing’ it with younger wine in a solera system.

Ampelography
The study of grapevines and varieties.  

Ampelographer
One who studies grapevines and varieties.

AOC (also called AC and Appellation controlee)
The French method of guaranteeing a wine’s authenticity. The AC/AOC law covers areas and regions, permitted grape varieties, density of planting, yields of vines and minimum alcohol level of the wine. The wines must be tasted and analysed before they are allowed to carry the AC.

Appellation controlee (also called AC and AOC)
The French method of guaranteeing a wine’s authenticity. The AC/AOC law covers areas and regions, permitted grape varieties, density of planting, yields of vines and minimum alcohol level of the wine. The wines must be tasted and analysed before they are allowed to carry the AC.

Approved Viticultural Area (AVA)
The US system of defining winemaking areas, similar to the French appellation controlee system. AVAs generally follow natural boundaries, such as soil types and climate.

Appley
Tasting term used to describe a wine with the aroma or flavour of apples. This term can be used in two ways: to describe a tart, green-apple taste in an immature wine, or an old-apple smell in a mature wine.

Arneis
 A dry, almond-scented white grape variety from Italy’s Piedmont region. Arneis is not very widely grown in Italy or outside the country.

Aroma
A tasting term. Basically, the aroma is the way a wine smells. ‘Nose’ is a synonym.

Aromatic
Tasting term used to describe a wine that has a lot of aroma and flavour. Usually applicable to the spicy or flowery grape varieties, such as Muscat or Gewurztraminer.

Ascorbic acid
Vitamin C. Used in winemaking along with sulphur dioxide to prevent oxidation.

Aspersion
Method of protection from spring frosts whereby the vines are sprayed with water, which freezes, coating the buds with ice. The buds are not damaged because of the latent heat of the ice.

Assemblage
The blending of a number of different wines that come from different parcels of land to make a single wine; the term is most often used in Champagne and Bordeaux.

Tasting term used to describe a dry, mouth-puckering feeling caused by too much tannin or acidity. Common in young red wines.

Auslese
A wine term based on grape ripeness used in Germany and Austria. Auslese wines are made from selected bunches of very ripe grapes.

Austere
Tasting term used to describe wine that seems tough and severe. Usually indicative of a wine that is too young to drink.

Autolysis
A process whereby wines (usually white wines or Champagnes) take on the bready, biscuit-like flavours of the yeasts used in fermentation.

Auxerrois
A white grape variety grown in Germany, Luxembourg and eastern France, particularly Alsace. Although widely grown in Alsace, Auxerrois is almost never bottled as a varietal wine, as it is considered inferior to other grapes grown in the region.

AVA (Approved Viticultural Area)
The US system of defining winemaking areas, similar to the French appellation controlee system. AVAs generally follow natural boundaries, such as soil type and climate.

Azienda Agricola
Italian term for ‘wine estate’.

Bacchus
This white grape variety is the product of a crossing of three varieties, Silvaner, Riesling and Muller-Thurgau. Its most useful quality is that it ripens well in cool climates. When fully ripe, it can have an exuberant, floral aroma. Bacchus is most widely grown in Germany, but some is also grown in England.

Tasting term used to describe wine that seems stale, as if it had been baked in the sun.

The main red grape variety of the Bairrada region of Portugal. Baga is also the most widely planted red variety in Portugal. The wines made from it are often high in acidity and can be very tannic.

Big
A tasting term used to describe wines that are intensely flavoured, often with a lot of tannin and ripe fruit.

Bitter
Tasting term used to describe wine with a sharp flavour.

Blackcurranty
Tasting term used to describe wine with the flavour and aroma of blackcurrants. Commonly used for wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon.

Blanc
French term for ‘white’.

Blanc de Blancs
Indicates a wine made solely from white grapes. Although this term should in theory describe all white wines, this term is most useful for Champagne, where it indicates that only Chardonnay grapes were used (as opposed to both red and white grapes, which comprise most Champagnes).

Blanc de Noirs
Indicates a wine made solely* from black grapes. Although this seems contradictory, the juice of all grapes is white and it is actually the skin of red or black grapes that gives wine a red colour. This term is used mostly for white Champagne made only from black Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes.

Blanco
Spanish term for ‘white’.

Blaufrankisch (also called Kekfrankos, Limberger and Lemberger)
A red grape variety widely grown in Austria, where it produces a dark-coloured wine that is high in acidity. Also grown in Germany (known as Limberger), Hungary (known as Kekfrankos) and Washington State in the US (known as Lemberger).

Blush
Describes a type of rose wine made from black grapes. The term is most often used in the US.

Bocksbeutel
Short, round bottle typically used in the Franken region of Germany.

Tasting term used to describe the weight of wine in the mouth. High alcohol content and high extract result in more body.

A red grape variety grown in northern Italy, where it is often used as part of a blend with other red varieties. A grape variety of the same name is also grown in Argentina, but is not related to the Italian Bonarda variety.

Solution of copper sulphate and calcium hydroxide (lime) in water, used to spray vines as protection from fungal diseases.

Botrytis Cinerea (also known as Edelfaule, Noble rot and Pourriture noble)
Fungus that attacks grapes. In certain circumstances, it will form unwanted grey rot, in others, desirable noble rot. Botrytis cinerea is responsible for making possible of the world’s best sweet wines, such as Sauternes.

Botte
Traditional large barrels used in Italy of various sizes up to 160 hectolitres (plural botti).

Bottle Age
Term used to describe wine that has spent a period of months or years in bottle. Wines that are so treated are marked by particular aromas and flavours as a consequence.

Bottle Sickness
A term used to describe the ill effects that bottling can often have on a wine for a short time after it is bottled.

Bottle Stink
The air trapped between the cork and the wine inside a bottle can take on an unpleasant stale odour, called bottle stink. This smell fades quickly after the cork is pulled.

Bouquet
Tasting term usually used to describe the aroma* of a wine. It is more accurately used to describe the characteristics of smell that develop as the wine ages in the bottle.

Branco
Portuguese term for ‘white’.

British Wine
Not to be confused with English wine, which is made from grapes grown in the UK, British wine is made from imported grape concentrate. The results are seldom noteworthy.

Brix
A scale used to measure ripeness in grapes.

Brunello
A red grape variety that comes from Italy’s Tuscany region, where it is used to make the famous red wine called Brunello di Montalcino. The grape is a variant of the better-known variety, Sangiovese. The two varieties are the same, apart from the regional uses of the name.

Brut
French term most often seen on bottles of Champagne. It means ‘very dry’.

Bush Training
Training of vines as free‑standing plants, not requiring the support of a trellis.

Traditional barrel used in sherry production with a capacity of 600 litres, usually filled only to about 500 litres.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The undisputed king of red grapes. A very popular grape variety that is best known for its use in the red wines of Bordeaux. Cabernet Sauvignon is also used all over the world to make wines in a variety of styles. In California’s Napa Valley, it yields a blockbusting, broad-shouldered style, while in Chile it can be transformed into highly drinkable, user-friendly styles. It’s a thick-skinned variety that produces intense, deeply flavoured wines, often with long-term ageing potential.

Partially lignified one‑year‑old part of a vine, pruned to between eight and 15 buds. If pruned to two or three buds, it is referred to as a spur.

Cane Pruning
System of vine pruning in which one or more long canes of one‑year‑old wood, each with between eight and 15 buds, remain to produce new shoots.

Cantina Sociale
Italian term for a wine cooperative.

Cap
Floating mass of grape skins, stalks, etc, that forms on the surface of red grape must when fermenting.

Carbonic Maceration
Fermentation of whole bunches of black grapes with the berries initially intact. The intercellular fermentation results in well‑coloured, fruity red wines with little tannin.

Carignan (also called Carinena and Mazuelo)
A red grape variety that is widely grown throughout southern France, Spain and North Africa. In Spain’s Rioja region, the variety is known as Mazuelo. Carignan is usually blended with other red varieties, rather than bottled on its own.

Carinena (also called Carignan and Mazuelo)
A red grape variety that is widely grown throughout southern France, Spain and North Africa. In Spain’s Rioja region, the variety is known as Mazuelo. Carinena is usually blended with other red varieties, rather than bottled on its own.

This red variety was once widely planted in France’s Bordeaux region, but is no longer found there today. It is widely grown in Chile where, for many years, it was incorrectly identified as the Merlot variety.

Wooden barrel, usually made of oak, used for fermentation, maturation and storage of wines. Traditional sizes and names vary from region to region.

Unwanted haze in wine caused by instability.

Tasting term used to describe wines with the aroma and flavour of blackcurrants (cassis is the French term for blackcurrant).

Red grape variety grown widely in the south of Portugal. It is often labeled as Periquita and produces quite lively, fruity red wines.

Cat’s Pee
Tasting term used to describe wine with a pungent yet fruity aroma. Commonly used for wines made with Sauvignon Blanc. The term is not necessarily pejorative.

A sparkling wine made chiefly* in Spain’s Penedes region.

Cave
A French term for a place where wine is made or stored, usually, but not always, underground.

French term for wine cooperative.

Tasting term used to describe wine with the aroma of cedar. Commonly used for mature, red Bordeaux.

French term for grape variety.

Indicates that a wine is at room temperature. Originally, however, room temperature was closer to 15 to17 degrees Celsius; today, red wines served at room temperature are often too warm.

Must‑enrichment performed by using beet or cane sugar. The name derives from M Chaptal, the French agricultural minister who first wrote about the process.

Chardonnay
Undoubtedly the best-known grape variety in the world. The Chardonnay white grape has probably done more to convince people of the joys of wine than just about any other grape. Chardonnay has a great affinity with oak. It is also a very easy grape to grow, and is capable of a huge range of flavours, from tropical fruit and pineapple in warmer climates to steely, long-lived wines in Chablis.

Charmat Method (also called the Tank method or Cuve close)
Sparkling wine production process in which the secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed tank.

Chasselas
This white grape variety is grown in regions of France and, most importantly perhaps, in Switzerland. It tends to yield pale-coloured, neutral wines.

Chai
An above ground cellar used for storing wine in barrels.

Chateau
French term for a wine estate.

Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc has a multitude of personalities. This white grape variety is used to make dry wines, off-dry wines, medium-sweet wines, sweet wines and sparkling wines. Its spiritual home is in France’s Loire Valley, where it is used to make styles right across the range, many of which are of excellent quality. Elsewhere, Chenin is usually used to make fairly simple, dry white wines, which can often be rather insipid. To its credit, however, the grape has high natural acidity, which means that, when they’re made well, Chenin Blanc wines can last for decades.

Chiaretto
Italian term for a pale rose wine.

Chocolatey
Tasting term used to describe wine with a rich, sweet, thick, chocolate-like aroma and flavour. Commonly used for some wines made from Gamay.

Cinsault (also called Cinsaut)
A full-flavoured red grape variety widely planted throughout the south of France and Corsica as well as North and South Africa. Cinsault is often used to make rose wines in southern France.

Cinsaut (also called Cinsault)
A full-flavoured red grape variety widely planted throughout the south of France and Corsica as well as North and South Africa. Cinsaut is often used to make rose wines in southern France.

A white grape variety grown widely throughout southern France. It is generally an undistinguished variety, producing rather dull low-acid wines. It is perhaps best known in its guise as a sparkling wine, Clairette de Die, which comes from France's Rhone Valley.

Red Bordeaux wine. The term is most often used in Britain.

Selection of plants from a particular variety for specific, desirable features, (which may include early ripening, good fruit, high (or low) yields, disease resistance).

One of a population of plants that are the descendants of a single individual and have been propagated by asexual means. Unlike descendants by sexual propagation, each clone will have features identical to the parent plant.

Clos
French term for a small vineyard enclosed by (or once enclosed by) a wall.

Coarse
Tasting term used to describe a (usually cheap) wine as rough, unrefined.

Colombard
 A rather undistinguished white grape variety from southwest France. Colombard has long been used as one of the base wines from which Cognac is distilled, but its innocuousness as a variety seldom recommends it for use as a table wine. It is widely grown in California where it is used to produce huge amounts of mediocre jug wine.

Colheita
A style of wood-aged port that is marked with a date of harvest.

Complex
Tasting term used to describe wine with many layers of aromas and flavours. Usually indicates a fine wine.

Organic compounds giving flavouring and aroma in alcoholic beverages. Products of the fermentation, distillation and maturation processes, they include such compounds as ketones, esters and aldehydes.

Spanish regulatory body that enforces vine-growing and winemaking regulations.

A facility through which wine growers who don’t own their own winemaking equipment can make wine communally with other growers in the area. Most often, the wines are used together in an anonymous blend, but some cooperatives will bottle single growers’ wines separately.

A small, tapered glass used for drinking sherry.

Horizontal extension of a vine trunk.

Corked
Describes a bottle of wine that has been affected by a cork tainted with a naturally occurring bacteria. Corked wines have a horrible, mouldy smell.

A red grape variety grown in northeast Italy. The wine it is used to make, Valpolicella, is much more famous than the grape variety. Corvina is also used in Italy to make a pale red wine called Bardolino, but it is seldom grown outside Italy.

Cortese
A white grape variety from northwest Italy's Piedmont region. Cortese is used to make Gavi di Gavi, one of the country's best white wines. The variety isn't used much outside the north of Italy.

Cosecha
Spanish term for ‘vintage’.

Cote
French word for ‘slope’.

Cot (also called Malbec)
The Cot grape has long been used in the Bordeaux region of France, where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and others to make red Bordeaux. It is grown in small amounts in Bordeaux, but is also grown in other parts of France as well as in Spain. The variety is also grown in Argentina, where it is used to make powerful, flavourful red wines.

Tasting term used to describe a creamy richness in both flavour and texture. Usually used for wines of quality, especially Champagne.

French term for sparkling wine made outside the Champagne region.

Crianza
A Spanish term used to denote wine that has been aged.

Tasting term used to describe a wine with a very fresh taste. Commonly used for white wines.

Breeding of new vine varieties by cross‑pollination of two different varieties of the same species. For wine production, this is usually two varieties of Vitis vinifera.

Cru
French term that translates as ‘growth’. The word is used to refer to the quality and official status of particular vineyard sites, as in ‘cru classe’ or ‘cru bourgeois’.

Cru Bourgeois
A classification of the chateaux of the Medoc region of Bordeaux. Cru bourgeois wines are one slot lower down the ladder from cru classe wines.

Cru Classé
The top ‘rung’ in the classification system of Bordeaux.

Crusted Port
A style of port comprising a blend of wine from several vintages. It is bottled without filtration, and throws a deposit - hence the name.

Cuvée
1. The juice resulting from the first pressing in Champagne, representing 80 litres from each 160 kilograms of grapes. The best-quality grape juice.
2. A blend.

Cuve Close (also called Charmat method or Tank method)
Sparkling-wine production process in which the secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed tank.

Decanting
 Process in which wine is poured from its bottle to a glass decanter or other vessel. This process is usually used to remove the sediment that can occur in wine bottles. It is also useful as a means of letting red wine ‘breathe’ (permitting contact with air) before drinking.

Degorgement
Removal of the sediment from the bottle in traditional method sparkling-wine production.

Degree‑Day
A method of classifying climatic zones based on the sum of the average daily temperatures, less 10 degrees Celsius (the temperature at which the vine starts to grow) during the growing season.

Demi-Sec
French term used to describe a medium-dry wine.

Dense
Tasting term used to describe a wine with solid colour and/or packed with flavour.

Density of Planting
The number of vine plants per area of land, usually expressed as vines per hectare. Density will vary from 3,000 vines to 10,000 or more per hectare. Factors such as mechanisation will affect the choice of plant density.

Any of a group of sweet wine styles made to be drunk as part of the dessert course.

Tasting term used to describe the state of maturity of a wine. Can be used to describe a young wine as ‘underdeveloped,’ a mature wine as ‘well-developed’ and an over-the-hill wine as ‘overdeveloped.’

Disgorgement

The Spanish system of guaranteeing a wine’s origin. Laws specify the vineyard area, permitted grape varieties, vine yields and winemaking practices.

Used to describe the wine laws governing the system of guaranteeing a wine’s origin. The term DOC applies to three countries: Italy (denominazione di origine controllata), Spain (denominacion de origen controlada) and Portugal (denominaciao de origem controlada). Basically, DOC laws cover delimited area, permitted grape varieties, ageing requirements, and vineyard and wine making practices.

DOCG (denominazione di origine controllata e garantita)
The highest rung on the ladder in the Italian classification system.

The name of this Italian red grape variety translates as ‘the little sweet one’. Dolcetto is used in the Piedmont region of Italy to make a deep-coloured but easy-to-drink style of red wine.

Domaine
French term for ‘wine estate’.

Dosage (also called Liqueur d'expedition)
Liquid mixture of wine and (usually) sugar that is used to top up bottles (and adjust levels of sweetness) of Champagne and other wines made by the methode traditionelle. This process takes place after disgorgement.

Double Magnum
A large bottle equivalent to four 75cl bottles.

Dosage
In Champagne-making, the adjustment of the sugar level by the addition of liqueur d'expedition. The liqueur is added after degorgement to create the various styles of Champagne available.

Downy Mildew (also called peronospera)
Fungus appearing as downy patches on the vine leaves, reducing photosynthesis.

Dried-Out
Tasting term used to describe a wine in which the fruit flavours have faded. Usually the result of wine that has aged too long.

Dry
Tasting term used to describe a wine with no detectable sweetness.

Dulce
Spanish term for ‘sweet’.

Earthy
Tasting term used to describe a wine that smells earthy, soil-like. Can be used to describe more rustic wines.

Eau‑de‑Vie
Spirit, literally ‘water of life’. In France, a grape-derived spirit frequently flavoured with fruit, such as cherry or pear.

Edelfaule (Botrytis cinerea, also known as Edelfaule, Noble rot and Pourriture noble)
 Fungus that attacks grapes. In certain circumstances, it will form unwanted grey rot, in others, desirable noble rot. Botrytis cinerea is responsible for making possible of the world’s best sweet wines, such as Sauternes.

Egrappage
Process where grapes are separated from their stems. In some red wines, the stem is left on the grape to add tannin, although the result can make a wine taste more bitter.

Eiswein (also called Icewine)
A German or Austrian wine made from the concentrated juice of frozen grapes, which have been left on the vine until after the first strong frost. A sweet and long-lived style of wine.

Elegant
Tasting term used to describe wines that are well-structured and well-balanced. Wines described as elegant are not made in an upfront, fruity style.

Espumoso
Spanish term for ‘sparkling wine’.

Estate Bottled
Term used to indicate wines that have been grown and bottled on the same estate.

Estufagem
 The ‘cooking’ process used in Madeira production to caramelise the sugars in wine. This process gives Madeira wines their unique flavour.

Alcohol as contained in alcoholic drinks is ethanol, sometimes called ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH). Alcohol is a colourless, odourless liquid produced by the action of yeast on natural grape sugar, through the process of fermentation.

Soluble solids other than sugar that are found in wine and contribute to its body and structure. The term good/high extract can be used as a tasting term to describe a wine with good body and structure.

Term used to describe Champagne that is drier than Sec but not as dry as Brut in the sweetness spectrum.