The glossary · The World of Wine, by Nolea

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Look up a word from a label, wine list or tasting note. These definitions explain what it means and, where needed, how its meaning changes between wines and regions.

ABV: Alcohol by volume, shown as a percentage on the label. Most table wine sits between 11 and 15 per cent. Alcohol contributes to body, so the number can suggest how light or full the wine may feel.
Acidity: The tartness that makes your mouth water, like biting a green apple. Acidity helps wine taste fresh and can balance rich food.
Aeration: Exposing wine to air by swirling or decanting. This can help aromas become more noticeable and make some young wines feel softer.
Age ingrat: French for “awkward age”: a period when some wines show less aroma and flavour as they develop from youth to maturity. See also dumb phase.
AOC / AOP: France’s appellation system. It identifies a wine from a named place made according to rules on grapes and production methods. It confirms origin and compliance with those rules; it cannot tell you whether you will enjoy the wine.
Appellation: A legally defined wine region. The smaller and more specific the appellation, the stricter the rules tend to be.
Aroma: What a wine smells like. The word can refer specifically to smells from the grape, though in everyday tasting it covers anything you notice on the nose.
Assemblage: Blending separate batches or grape varieties into a finished wine. Champagne houses use assemblage to create and maintain their house styles.
Astringent: A drying, slightly rough sensation in the mouth, often caused by tannin. Strong black tea gives a familiar example. Astringency is not a fault by itself.
Attack: The first impression a wine makes in your mouth, before you assess the middle of the sip and the finish.
Auslese: A German ripeness category meaning “selected harvest”. The grapes are riper at harvest than those for Spätlese. The wines are often sweet and can age well.
AVA: American Viticultural Area, a defined US wine-growing area. An AVA identifies where the grapes grew; it generally gives producers more freedom over grapes and winemaking than European appellations do.

Balance: When a wine’s fruit, acidity, tannin, alcohol and sweetness feel in proportion, with no single element overwhelming the others.
Barrique: A small oak barrel, classically 225 litres in France. Its size gives the wine substantial contact with the wood.
Bâtonnage: Stirring settled yeast cells, known as lees, back into the wine during ageing. Used mostly for whites, it can add body and a creamier texture.
Biodynamic: A farming approach that builds on organic practices, using special preparations, including cow-horn preparations, and a calendar linked to lunar and cosmic cycles. The farming method alone does not establish wine quality.
Blanc de Blancs: A white sparkling wine made only from white grapes, usually Chardonnay. Many examples have bright acidity and citrus flavours.
Blanc de Noirs: A white sparkling wine made from black grapes, pressed gently to limit colour extraction from the skins. It often tastes rounder and fruitier than Blanc de Blancs.
Blend: A wine made from more than one grape variety, vineyard or vintage. Many highly regarded wines are blends, and blending can add balance, complexity or consistency.
Body: The weight and fullness of wine in your mouth. Think of the difference between skimmed milk and cream. Alcohol, sugar and other dissolved substances all contribute.
Botrytis: A fungus that, under suitable conditions, causes “noble rot”: ripe grapes shrivel and their sugar becomes concentrated. It is used to make sweet wines such as Sauternes and Tokaji.
Bouquet: The aromas a wine develops during ageing in barrel or bottle, such as leather, mushroom or dried flowers. The term distinguishes these from the grape’s original fruit aromas.
Brett: Short for Brettanomyces, a yeast that can give wine farmyard or sticking-plaster aromas. Some drinkers enjoy small amounts; at higher levels it can dominate the wine.
Brut: A dry sweetness category for sparkling wine. Brut is drier than Extra Dry, despite what the names might suggest.

Carbonic maceration: Fermentation within whole, uncrushed grapes held in a tank of carbon dioxide. It can produce soft, fruity reds and is associated with fresh styles of Beaujolais.
Cava: Spain’s traditional-method sparkling wine. Its second fermentation happens in the bottle, while its grapes, rules and ageing differ from Champagne.
Chaptalisation: Adding sugar to grape juice before fermentation to raise the finished wine’s alcohol. The added sugar ferments into alcohol rather than sweetening the wine. Its use is regulated and is associated with cooler growing regions.
Charmat method: Making sparkling wine through a second fermentation in a pressurised tank. It is usually faster and less costly than bottle fermentation and is the method used for most Prosecco.
Classico: An Italian label term identifying an original or historic growing area. Chianti Classico refers to a distinct appellation in the historic core of the Chianti area; it is not a higher grade of Chianti.
Claret: The traditional British name for red Bordeaux, still used on wine lists and in conversation.
Cold soak: Keeping crushed grapes cool before fermentation starts, allowing the juice to extract colour and flavour from the skins.
Complexity: A range of aromas and flavours that become noticeable as you taste. A wine may reveal different details with air or as you return to the glass.
Corkage: The fee a restaurant charges to serve a bottle you bring yourself. Ask ahead whether the restaurant allows it and what the fee is.
Corked: Wine affected by cork taint, often noticed as a damp-cardboard or musty-basement smell. The compounds responsible can come from cork or other winery materials, so other closures do not rule it out. If you suspect it in a restaurant, ask the person serving you to check the wine.
Crémant: French traditional-method sparkling wine from regions such as Alsace, the Loire and Burgundy, outside Champagne. It can offer good value if you enjoy bottle-fermented sparkling wine.
Crisp: A tasting term for refreshingly high acidity, usually in whites. Think of the mouth-watering tartness of a green apple.
Cru: A French wine term meaning “growth”, used for classified vineyards, villages or estates. Its meaning depends on the region, so a cru in Burgundy and one in Bordeaux need separate explanations.
Cuvée: A specific batch or blend of wine. On a label it mostly means “this particular bottling”, and nothing more official than that.

Decanting: Pouring wine into another vessel, either to leave sediment behind in an old bottle or to give a young one some air. A clean jug can do the job.
Demi-sec: Literally “half-dry” in French. It signals some sweetness, though the amount depends on the type of wine. Sweet sparkling examples can work well with cake.
Disgorgement: Removing the yeast sediment from the neck of a traditional-method sparkling-wine bottle, commonly by freezing it into a plug that the bottle’s pressure pushes out.
DOC / DOCG: Italian appellation categories with rules on origin and production. DOCG adds “guaranteed” to the name and further checks. These categories identify regulated wines, without guaranteeing that you will prefer one to another.
Dosage: The small addition of wine, usually with sugar, made after disgorgement in traditional-method sparkling wine. It helps determine the finished sweetness.
Dry: A wine with little or no perceptible sweetness. A dry wine can still have plenty of fruit aroma and flavour.
Dumb phase: A period during ageing when a wine shows less aroma and flavour than expected. Some wines become more expressive again with further time in bottle.

Élevage: French for the “raising” of a wine: the period between fermentation and bottling, including time in tank, barrel or amphora.
En primeur: Buying wine while it is still in barrel, usually a year or two before it is delivered.
Estate bottled: Wine grown, made and bottled by the same property. The term concerns how the wine was produced and bottled, rather than how it tastes.
Extra Dry: A sparkling-wine sweetness category that is sweeter than Brut. Extra Brut goes in the other direction and is drier than Brut.

Fermentation: The process in which yeast converts grape sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, turning grape juice into wine.
Field blend: Wine made from different grape varieties grown together in one vineyard, then picked and fermented together.
Fining: Clarifying wine with an agent that binds to suspended particles so they settle. Agents include egg white, clay and fish-derived products; this is one reason not every wine is vegan.
Finish: The flavour that stays after you swallow or spit. Notice what lingers as well as how long it lasts.
Flabby: A tasting term for a wine that feels short of acidity in relation to its sweetness, alcohol or body.
Flor: The veil of yeast that grows on top of Fino and Manzanilla sherry in barrel, protecting the wine and giving it that salty, almondy tang.
Fortified: Wine with grape spirit added to raise its alcohol. If the spirit is added before fermentation finishes, it can also leave grape sugar in the wine. Port, sherry and Madeira are examples.
Free-run juice: Juice that flows from the grapes before pressing, under gravity alone.
Fruit-forward: A wine in which ripe fruit flavours are especially noticeable. The term describes style rather than quality.

Grand Cru: A French classification term whose meaning changes by region. It is the highest vineyard category in Burgundy and Alsace; Champagne applies it to villages. Saint-Émilion uses the term differently, so read it within the local classification.
Gran Reserva: An ageing term. In Rioja, red Gran Reserva requires at least five years of ageing before release, including time in barrel and bottle. Check the rules for the region and wine type.
Green harvest: Cutting off unripe bunches in summer so the vine concentrates on the ones that remain. It reduces the crop; whether that improves the wine depends on the vineyard and the season.
Grip: The firm, drying sensation of tannin on your gums. It describes texture rather than flavour.

Hot: A tasting term for alcohol that feels too prominent, often as a burning warmth in the throat after a sip.
Hybrid: A grape bred by crossing different vine species, often to improve resistance to cold or disease. Hybrids can make wine-growing possible in challenging climates.

Icewine / Eiswein: Sweet wine pressed from grapes frozen on the vine. Much of the water stays behind as ice, leaving concentrated juice. Harvest takes place in freezing winter conditions, often at night.
IGT: An Italian geographical wine category with more flexible production rules than DOC. It accommodates wines including Super Tuscans that fall outside traditional appellation rules.

Jammy: Tasting of cooked or stewed fruit. The term often describes wines made from very ripe grapes in warm places.

Kabinett: The lightest of Germany’s Prädikat ripeness categories. Kabinett Riesling can be light-bodied and low in alcohol, with refreshing acidity.

Late harvest: Wine made from grapes picked later than usual, allowing them to become riper and sometimes shrivel. The wine can be sweet, full-bodied or both.
Lees: The spent yeast cells that settle after fermentation. Keeping wine in contact with them can add texture and bread-like aromas. Sur lie means aged on the lees.
Legs: The streaks that run down the inside of a glass after swirling. Alcohol and sugar affect them, but they do not establish wine quality.
Length: How long a wine’s flavours remain after you swallow or spit. Notice both the duration and which flavours linger.

Maceration: The time grape juice or wine spends in contact with the skins, extracting colour, tannin and flavour. The length of contact is one of several choices that affect extraction.
Magnum: A 1.5-litre bottle, twice the standard size. Wine generally develops more slowly in a magnum than in a standard bottle.
Malolactic fermentation: Also called malolactic conversion. Bacteria convert sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid. It is common in reds and can contribute buttery aromas in whites such as Chardonnay.
Méthode traditionnelle: The method used for Champagne, in which a second fermentation creates bubbles inside the bottle. Subsequent ageing on spent yeast can add bread-like aromas and change the texture.
Minerality: A tasting description for impressions such as stone, chalk or wet rock. It has no single agreed definition and does not establish that minerals from the soil caused the flavour.
Mousse: The foam and the texture of bubbles in sparkling wine. You might describe it as fine, creamy or coarse.
Must: Freshly crushed grapes before fermentation, including the juice and any skins, pips and stems present.

Natural wine: Wine made with few additions or interventions, often unfiltered and with little or no added sulphur. The term does not tell you exactly how a particular bottle was made; practices vary between producers.
Négociant: A merchant who buys grapes or wine from growers and sells wine under their own name. Négociants include respected Burgundy producers; the term describes a business model, not a quality grade.
Noble rot: The beneficial form of botrytis that can develop on ripe grapes in suitable weather. See Botrytis for how it helps make sweet wine.
Nose: A wine’s aromas, or the act of smelling it. When a tasting note describes “the nose”, it means what you smell before taking a sip.
NV: Non-vintage, commonly a blend of wines from several harvests. Most Champagne is NV; blending years helps a producer maintain a consistent house style.

Oaked: Made with oak contact, through barrels, staves or chips. Oak can add vanilla, spice, toast and tannin, depending on how it is used.
Off-dry: A wine with a little perceptible sweetness. It can be a good choice with spicy food.
Orange wine: Wine made by fermenting white grapes with their skins, as in red-wine making. The wine can be amber-coloured, tannic and savoury.
Organic: A regulated farming approach that restricts synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. Certification confirms compliance with the relevant organic rules.
Oxidised: A wine altered by exposure to oxygen. Unwanted oxidation can dull fresh fruit, brown the colour and create aromas like a cut apple left in the air. Controlled exposure to oxygen is part of some wine styles, including some sherries.

Palate: Either your own sense of taste or the flavours of the wine in the mouth, depending on context. “On the palate” simply means “when you taste it”.
Pét-nat: Short for pétillant naturel: sparkling wine bottled before its first fermentation finishes, trapping the carbon dioxide that fermentation produces. It is often cloudy and sealed with a crown cap.
Phenolics: A group of compounds that includes tannins and colour pigments, found in grape skins, pips and stems. Phenolic ripeness concerns how these components develop, alongside the grape’s sugar ripeness.
Phylloxera: A root-feeding insect that devastated European vineyards in the late 1800s. Grafting European grape varieties onto resistant American rootstocks became the main defence and remains widespread today.
Pomace: The skins, pips and stems left after pressing grapes. Pomace can be distilled to make spirits such as grappa.
Prädikat: Germany’s system of harvest-ripeness categories, including Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese. It concerns grape sugar at picking, so it does not by itself tell you how sweet the finished wine tastes.
Premier Cru: In Burgundy, a vineyard classification below Grand Cru. In Bordeaux, Premier Cru appears at the top of certain classifications. The region determines what the term means.
Press wine: Wine pressed from grape skins after the free-run wine has been drained. It is often darker and more tannic and may be blended back in to add body or grip.
Punch-down: Pushing the floating cap of grape skins back down into fermenting red wine to extract colour and flavour. Traditionally done by hand, or foot, several times a day.
Punt: The indentation in the base of a bottle. It helped hand-blown bottles stand upright. Its depth does not indicate the quality of the wine.

Quaffable: A casual tasting term for a wine that feels easy to drink. It describes an approachable style, without saying much about flavour.

Racking: Moving wine off its sediment into a clean vessel. The transfer may also expose the wine to some air.
Racy: A tasting term for pronounced, refreshing acidity, often used to describe Riesling.
Reserva / Riserva / Reserve: Reserva in Spain and Riserva in Italy are regulated terms, often linked to minimum ageing. The details depend on the appellation. Elsewhere, Reserve may have no regulated meaning, so check the country and label.
Residual sugar: Sugar remaining in the finished wine, measured in grams per litre. It contributes sweetness, but acidity and aroma also affect how sweet the wine seems.
Riddling: Gradually turning and tilting sparkling-wine bottles so the yeast sediment collects in the neck for disgorgement. Traditionally done by hand on racks, it is now mostly mechanised.
Rosé: Pink wine, usually made by giving the juice brief contact with red grape skins. Blending red and white wine is also used for rosé Champagne. The permitted methods depend on the wine and its production rules.

Saignée: French for “bleeding”: drawing off some juice early in red-wine production to make rosé. The wine left in the tank has a higher proportion of skins to juice, which can increase concentration.
Sec: French for dry. On Champagne labels, however, Sec indicates a sweeter category. See also Demi-sec.
Second wine: A separate, usually less expensive bottling from an estate, often using wine from plots or barrels not selected for the main wine. It can be a more affordable introduction to the producer.
Sediment: The harmless grit of tannin and colour that settles in older reds and unfiltered wines. Stand the bottle upright and pour steadily, leaving the sediment behind.
Skin contact: Time that grape juice or wine spends with the skins, extracting colour, tannin and flavour. Brief contact is common for rosé; longer contact with white grape skins produces orange wine.
Solera: An ageing and blending system associated with sherry. Wine is drawn from older stocks and replaced with younger wine, so the finished blend contains wine from several years.
Sommelier: A restaurant wine professional who helps you choose wine and oversees its service. Tell them your budget and what you enjoy so they can suggest a suitable bottle.
Spätlese: German for “late harvest”, the Prädikat step above Kabinett. Riper and more intense, and can be made dry or sweet.
Structure: The way a wine’s acidity, tannin, alcohol and body combine in the mouth. When a note calls a wine structured, look for which of these elements is prominent.
Sulfites: Sulphur dioxide, used since Roman times to keep wine fresh and stable. Nearly all wine contains some. Sulfites are one possible sensitivity, but a wine headache can have several causes; seek medical advice for recurring symptoms.
Sur lie: French for “on the lees”: ageing wine in contact with spent yeast cells, which can add texture and aroma. You will often see it on Muscadet labels.

Table wine: An everyday term for ordinary still wine, also used as a basic legal category in some systems. Its meaning depends on context.
Tannin: Compounds from grape skins, pips, stems and oak that can give a drying, grippy sensation on your gums. Tannin contributes to red wine’s structure and ageing potential; firm reds often work well with rich food.
Terroir: The conditions of a wine-growing place, including soil, slope, climate and local practices, and their influence on wine. It helps explain why the same grape can produce different wines in nearby villages.
Texture: How wine physically feels in your mouth. Words such as silky, creamy or grippy describe texture rather than aroma or flavour.
Toast: The level of heat applied to the inside of an oak barrel. Toasting affects the smoke, spice and caramel notes that the oak can contribute to wine.
Trocken: German for dry. Trocken means dry under German labelling rules, while a wine’s exact sweetness and style still vary.
Typicity: How closely a wine resembles the expected style of its grape or region, such as whether a Chablis has recognisable Chablis character.

Ullage: The air gap between the wine and the cork. A low fill level in an old bottle can suggest prolonged exposure to air. Check it when assessing the bottle’s condition before buying.
Unfiltered: Bottled without filtering, so the wine may be hazy or develop sediment. Cloudiness alone is not a fault.
Unoaked: Made without oak influence. This can help you choose a Chardonnay without oak-derived vanilla or toast, though other winemaking choices still affect its flavour.

Varietal: A wine named after and made chiefly from a single grape, such as a varietal Pinot Noir. The grape is a variety; varietal describes the wine.
Varietal character: Aromas and flavours associated with a grape, such as cut grass in Sauvignon Blanc or lychee in Gewürztraminer. They can help with identification, though growing conditions and winemaking affect how clearly they appear.
VDP: A German association of wine estates with its own vineyard classification and production standards. Its eagle logo identifies a member estate.
Veraison: The stage when grapes soften and begin changing from green towards gold or purple as ripening progresses.
Vertical tasting: Tasting several vintages of the same wine side by side. Compare how the aromas, flavours and texture differ between years. A horizontal tasting compares different wines from one year.
Vieilles vignes: French for “old vines”. The age meant by the phrase varies, so check the producer’s description. Vine age alone does not establish wine quality.
Vinification: The process of turning grapes into wine: another word for winemaking.
Vintage: The year the grapes were harvested. Differences between years can be especially noticeable in marginal climates, where weather has a strong influence on ripening.
Viticulture: Grape growing: the care of vines and vineyards before the grapes reach the winery.
Volatile acidity: The volatile acids in wine, mainly acetic acid, which can smell of vinegar at high levels. The associated nail-varnish or solvent smell comes from ethyl acetate, a separate compound.

Whole-cluster: Fermenting whole grape bunches, including their stems. This can affect tannin and add spicy or floral notes, including in Pinot Noir and Syrah.
Wine diamonds: Harmless tartrate crystals that can form in wine or on the cork. They come from salts of tartaric acid naturally present in wine.
Wine thief: A long glass or steel pipette used to draw a wine sample from a barrel.

Yeast: Microorganisms that convert sugar into alcohol during fermentation. Producers may add a cultured yeast strain or rely on yeasts already present on grapes and in the winery.
Yield: The amount a vineyard produces. Wine yield is often expressed in hectolitres per hectare. Lower yields can affect concentration, but yield alone does not determine quality.

Zesty: A tasting term for bright citrus flavours and refreshing acidity, often used for white wine.

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