Wine glossary: essential terms from acidity to yield

Terms A to Z

Acidity

The tart, refreshing component of wine, mainly from tartaric and malic acids in the grapes. Cool climates and early picking give higher acidity; it helps wines age and pair with food.

Alcohol by volume (ABV)

The percentage of a wine's volume that is ethanol, printed on every label. Most table wines fall between about 11 and 15%; fortified wines reach 15 to 22%.

AOC / AOP

Appellation d'origine contrôlée, France's protected place-name system created in 1935, now officially AOP (appellation d'origine protégée) under EU law. Each appellation sets its area, grapes, yields and methods.

Appellation

A legally defined and protected geographical name for a wine. In Europe it usually comes with production rules; in the New World it often defines only the area.

Assemblage

French for blending: combining wines from different grapes, plots or barrels into a final wine. Central to Bordeaux and Champagne.

AVA

American Viticultural Area, a US grape-growing region defined by geography and administered by the TTB. A wine naming an AVA must contain at least 85% grapes from it.

Barrique

A 225-litre oak barrel of the Bordeaux type, the most widely used barrel size for ageing wine.

Bâtonnage

Stirring the lees in a barrel or tank so that the spent yeast stays in suspension, adding texture and roundness, often to white wines such as Burgundy.

Blanc de blancs

A white wine, usually sparkling, made only from white grapes. In Champagne this means 100% Chardonnay in most cases.

Blanc de noirs

A white wine, usually sparkling, made from black grapes pressed gently so the skins do not colour the juice. In Champagne these are Pinot Noir and Meunier.

Body

The sense of weight and fullness of a wine in the mouth, driven mainly by alcohol, extract and sugar. Wines are described as light, medium or full-bodied.

Botrytis

Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that in the right humid-then-dry conditions becomes noble rot, shrivelling grapes and concentrating their sugar. It is behind Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú and Trockenbeerenauslese.

Brut

A dry sparkling wine with under 12 grams of sugar per litre. It is the most common style of Champagne.

Carbonic maceration

Fermenting whole, uncrushed bunches in a vat filled with carbon dioxide, so fermentation starts inside each berry. It gives soft, fruity reds and is typical of Beaujolais.

Cépage

French for grape variety. On a label it lists the varieties used in the wine.

Chaptalization

Adding sugar to grape must before or during fermentation to raise the final alcohol. It is regulated and banned in some regions and categories, such as German Prädikatswein.

Charmat method

Making sparkling wine by running the second fermentation in a pressurised tank rather than in each bottle. Patented by Federico Martinotti in 1895 and used for most Prosecco.

Château

A wine estate, used above all in Bordeaux, whether or not it has a castle. On a label it usually names the producer.

Climat

In Burgundy, a precisely delimited, named vineyard plot with its own soil and exposure.

Clos

A vineyard that was historically enclosed by a wall, common in Burgundy, as in Clos de Vougeot or Clos de Tart.

Cork taint

A musty, wet-cardboard fault, mainly caused by the compound TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole), which can come from contaminated corks. A tainted wine is described as corked.

Crémant

French traditional-method sparkling wine made outside Champagne, such as Crémant d'Alsace, de Bourgogne or de Loire.

Cru

French for growth: a vineyard or estate recognised for its quality. Ranked as grand cru or premier cru in Burgundy and Champagne, and as classified growths in Bordeaux.

Cuvée

From the French for vat: a specific blend or batch of wine. In Champagne it also means the first and best juice from the press.

DAC

Districtus Austriae Controllatus, Austria's appellation system created in 2001. A DAC name is reserved for wines in the region's typical style; Weinviertel became the first in 2003.

Decanting

Pouring wine from its bottle into another vessel, to separate it from sediment or to expose it to air before serving.

Disgorgement

In traditional-method sparkling wine, removing the plug of yeast sediment from the neck of the bottle, usually by freezing it, before the dosage is added.

DO / DOCa

Denominación de Origen, Spain's standard appellation, and Denominación de Origen Calificada, its top tier, held by Rioja (since 1991) and Priorat.

DOC

Denominazione di Origine Controllata, Italy's appellation tier introduced in 1963. Portugal uses the same abbreviation for its own top tier.

DOCG

Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, Italy's highest classification, created in 1980 for Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

Domaine

A wine estate that grows its own grapes, the usual term in Burgundy and other French regions.

Dosage

The small dose of wine and sugar (liqueur d'expédition) added to sparkling wine after disgorgement. It sets the final sweetness, from Brut Nature to Doux.

Élevage

French for raising: everything that happens to a wine between fermentation and bottling, such as ageing in barrel or tank, racking and blending.

En primeur

Selling wine as futures, before it is bottled. Bordeaux châteaux release young wines this way in the spring after the harvest.

Fining

Adding an agent such as bentonite clay or egg white to wine to remove proteins or harsh tannins that would cause haze or bitterness.

Flor

A layer of yeast that forms on the surface of some Sherries in barrel, protecting them from oxygen and giving fino and manzanilla their tangy, bready taste.

Fortified wine

Wine to which distilled spirit, usually grape brandy, is added, raising alcohol to 15 to 22%. Port, Sherry, Madeira and vins doux naturels are examples.

Grand cru

Great growth: the top vineyard ranking in Burgundy, Alsace and Champagne. In Bordeaux's Saint-Émilion it is a separate classification of estates.

Grosses Gewächs

A dry wine from a VDP Grosse Lage, the top vineyard class of Germany's VDP association of leading estates. Often abbreviated GG.

Ice wine

Sweet wine made from grapes frozen on the vine and pressed while frozen, concentrating sugar and acid. Called Eiswein in Germany and Austria; Icewine is a trademark in Canada.

IGP

Indication géographique protégée, the French tier between AOP and Vin de France, which replaced Vin de Pays. Rules are looser than for AOP.

Lees

The sediment of dead yeast and grape particles left after fermentation. Ageing on the lees adds texture and bready or nutty flavours.

Magnum

A 1.5-litre bottle, equal to two standard 75 cl bottles. Wine often ages more slowly in magnum.

Malolactic fermentation

A bacterial conversion, mainly by Oenococcus oeni, of sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid. Nearly all reds and some whites, such as many Chardonnays, go through it.

Méthode traditionnelle

The traditional method of sparkling winemaking, with a second fermentation in each bottle, followed by lees ageing, riddling and disgorgement. Used for Champagne, Cava and Crémant.

Millésime

French for vintage year. A millésimé Champagne is made from a single year's harvest.

Must

Freshly pressed grape juice, with or without skins, seeds and stems, before or during fermentation.

Négociant

A merchant who buys grapes, must or finished wine from growers and sells it under its own name. Important in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne.

Oak

The wood used for most wine barrels. New oak adds vanilla, spice and toast; older barrels mainly allow slow oxygen exchange.

Oenology

The science and study of wine and winemaking. An oenologist is a trained winemaking specialist.

Old vines

Vines of advanced age, often several decades, which usually give lower yields of concentrated fruit. In most countries the term, vieilles vignes in French, has no legal definition.

Oxidative

Describes wine made or aged with deliberate exposure to oxygen, giving nutty, bruised-apple or caramel notes, as in oloroso Sherry, tawny Port or vin jaune.

Passito

Italian wine made from grapes dried after harvest to concentrate sugar, such as Passito di Pantelleria. The drying process is called appassimento and is also used for Amarone.

Phylloxera

A tiny North American aphid-like insect that attacks vine roots. It destroyed over 40% of French vineyards from the 1860s and is controlled by grafting vines onto resistant American rootstocks.

Prädikatswein

Germany's top official quality category, labelled with a ripeness level from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. Chaptalization is not allowed.

Premier cru

First growth. In Burgundy it ranks vineyards just below grand cru; in Bordeaux's 1855 classification, premier cru (first growth) is the top rank.

Punt

The indentation in the base of a wine bottle, found especially on sparkling wine bottles.

Reductive

Describes wine made with minimal oxygen exposure, preserving fresh fruit. Excess reduction can cause sulfur smells such as struck match.

Residual sugar

The grape sugar left unfermented in a finished wine, measured in grams per litre. EU rules call a still wine dry up to 4 g/L in most cases.

Riddling

Remuage in French: gradually turning and tilting sparkling wine bottles until the sediment collects in the neck. Now usually done by machines called gyropalettes.

Rootstock

The root system onto which a fruiting vine variety is grafted. American or hybrid rootstocks protect European vines against phylloxera.

Saignée

Bleeding off some pink juice from a tank of red grapes early in maceration, to make rosé and concentrate the remaining red wine.

Sekt

German or Austrian sparkling wine. Quality Sekt can be made by the tank or the traditional method.

Solera

A system of fractional blending used for Sherry, in which wine is drawn from the oldest barrels and topped up with younger wine, so each bottling contains a mix of ages.

Sommelier

A trained wine professional, usually working in a restaurant, who selects wines, advises guests and serves wine.

Sulfites

Sulfur dioxide and related compounds used as a preservative and antioxidant in winemaking. Labels in the EU and US must state that the wine contains sulfites.

Sur lie

French for on the lees: a wine aged on its spent yeast before bottling, as in Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie.

Tannin

Polyphenols from grape skins, seeds and stems, and from oak, that create a drying, grippy feel in the mouth. Tannin is much higher in red wine and helps it age.

Terroir

The combined influence of a site's soil, climate, topography and local tradition on the character of a wine. The founding idea behind European appellations.

Ullage

The air space between the wine and the closure in a bottle or barrel. High ullage in an old bottle can signal leakage or oxidation.

Varietal

A wine named after and made mainly from a single grape variety. In the EU, a single named variety must make up at least 85% of the wine.

Vigneron

French for a vine grower, often one who also makes wine from their own grapes.

Vin de France

France's basic wine category, which replaced table wine. It may show grape and vintage but no region smaller than France.

Vin doux naturel

French fortified sweet wine whose fermentation is stopped by adding grape spirit, such as Banyuls or Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise.

Vintage

The year the grapes were harvested. A vintage wine comes wholly or mainly from that single year; a non-vintage wine blends several years.

Yield

The amount of grapes or wine a vineyard produces, measured in hectolitres per hectare in Europe or tons per acre in the US. Appellation rules often set a maximum.

Frequently asked questions