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 Wine Glossary

Understanding the words and terms used to describe the wine making process is critical to improving your craft.  Even the vernacular used to describe flavors, mouth feel and aromas when tasting wine can be confusing.  This comprehensive glossary to the words of wine will help.  

• Grape Tannin: Tannins in a red wine attributed to the grapes as opposed to winemaking methods.  

• Grape Variety: Type of grape, such as Chardonnay or Merlot. 

• Harmonious: Referring to a pleasant and graceful balance of components in a wine.

• Herbal: Aromas and flavors in wine that suggest those of herbs.

• IGT: Indicazione Geografica Tipica.  A category of wines created in Italy by Wine law 164 in 1992 to approximate the French Vin de Pays and German landwein.

• Intense: Used to describe wines that express their character powerfully.

• Lees: The grape solids and spent yeast cells that fall to the bottom of a white wine after fermentation.

• Length: The sustained impression of a wine across the tongue.

• Maceration: The process of soaking the skins of red grapes in their juice to extract color, tannins and other substances into the wine; can occur pre or post fermentation.

• Malolactic Fermentation: A natural, secondary fermentation, optional in the winemaking process, which softens the total acidity of the wine through the conversion of malic into lactic acid.

• Maturation: The process by which a wine reaches a point of readiness for bottling; can continue in the bottle.

• Methode Champenoise: The traditional French Champagne winemaking method used for producing sparkling wine.

• Methode Traditionelle: The equivalent of the traditional French Champagne process know as Methode Champenoise, but applied to the making of sparkling wines outside the Champagne region.

• Minerally: Used to describe flavors and aromas that suggest minerals, such as flint, steel, chalk etc.

• Mousse: The ring of light foam at the top of a glass of sparkling wine.

• New World: Winemaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, USA, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Canada etc. outside of Western Europe.

• New Oak: Can refer to brand new barrels, or barrels that have been used from one to four years previously.

• Non-vintage: Refers to those Champagnes whose Cuvee contains wine from a previous vintage.

• Nutty: Broad descriptor to describe aromas and flavors of nuts in a wine; more specifically hazelnut, almonds, roasted nuts etc.

• Oaky: The aroma and flavor characteristics imparted to a wine through the use of oak barrel fermentation and/or aging. These may be characterized as vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, toast, smoke or char.  Sometimes associated with imparting a higher tanning level than the wine might ordinarily have.

• Off-dry: Term for wines that are neither fully sweet nor dry.

• Old World: Refers to the winemaking countries of Western Europe including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Germany.

• Old Oak: Barrels old enough to have lost much of its woody character.  Generally five years or older.

• Old Vines: Term referring to vines that are generally 40 years or older. Presumed to deliver small yields.