Glossary
Wine glossary
207 terms, each defined in a sentence you can actually use — and then, where it earns it, explained properly.
How to use this
Every definition starts with the shortest true answer. If that is all you needed, stop reading. The detail underneath is for when the short answer raises another question, which in wine it usually does.
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Tasting and describing wine
33 terms
Winemaking
52 terms
The vineyard
34 terms
Sparkling wine
19 terms
Fortified wine
10 terms
Reading labels
31 terms
Ageing and storage
10 terms
A–Z
A
- ABV
- The proportion of the wine that is ethanol. Table wine typically runs 11–15%; fortified wine 15–22%; Mosel Kabinett can be as low as 7.5%.
- Acidification
- Adding tartaric acid to must or wine, typically in warm regions where grapes ripen before retaining enough natural acidity. Permitted in some jurisdictions and restricted in others — broadly the inverse of where chaptalisation is allowed.
- Acidity
- The sharp, mouthwatering quality in wine, mostly from tartaric and malic acid in the grape. It is what makes a wine taste fresh rather than heavy, and it is the single most important factor in whether a wine works with food.
- Aeration
- Oxygen exposure can soften tannin slightly and disperse reductive notes. Opening a bottle an hour early achieves almost nothing — the exposed surface at the neck is tiny. Pouring into a wide vessel or swirling in the glass is far more effective.
- Ageing
- Primary fruit fades, tannins polymerise and soften, colour shifts, and tertiary aromas develop. Most wine does not improve with age; it is made to be drunk within a few years.
- Alcohol
- Produced by fermentation. Beyond its intoxicating effect it contributes substantially to a wine's body and to a perception of sweetness, and it carries aroma compounds.
- Altitude
- Temperature falls roughly 0.6°C per 100 m of elevation. Altitude is how regions like Mendoza and Etna grow fresh wines at latitudes that would otherwise be too hot.
- Ambient (wild) yeast
- Allowing fermentation to start with the mixed population of yeasts on the grapes and in the cellar. Often credited with more complexity, at the cost of predictability and some risk of stuck fermentation.
- Amphora
- Earthenware vessels used for fermenting and maturing wine. Neutral in flavour but slightly porous, allowing gentle oxygen exchange without oak character. The Georgian qvevri is the best-known form.
- Ancestral method
- The oldest sparkling technique. Wine is bottled part-way through fermentation and finishes in the bottle, trapping carbon dioxide. Usually undisgorged, so the wine is cloudy. The basis of pét-nat.
- Annual growth cycle
- Budburst, shoot growth, flowering, fruit set, véraison, ripening, harvest, leaf fall and winter dormancy. Each stage has its own weather risks.
- Anthocyanins
- Colour compounds in grape skins. They bind with tannins over time, which is why red wine loses colour intensity and gains a brick-orange rim as it ages.
- AOC / AOP
- Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, now also written AOP under EU harmonisation. Specifies the delimited area, permitted varieties, maximum yields, minimum alcohol and production methods.
- Appassimento
- Laying grapes on racks or in ventilated lofts for weeks or months so water evaporates. Produces both dry Amarone and sweet Recioto and passito wines.
- Appellation
- A delimited region whose name is protected, usually with rules on permitted grape varieties, yields, alcohol and production methods. European appellations regulate practice; American AVAs delimit an area without dictating how wine is made there.
- Aspect
- In the northern hemisphere, south-facing slopes receive far more sun. In marginal climates like the Mosel this is the difference between ripening and not ripening.
- Assemblage
- The act of tasting component lots and deciding the final blend. In Champagne it also refers to blending across vintages to maintain a house style.
- Astringency
- The physical drying and roughening of the mouth caused by tannins binding with salivary proteins. Distinct from bitterness, which is a taste; astringency is a tactile sensation.
- Autolysis
- The process by which spent yeast cells decompose and release compounds into the wine. It is the source of the bready, toasty, biscuity character in traditional-method sparkling wine, and it requires time — which is why lees-ageing minimums exist.
- AVA
- A delimited US wine region. Unlike European appellations, an AVA specifies only where grapes are grown — not which varieties, what yields or how the wine is made.
B
- Balance
- The relationship between acidity, sweetness, tannin, alcohol and fruit. A balanced wine has no single element sticking out — the alcohol is not obtrusive, the acidity is not sharp, the tannin is not harsh.
- Barrique
- A small oak barrel holding 225 litres. Its high surface-area-to-volume ratio means it imparts substantially more oak character than larger vessels.
- Bâtonnage
- Periodically stirring settled lees through the wine, which increases their textural contribution. Common in white Burgundy and wines made in that idiom.
- Biodynamic viticulture
- Organic farming plus specific preparations and a lunar calendar. Many respected producers follow it and their wines are excellent; the evidence base for the specifically Steiner-derived elements, as distinct from the organic ones, is weak. WineHQ reports both facts.
- Biological ageing
- Maturation beneath a living yeast film, which shields the wine from oxidation and transforms it chemically. The opposite of oxidative ageing.
- Blanc de Blancs
- French for "white from whites". In Champagne this means Chardonnay in almost all cases. Typically leaner, more citrus-driven and longer-lived than a blend.
- Blanc de Noirs
- French for "white from blacks". The grapes are pressed gently and quickly so no colour is extracted. Gives more body and red-fruit weight than Blanc de Blancs.
- Blending
- Mixing wines from different varieties, vineyards, vessels or vintages. Far from being a compromise, blending is how most of the world's greatest wines are assembled, including Champagne and Bordeaux.
- Blind tasting
- Removing label information to avoid bias. It reliably demonstrates how much price, region and reputation shape perception — including for experienced tasters.
- Body
- The perceived weight and viscosity of a wine, from light as skimmed milk to full as double cream. It is a composite of alcohol, sugar, extract and glycerol rather than a single measurable property.
- Botrytised wine
- Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú, German Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Noble rot both concentrates the grape and adds its own honey and saffron character.
- Botti
- Large oak casks, often thousands of litres, used traditionally in Piedmont and Tuscany. They allow slow oxygen exposure without adding obvious oak flavour, which is why traditionalist Barolo tastes of Nebbiolo rather than of wood.
- Bottle shape
- The high-shouldered Bordeaux bottle, sloping Burgundy bottle, tall slim Alsace or German flute, and the squat Franken Bocksbeutel. Producers often follow the convention of the style they are emulating.
- Brix / Baumé / Oechsle
- Different regions use different scales for the same measurement. Brix is used in the Americas, Baumé in Australia and France, Oechsle in Germany — where it underpins the Prädikat system.
- Brut
- An EU-defined sugar category for sparkling wine. The full scale from driest is: Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Dry (Sec), Demi-Sec, Doux.
- Brut Nature
- The driest category, with no dosage added. Also labelled Zero Dosage or Brut Zéro. Unforgiving of a base wine that lacks ripeness.
- Budburst
- The first sign of the new season. Early-budding varieties are more exposed to spring frost, which is a serious commercial risk in cool regions.
- Bush vine (gobelet)
- An old training method where the vine forms a low, self-supporting bush. Well suited to hot, dry, windy places because the canopy shades the fruit. Common in the Barossa, Swartland, Priorat and southern France.
C
- Canopy management
- Leaf removal, shoot positioning and trimming to control how much sun reaches the fruit and how well air circulates. A primary tool for managing both ripeness and disease.
- Carbonic maceration
- A technique where whole bunches ferment intracellularly under carbon dioxide before being pressed. It produces very soft tannins and distinctive aromas of banana, bubblegum and kirsch.
- Cellaring
- Keeping wine in stable, cool, dark conditions so it can mature. Stability matters more than hitting an exact temperature.
- Chaptalisation
- Adding sugar to the must so the yeast produces more alcohol. It does not make the wine sweeter — the sugar is fermented out. Permitted in some cool regions and prohibited in others.
- Château
- In Bordeaux, an estate that grows grapes and makes wine. There is often no grand building at all; the term denotes a property, not architecture.
- Classico
- Denotes the original, usually smaller and older delimited zone within a larger appellation. Chianti Classico is a separate and generally superior appellation to the surrounding Chianti.
- Climat
- A specific plot with defined boundaries and a name, some documented for centuries. Burgundy's climats are a UNESCO World Heritage listing.
- Climate (cool, moderate, warm)
- Growing-season temperature shapes acidity, sugar, tannin ripeness and aroma. Cooler regions give higher acidity, lower alcohol and more herbal or floral character; warmer regions give riper fruit, higher alcohol and softer acidity.
- Clonal selection
- Propagating from one plant with desirable traits, giving uniformity and predictability at the cost of genetic diversity.
- Clone
- Vines propagated from a single parent plant chosen for its yield, berry size, ripening date or disease resistance. Different clones of the same variety can produce noticeably different wine.
- Closed
- Describes a wine giving little on the nose. Sometimes a phase — many ageworthy wines shut down for a period in their youth — and sometimes just a dull wine.
- Closure
- Closure choice affects how much oxygen reaches the wine over time, which affects how it ages. It is a genuine trade-off rather than a simple question of quality.
- Cold soak
- Holding must at low temperature for a few days before fermentation starts. Extracts water-soluble colour compounds while limiting alcohol-soluble tannin extraction.
- Complexity
- The number and layering of distinct characteristics in a wine. Complexity is what separates an interesting wine from a pleasant one, and it usually increases with age.
- Concentration
- How densely packed a wine's flavours are. Usually a function of low yields, old vines, small berries or concentration techniques such as drying or freezing.
- Concrete egg
- A concrete tank whose shape is said to encourage natural convection currents that keep lees in suspension. Concrete is flavour-neutral but has thermal mass and slight porosity.
- Corkage
- Compensates the restaurant for service, glassware and lost margin. Policies vary widely and it is worth asking in advance.
- Corked
- A wine tainted by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, smelling of damp cardboard and stripped of fruit. It does not mean the cork crumbled, and it is not caused by bits of cork in the wine.
- Coulure
- Poor fruit set caused by cold or wet weather during flowering. Some varieties, notably Grenache and Malbec, are particularly prone.
- Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva
- A hierarchy setting minimum total ageing and minimum time in oak. Crianza requires the least, Gran Reserva the most. Requirements differ between denominations, so the terms are meaningful but not identical everywhere.
- Cru
- French for "growth". In Burgundy it means a specific classified vineyard; in Bordeaux a classified estate; in Beaujolais one of ten named villages. The word does not mean the same thing in each place.
- Crushing
- Gently splitting the berries so juice can run free. Distinct from pressing, which applies real force. Many modern wineries crush lightly or not at all.
- Cuvée
- Loosely, a particular blend or bottling. In Champagne it has a precise meaning: the first and finest fraction of juice from the press.
D
- DAC
- Districtus Austriae Controllatus. Unusually, a DAC name indicates a specific regional style rather than only an origin, so the label carries information about what is in the bottle.
- Dealcoholisation
- Usually by vacuum distillation, which lowers the boiling point so the wine is not cooked, or by reverse osmosis or spinning cone. Because alcohol carries aroma and provides body, removing it takes all three away — which is why body and aromatics are often added back.
- Decanting
- Two quite different purposes get conflated here. Decanting for sediment is a mechanical necessity in old wine. Decanting for aeration is a judgement whose effects are real but modest.
- Destemming
- Separating berries from the stalks. Standard practice for most modern red wine, since unripe stems contribute harsh, green tannins.
- Diacetyl
- A by-product of malolactic conversion that smells of butter or butterscotch. The same compound is used to flavour popcorn.
- Disgorgement (dégorgement)
- Freezing the neck of the bottle so the lees form a plug, then removing the cap so pressure ejects it. The bottle is then topped up and sealed.
- Diurnal range
- A large swing lets grapes ripen in the day while retaining acidity at night. It is why high-altitude and desert regions can produce fresh wines at hot latitudes.
- DO / DOCa
- Denominación de Origen, and the higher DOCa (DOQ in Catalan), held only by Rioja and Priorat. Spain also has Vino de Pago for individual single estates.
- DOC / DOCG
- Denominazione di Origine Controllata, and the higher DOCG with the added *e Garantita*. DOCG requires stricter rules and official tasting approval. The tiers describe regulatory strictness rather than guaranteed quality.
- Domaine
- Used particularly in Burgundy for a producer farming its own vineyards, as opposed to a *négociant* who buys fruit or wine.
- Dosage
- The *liqueur d'expédition* added to replace the volume lost at disgorgement. Its sugar content determines whether the finished wine is Brut Nature, Brut, Extra Dry and so on.
E
- En primeur
- A Bordeaux practice of selling wine a year or more before release. Buyers commit early in the hope of a lower price, taking on the risk that the finished wine or the market disappoints.
- En rama
- Bottled close to how it tastes from the cask, retaining more texture and flor character. Usually released in small seasonal batches.
- Estate bottled
- Indicates the whole process happened under one roof. The exact legal requirements vary by country.
- Estufagem
- A process of warming wine to around 45–50°C for several months. The slower, higher-quality alternative is *canteiro*, where casks are stored in warm lofts for years.
- Extra Dry
- A sparkling wine sweetness level sitting between Brut and Dry (Sec) — meaning it contains more sugar than Brut despite the name. The terminology dates from an era when sparkling wine was far sweeter overall.
- Extract
- Sugars, acids, phenolics, minerals and glycerol dissolved in the wine. Higher extract generally correlates with a fuller, more concentrated impression.
F
- Fermentation
- The process that turns grape juice into wine. Yeast consumes the sugar in the must and produces roughly equal parts ethanol and carbon dioxide, along with heat and hundreds of aroma compounds.
- Field blend
- An old practice where different varieties are interplanted and picked and fermented together, rather than grown separately and blended afterwards. Common in the Douro and in old Californian Zinfandel vineyards.
- Filtration
- Passing wine through a filter to clarify or stabilise it. Sterile filtration removes yeast and bacteria, preventing refermentation in bottle.
- Fining
- Clarifying wine by adding a substance — egg white, bentonite clay, casein — that attracts suspended particles and drops out with them. The agent itself is removed.
- Finish
- The persistence of flavour after swallowing. A long finish is generally regarded as a quality marker; a short one means the wine disappears immediately.
- Flor
- A layer of yeast that forms on wine fortified to around 15%, protecting it from oxygen while consuming glycerol and producing acetaldehyde. It gives Fino and Manzanilla their saline, bread-dough character.
- Fortification
- Adding distilled grape spirit to raise alcohol. When added *during* fermentation it kills the yeast and leaves natural sugar, producing sweet wines like Port. When added *after*, the wine stays dry, as with Fino sherry.
- Free-run juice
- The gentlest and generally highest-quality fraction, obtained before any pressure is applied.
- Frost
- Spring frost after budburst kills the new growth and can eliminate most of a crop in a night. Growers fight it with heaters, wind machines, helicopters and sprinkler systems that coat buds in protective ice.
- Fruit set
- The stage after flowering where fertilised flowers develop into grapes. Poor weather here reduces the crop substantially and irreversibly.
- Fynbos
- A distinctive dried-herb, scrubby character often noted in Cape reds and whites — the South African equivalent of garrigue as a descriptor.
G
- Garagiste
- Coined for tiny Bordeaux operations making wine in improvised premises in the 1990s. Now used more broadly for any micro-producer.
- Garrigue
- Thyme, rosemary, lavender and juniper scrub. Used to describe a herbal character in southern French reds. Whether the vines absorb it from the surrounding landscape is a romantic claim rather than an established one.
- Glycerol
- An alcohol produced during fermentation that contributes a faint sweetness and a sense of smoothness. Present in all wine, in greater quantity in botrytised wines.
- Grafting
- Attaching a cutting of the desired variety to a rootstock so they grow as one plant. Almost universal since phylloxera.
- Grand Cru
- In Burgundy, around thirty individually named vineyards at the top of the hierarchy. In Alsace, fifty-one named sites. In Champagne, entire villages rather than individual plots. In Saint-Émilion, a much broader category than the name implies.
- Green (unripe) character
- Bell pepper, stalk and leaf character. In a cool-climate Cabernet Franc it is part of the style; in a warm-climate Cabernet Sauvignon it usually signals fruit picked too early.
- Green harvest
- Cutting off a proportion of bunches around véraison so the vine directs its resources to fewer grapes. Effective but expensive, and its benefits are debated.
- Grey rot
- Botrytis in wet conditions without the drying phase. It splits berries, encourages other spoilage organisms and ruins fruit.
- Grosses Gewächs (GG)
- The VDP designation for dry wine from its highest vineyard classification. A private designation rather than a legal category.
H
- Harvest (vendange)
- The decision of when to pick is arguably the single most consequential one a producer makes, trading sugar and phenolic ripeness against acidity retention.
- Hectolitre per hectare (hl/ha)
- One hectolitre is 100 litres, or roughly 133 standard bottles. Appellation rules set maximum yields in these terms.
- Horizontal tasting
- Comparing different producers or vineyards from one year, which isolates site and winemaking from vintage.
- Hot
- Describes alcohol that stands out rather than integrating. A fault of balance rather than of a specific number — a 15% wine can be balanced and a 13% one hot.
I
- Ice wine (Eiswein)
- Water freezes and sugar does not, so pressing frozen fruit yields a tiny quantity of intensely concentrated juice. Unlike botrytised wine it has no fungal character — just very pure, piercing fruit.
- IGP / Vin de Pays
- Indication Géographique Protégée. Allows a wider range of varieties and higher yields, which some serious producers use deliberately to make wine outside appellation rules.
- IGT
- Indicazione Geografica Tipica. Created partly to accommodate high-quality wines that fell outside DOC rules, which is why some of Italy's most expensive wines carry a nominally lower designation.
J
- Jammy
- A descriptor for wines whose fruit tastes stewed or preserved rather than fresh. Usually a consequence of high ripeness and warm climates. Used approvingly by some drinkers and critically by others.
K
- Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese
- Categories based on the minimum sugar concentration in the grapes when picked. They describe the raw material, not the finished wine: a Spätlese may be bone dry if labelled *trocken*, or sweet if not.
L
- Late harvest
- Extended hanging concentrates sugar through water loss (*passerillage*) without noble rot. Alsace Vendanges Tardives is the classic example.
- Lees
- Spent yeast and other solids that settle out. Leaving wine in contact with them adds texture, a bready or savoury character, and some protection from oxidation.
- Legs (tears)
- Droplets that form and run down the glass, caused by the different evaporation rates and surface tensions of alcohol and water — the Marangoni effect. They tell you a wine is relatively high in alcohol and nothing else.
- Length
- Used interchangeably with finish. Wines described as "long" continue to deliver flavour for many seconds after the wine has gone.
- Lieu-dit
- A traditional place name that may appear on a label without carrying appellation status. Increasingly used by producers wanting to communicate site specificity.
- Light strike
- A genuine photochemical reaction producing cooked-cabbage and wet-wool aromas. Clear and pale green bottles are most vulnerable, which is an unfortunate collision between marketing and chemistry.
M
- Maceration
- Contact between juice and solids. Length and temperature determine how much colour and tannin end up in the finished wine, which is the main lever a winemaker has over a red wine's structure.
- Malolactic conversion
- A secondary process — not a fermentation in the yeast sense, despite being commonly called malolactic fermentation — in which lactic acid bacteria convert malic acid into lactic acid. It lowers acidity, softens texture and can produce diacetyl, which smells of butter.
- Massal selection
- Selecting cuttings from a range of vines rather than one, preserving genetic diversity. Slower and less uniform than clonal selection, and increasingly favoured for quality.
- Methoxypyrazines
- Give green pepper, blackcurrant leaf and cut grass character. They break down as fruit ripens, so their presence indicates picking ripeness fairly directly. Prominent in Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc and underripe Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Micro-oxygenation
- Bubbling minute quantities of oxygen through wine during maturation to polymerise tannins and soften texture. Developed in Madiran in the 1990s specifically to tame Tannat.
- Millerandage
- Also called hen and chickens. Reduces yield but can concentrate quality, since small seedless berries have a higher skin-to-juice ratio.
- Minerality
- A description of wines that suggest wet stone, flint, chalk or salt. It is one of the most contested terms in wine: the sensation is real and widely reported, but the popular explanation — that the vine transmits minerals from the soil into the wine — is not supported by evidence.
- Monopole
- Rare in Burgundy, where most vineyards are divided among many owners. A monopole means a single estate controls the whole site.
- Mousse
- The quality of the fizz — how fine the bubbles are, how persistent, and how the foam feels. A fine, persistent bead is generally associated with long lees ageing and good technique.
- Mouthfeel
- Everything you feel rather than taste: weight, smoothness, grip, prickle, viscosity. Two wines can share a flavour description and feel completely different.
- Must
- The mixture of juice, skins, seeds and sometimes stems that goes into a fermentation vessel. Once fermentation finishes it is wine.
- Mutage
- The French term for stopping fermentation with alcohol, used for Vins Doux Naturels and equivalent to the process used for Port.
N
- Natural wine
- Generally means organic or biodynamic farming, ambient yeast, no additives and little or no added sulfur. There is no universal legal definition, which means the term guarantees nothing in itself.
- Négociant
- A long-established part of the French trade, particularly in Burgundy and Champagne. Some négociants produce wine of the highest quality; the model itself says nothing about quality.
- Noble rot (Botrytis cinerea)
- A fungus that punctures grape skins, allowing water to evaporate and concentrating sugar, acid and flavour. It also produces its own aromas of honey, saffron and dried apricot. Requires damp mornings and dry afternoons; otherwise it becomes destructive grey rot.
- Non-vintage (NV)
- A deliberate blend across vintages to maintain a consistent house style. For Champagne this is the norm and the blend is the product, not a compromise.
O
- Oak ageing
- Storing wine in oak vessels. New oak contributes vanilla, toast, clove and coconut; older oak contributes little flavour but still allows the slow oxygen ingress that softens tannin.
- Old vine
- There is no universal legal definition, which is worth knowing — "old vine" on a label can mean almost anything. South Africa's Old Vine Project is unusual in certifying a verified minimum of 35 years.
- Old World / New World
- Old World means Europe and the Middle East; New World means everywhere else. The distinction was once a reasonable proxy for style — restrained and savoury versus ripe and fruit-forward — but has largely broken down as producers everywhere have converged.
- Orange wine
- Made like red wine but from white grapes. Extended skin contact extracts tannin and phenolics, giving grip and savoury character. Also called amber wine, which is the preferred term in Georgia where the tradition originates.
- Organic viticulture
- A certified approach prohibiting synthetic inputs. Copper and sulfur remain permitted, which is a genuine point of criticism since copper accumulates in soil.
- Oxidation
- Bruised apple, nutty aromas and browning colour. A fault in a young fresh wine; the intended objective in sherry, Madeira and Vin Jaune.
- Oxidative ageing
- Maturation with intentional oxygen exposure, producing nutty, caramelised, dried-fruit character. Used for Oloroso, Madeira, Tawny Port and Vin Jaune.
P
- Passito
- The Italian term for wine from appassimento-dried fruit. Vin Santo, Recioto and Passito di Pantelleria are examples.
- PDO / PGI
- Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication. PDO has stricter geographic and production requirements; PGI is broader. National terms like AOC and DOCG map onto PDO.
- Pét-nat
- Lightly sparkling wine bottled before fermentation completes, typically cloudy, usually sealed with a crown cap and generally lower in pressure than Champagne.
- pH
- Wine typically sits between pH 3 and 4. Lower pH means better microbial stability, better colour and a longer life. It correlates with but is not the same as perceived acidity.
- Phenolics
- Includes anthocyanins (colour), tannins (structure) and various aroma precursors. Extracted from skins, seeds, stems and oak.
- Phylloxera
- An American insect that devastated European viticulture from the 1860s. The solution — grafting European vines onto resistant American rootstocks — remains standard practice worldwide.
- Prädikat
- Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein, in ascending order of must weight at harvest.
- Premier Cru
- In Burgundy, the second-highest vineyard classification. In Bordeaux's 1855 classification, Premier Cru is the *highest* rank. Another case where the same words mean different things in different regions.
- Pressing
- For white wine, pressing happens before fermentation to separate juice from skins. For red wine it happens after, to extract the remaining wine from the fermented skins.
- Primary aromas
- Fruit, floral and herbal aromas deriving from the grape variety and the vineyard — blackcurrant in Cabernet Sauvignon, lychee in Gewürztraminer, black pepper in cool-climate Syrah.
- Prise de mousse
- French for "capturing the sparkle" — the in-bottle fermentation that generates carbon dioxide under pressure.
- Pump-over (remontage)
- Circulating juice over the floating skins to extract colour and tannin and to manage temperature. More extractive than punching down.
- Punch-down (pigeage)
- Submerging the cap of skins that rises during red fermentation, to keep it wet and extract colour and tannin. Gentler than pumping over.
- Punt
- The dimple in the bottom of a wine bottle. Its origins are in glassblowing and stacking, and it strengthens sparkling wine bottles against pressure. A deep punt is not a quality signal, despite the persistent belief that it is.
Q
- Qvevri
- A traditional Georgian earthenware vessel, lined with beeswax and buried so the surrounding earth maintains a stable temperature. Used for fermenting and ageing wine, often with extended skin contact. On UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list.
R
- Racking
- Transferring wine from one container to another, leaving sediment behind. Also introduces a controlled amount of oxygen, which helps resolve reductive character.
- Rancio
- A prized quality in aged fortified wines: walnut, coffee, dried fruit and a faint volatile lift. Sought in Banyuls, aged Rivesaltes and old sherry.
- Reduction
- Rotten-egg, struck-match or cabbage notes from volatile sulfur compounds. Often disperses with vigorous aeration, which distinguishes it from most other faults.
- Reserve wine
- Wine from previous years kept specifically to maintain house style across vintages. The depth of a house's reserve stock is one of the main things separating good non-vintage Champagne from ordinary.
- Residual sugar (RS)
- Measured in grams per litre. A bone-dry wine has under about 4 g/l; an off-dry wine 10–30 g/l; Sauternes can exceed 120 g/l and PX sherry 400 g/l.
- Riddling (remuage)
- Moving bottles progressively from horizontal to inverted, twisting them, so the lees slide into the neck ready for disgorgement. Traditionally done by hand on wooden *pupitres*; now usually by machine.
- Riserva
- Indicates extended ageing, with the specific requirement set by each individual appellation. It is not a single national standard.
- Rootstock
- American or hybrid vine roots resistant to phylloxera, onto which the fruiting variety is grafted. Rootstock choice also influences vigour, drought tolerance and lime tolerance.
- Rosé methods
- Direct pressing (pressing black grapes immediately), short maceration (a few hours of skin contact), and saignée. Blending red and white wine is prohibited for still rosé in the EU, though permitted for sparkling.
- Rotundone
- One of very few wine aromas traced to a single identified molecule. It accumulates in cool conditions and degrades in heat, which is why cool-climate Syrah is peppery and warm-climate Shiraz is not.
S
- Saignée
- French for "bleeding". Removing some juice early concentrates what remains for the red wine; the drawn-off juice becomes rosé. A by-product method rather than a purpose-built one.
- Screwcap
- Widely adopted in Australia and New Zealand as a deliberate industry decision to eliminate TCA. The very low oxygen transmission preserves freshness but can encourage reduction.
- Secondary aromas
- Aromas created during fermentation and maturation rather than present in the grape: yeast, bread, butter from malolactic conversion, vanilla and toast from oak.
- Sediment
- Tannin and colour compounds that have polymerised and dropped out of solution over years. A sign of maturity, not spoilage, though gritty in the mouth — which is why old wine is decanted.
- Skin contact
- Ranges from a few hours for rosé to several months for orange wine. The single biggest lever on colour, tannin and texture.
- Solera
- A set of barrel tiers where wine drawn from the oldest is replaced from the next-oldest, and so on. It produces consistency and means no solera wine is of a single vintage.
- Sommelier
- Responsible for a restaurant's wine list, service and pairing advice. The role covers buying and cellar management as much as recommending bottles.
- Stabilisation
- Steps taken to prevent tartrate crystals forming, proteins hazing or fermentation restarting. Cold stabilisation chills the wine to force tartrates out before bottling.
- Storage conditions
- Around 10–15°C, minimal temperature swing, no light, and horizontal storage for cork closures. Stability is the factor most often underrated.
- Stuck fermentation
- Caused by temperature extremes, nutrient deficiency or high alcohol killing the yeast. Leaves unintended residual sugar and risks microbial spoilage.
- Sulfites
- Present in almost all wine, since fermentation produces some naturally. Added quantities protect wine from oxidation and spoilage. Labels must declare their presence above a threshold.
- Super Tuscan
- Ambitious Tuscan wines that fell outside DOC rules — usually because they used Bordeaux varieties — and so had to be labelled as basic table wine. Most now sit under IGT Toscana or the Bolgheri DOC.
- Superiore
- Requirements vary by appellation but typically mean riper fruit and a slightly higher minimum alcohol. It is not a quality guarantee.
- Sur lie
- French for "on the lees". Most associated with Muscadet, where the wine is bottled directly off its lees, gaining texture and a slight carbon dioxide prickle.
- Sur pointe
- Bottles held neck-down after riddling, with the lees collected in the neck. Wine can be stored this way for years before disgorgement, which is why disgorgement dates matter.
- Sustainable viticulture
- Less strictly defined than organic certification, and covering water use, energy, biodiversity, packaging and labour as well as chemicals. Standards vary considerably by country.
T
- Talha
- Portuguese clay amphorae used for fermenting and storing wine, a practice revived by a number of Alentejo producers.
- Tank method (Charmat)
- Sparkling wine made by fermenting a second time in a large sealed tank, then filtering and bottling under pressure. Preserves fresh primary fruit and produces none of the bready character of bottle fermentation. Used for Prosecco.
- Tannin
- A group of phenolic compounds that bind with proteins in your saliva, producing a drying, slightly rough sensation across the gums. Tannin is a texture, not a flavour — it is felt rather than tasted.
- Tartaric acid
- The dominant acid in wine and unusual in being largely specific to grapes. Its potassium salt precipitates as tartrate crystals in cold conditions.
- Tartrate crystals
- Potassium bitartrate precipitating out when wine gets cold. Chemically identical to cream of tartar and completely harmless. The most commonly misdiagnosed thing in wine.
- TCA
- 2,4,6-trichloroanisole. Detectable by humans at parts-per-trillion concentrations, with sensitivity varying widely between individuals.
- TDN
- 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene. Develops with bottle age and is accelerated by sun exposure and warm climates. A marker of maturity rather than a fault, though not everyone enjoys it.
- Terroir
- A French concept covering soil, subsoil, climate, aspect, altitude and local practice — everything about a place that shapes the wine. It is a genuinely useful idea that is also frequently used to smuggle in unsupported claims.
- Tertiary aromas
- Aromas that appear over years in bottle as primary fruit fades: leather, mushroom, forest floor, dried fruit, honey, petrol in Riesling. Developing these is much of the point of ageing wine.
- Texture
- The surface quality of a wine independent of its weight. Lees contact, malolactic conversion and skin contact all build texture without necessarily adding body.
- Thiols
- Volatile compounds amplified by cool nights and specific yeast strains. Largely responsible for the tropical intensity of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
- Tirage
- The *liqueur de tirage* is added to base wine at bottling to start the second fermentation. The amount of sugar determines the eventual pressure.
- Toast level
- Barrels are heated to bend the staves, and the degree of charring is controlled. Light toast gives more woody, tannic character; heavy toast gives smoke, coffee and caramel.
- Topping up (ouillage)
- Keeping a barrel full so the wine is not exposed to air. Deliberately *not* topping up is how Vin Jaune and some sherries develop their character.
- Traditional method
- The method used for Champagne, Cava, Crémant, Franciacorta and English sparkling wine. A base wine is bottled with sugar and yeast, ferments again in the sealed bottle, and then ages on the resulting lees.
- Training system
- The architecture of the vine — guyot, cordon, bush vine, pergola. Choice depends on climate, mechanisation, disease pressure and tradition.
- Trocken
- Indicates a dry wine. *Halbtrocken* is off-dry, and *feinherb* is a customary but not legally defined term for something similar.
U
- Ullage
- The empty space in a bottle. It grows over decades through slow evaporation. A large ullage in a relatively young bottle suggests a failing seal or heat damage.
- Ungrafted (own-rooted)
- Possible where phylloxera never arrived or cannot survive — Chile, parts of South Australia, sandy soils, and Santorini's volcanic ash. Often associated with very old vines.
V
- VDP
- The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter operates a four-tier vineyard classification topped by Grosses Gewächs. It is a private members' system, distinct from and not part of German wine law.
- Vegan wine
- Wine itself contains no animal products, but traditional fining agents include egg white, casein, gelatin and isinglass. Vegan wine uses bentonite clay or pea protein instead, or is unfined.
- Véraison
- The transition when berries stop growing, soften, accumulate sugar and change colour — red grapes turning from green to purple. It marks the start of ripening proper.
- Vertical tasting
- Comparing different years from one producer, which isolates vintage variation from everything else.
- Vine age
- Older vines yield less and are often credited with more concentrated, balanced fruit. Root depth and reduced vigour are the plausible mechanisms. There is no universal definition of "old".
- Vintage
- The growing-season year printed on the label. In regions with variable weather it genuinely matters; in reliably sunny regions it matters much less than wine writing implies.
- VOS / VORS
- Vinum Optimum Signatum (or Very Old Sherry) indicates an average of at least 20 years; VORS at least 30. Verified by carbon dating and panel tasting.
W
- Whole-bunch fermentation
- Including some or all of the grape stems in the fermentation. Adds structure, a stemmy spice and often a floral lift, at the risk of green flavours if the stems are not ripe.
- Wine of Origin
- A scheme certifying that stated claims about where, when and from what a wine was made are accurate. It certifies truthfulness rather than quality.
Y
- Yeast
- Single-celled fungi, principally *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*, that carry out fermentation. Winemakers either add a selected cultured strain or rely on the yeasts already present on the grapes and in the winery.
- Yield
- Usually expressed in hectolitres per hectare or tonnes per acre. Lower yields generally concentrate flavour, and most appellation rules set maximums.