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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. 

• Palate: Referring to the mouth, or how a wine's characteristics manifest themselves in the mouth.

• Petrol: Aromas or flavors reminiscent of gasoline, classic in European versions of Gewirztraminer and Riesling.

• Phylloxera: A parasite that feeds on the roots of vitis vinifera grapes, resulting in decline and premature death.

• Plummy: Aromas and flavors that suggest ripe plums.

• Plush: Describes a wine that feels luxurious in the mouth.

• Powerful: Describes a wine of intensity and strength.

• Pretty: Describes a wine of delicacy and finesse.

• Primary Aromas: Fresh fruit aromas suggestive of the wine varietals.

• Punt: The dome-shaped indentation in the bottom of a wine bottle.

• Racking: The process by which clear wine is removed by siphon from the settled sediment or lees in the bottom of a container.

• Red Grapes: Also called black grapes, with skins that have reddish or blue pigment in their skins.  Region Geographical area for wine growing less specific than a district; more specific than a state or country.

• Reserve: Loose designation for presumably higher quality than "standard" version of the wine.  In the case of Champagne, reserve wine refers to wine from previous vintages added to the cuvee for consistent quality and style.

• Residual Sugar: The remaining sugar in wine after fermentation.

• Riddling: The art of turning and tilting bottles of sparkling wine in order to ease the sediment into the neck of the bottle. Often performed mechanically in modern facilities.

• Riserva/Reserva: Italian/Spanish term for "reserve" indicating longer aging before release and suggesting higher quality. Regulations determine how long this is for individual wines.

• Rose: In still wine or Champagne, a slightly pink tint comes from contact with the grape skins or the addition of a small portion of red wine to the cuvee.

• Round: As opposed to flat or angular, refers to a wine's structure, particularly acid, tannin, sweetness and alcohol.

• Sec: A Champagne style that is dry, but sweeter than extra-sec.

• Second-label: A less expensive or second brand made from grapes or wine a level down from primary label.

• Sediment: Residue in the bottom of a bottle of red wine that forms as the wine ages.

• Serious: Describes a high-quality wine.

• Silky: Refers to a smooth, supple texture.

• Single-vineyard: Wine made from the (presumably) good grapes of a single plot of land and not blended with any other grapes.

• Skin Contact: The pre-fermentation period in which the grape juice rests in contact with the skins of the grapes. Used in red winemaking to enhance colors and texture; may be used briefly in white winemaking to enhance aromas.

• Smoky: Aromas and flavors suggesting smoke or smoked wood imparted by oak barrel fermentation or aging.

• Smooth: Describes a wine that is not rough or harsh.

• Soft: Wine lacking in hardness or roughness, and present when alcohol and sugar dominate acidity and tannin.

• Sparkling:  Refers to all effervescent wines outside those from the Champagne region of France, vinified the Methode Champenoise, correctly known elsewhere are Methode Traditionelle.

• Stemmy: Red wines with green or stalky tannins.

• Stems: Woody part of the grape bunch which are high in tannin. Usually removed and discarded before fermentation.

• Stony: Aromas or flavors that suggest the mineral quality of stones.

• Structural Components: A wine's alcohol, tannin, acid and sugar if any.

• Structure: How a wine's structural components are perceived.  Ideally structure should be well-balanced, without anyone component dominant.

• Style: Characteristics that form the personality of the wine.

• Supple: Describes a wine that is fluid in texture in the mouth, without roughness or harshness.

• Sweetness: The impression of a sugary taste in a wine. Can be due to the presence of residual sugar or other sweet-tasting substances such as alcohol.