Glossary

The purpose of this is to enable you to put names to what you see, smell and taste in a wine.
To help you to fill out the tasting sheets, here are a few key words useful in tasting or talking about wines.

A

Acidity: wine has generally high acidity. This ensures that it feels fresh despite its alcohol content. Acidity also carries fruit flavours and helps the wine to keep well, but it has to be balanced by other flavours. It is mainly felt on the sides of the tongue. If the wine lacks acidity, it feels flabby.
If the acidity is too strong, the wine will appear over sharp and aggressive.

Agreeable: a wine with no defects.

Aggressive: too acid or astringent.

Apogee (or peak): period of age of which a wine is deemed to be at its best. This is variable depending on the type of wine and its storage conditions.

Aromas: the smells of a wine: recognizing them can help to identify a wine and its age.
1. Primary aromas are due to the grape variety, most of which have their own range.
2. Secondary aromas are due to wine-making techniques.
3. Tertiary aromas arise during the ageing process.


Astringency: usually due to tannins in young red wines, which can produce a rough and drying sensation in the mouth.

Attack: the first impression on the palate. If this is pleasant and quite intense, it can be described as “clear-cut”.

B

Balance: describes the relationships between the main flavour compounds in a wine: acidity, sweetness, tannins, etc. “Well balanced” is thus a favourable judgement on this relationship.

Bead: sometimes used to describe the bubbles in a sparkling wine, such as champagne.

Bitterness: this is felt at the back of the tongue. All wines contain some bitterness, which becomes unpleasant if excessive.

Body: applied to the tactile feeling produced by a wine in the mouth. “Good body” means that the wine has considerable presence and that this is perceived as harmonious.

Bouquet: term sometimes used to describe the combination of aromas in a wine, especially after ageing.

Brick-red: a tone, paler than cherry or ruby, that usually appears in a red wine after some years of ageing.

Brilliant: used to describe a clear and bright colour in a wine.

Bright: similar to brilliant.

C

Chewy: a wine that seems quite thick, usually with firm tannins.

Cloudy: said of a wine that is not clear in colour.

Crisp: a fresh-tasting wine with clear-cut flavours.

D

Distinguished: a refined wine, with elegant and smooth flavours.

F

Faded: a wine that is past its best, having lost freshness without gaining in complexity.

Fat: a rich and unctuous wine. More often applied to whites than reds.

Feminine: fairly meaningless term, sometimes used to define a wine that seems more delicate than a “masculine” one.

Finale: the final impression on the palate, used to describe the persistence of taste after swallowing (or spitting out). The longer the finale, the finer the wine, in general.

Firm: a wine whose flavours may seem a bit austere. Can apply to acidity or tannins, or both.

Flabby: wine lacking in acidity and structure.

Flat: a wine that has lost the sharpness of its aromas, usually through prolonged contact with air.

Flattering: a wine that seems very agreeable to the nose but delivers short of the mark in the mouth.

Fleshy: a wine that fills the mouth and seems soft and pleasant.

Floral: wine with markedly floral aromas.

Forward: a wine that has evolved fast for its type/age, in smell and/or in taste.

Foxy: wine with animal smells, usually, but not necessarily, unpleasant.

Fresh: young and crisp-tasting wine with good acidity.

Fruity: wine that smells of fruit of any kind.

Full-bodied: a relatively powerful wine with strong flavours.

Future: refers usually to the capacity of a wine to age.

G

Gamey: a wine whose smell reminds one of game. Usually applies to some older red wines, or can be a defect, in the case of younger wines.

Generous: a wine full of aromas and flavours that seems warm and expansive.

Green: see also vegetal. Usually means that the grapes have been picked before perfect ripeness.

H

Heady: a wine that has a high apparent alcohol level.

Heavy: a wine that appears too thick, and/or alcoholic.

Horizontal tasting: refers to a tasting of several wines from the same vintage; the objective being to compare them.

Hue: the tone of a particular colour.

L

Legs: sometimes used to describe the residues of wine that adhere to the inside of a glass, due to surface tension, these may indicate varying degrees of sugar or alcohol in the wine but one should not accord them too much importance.

Light: light in alcohol, but usually also in flavours and sometimes in colour. Can be very pleasant.

Limpid: wine without any opacity or substances floating in it.

Lively: a wine that tastes fresh, but whose acidity remains pleasant.

M

Maderised: wine with pronounced oxidization that has generally gone brownish in colour.

Mature: a wine that has aged sufficiently for its flavours to become richer, more complex, or more pleasant than when the wine was younger.

Mineral: said of certain aromas and flavours that are quite hard to decide otherwise. Generally associated with acidity, and evoking stones or metal.

Old: a wine on the decline.

Open: said of a wine that is showing well, with its aromas and flavours “opened” up.

P

Perfume: rich and pleasant “nose” to a wine.

Potential: the capacity of a wine to age well.

Powerful: said of a wine that has full flavours, maybe strong tannins (in the case of a red wine) and often quite high alcohol as well.

R

Rough: describes astringency that is out of balance, and therefore usually unrefined tannins that produce a rough feeling on the palate.

Ripe: can be applied to flavours that seem fruity and full-bodied, or to a mature wine.

Rich: a wine with powerful flavours for its type.

Roasted: type of aromas and flavours sometimes found in sweet wines from late-harvested grapes.

Ruby red: a brilliant red colour in a wine.

S

Sharp: a wine whose acidity has the upper edge to the point of seeming almost aggressive.

Smoky: the aromas of some wines can remind on of smoke, either due to the combination between grape variety and growing conditions, or due to the use of oak barrels in the ageing process.

Spritzy: wine with a slight bubble due to the presence of some carbonic gas.

Structured: said of a wine that is firm in the mouth and whose taste usually lasts quite a long time. This often means that it will keep well.

Silky: describes the tactile impression of a very smooth wine.

Tannins: substances contained in the skin of grapes (also in stems and pips), in variable quantities depending on the grape variety and production conditions. Is transmitted to wine in the case of red wines. It produces astringency and bitterness in terms of flavours when the wine is young but is one of the main factors in the capacity of red wines to age. Tannins soften with ageing and combine with acidity and other substances to produce very complex and agreeable flavours.

Truffle: a powerful and earthy aroma that can be found in certain fine wines (both red and white).

V

Vegetal: wine with marked greenish aromas (grass, hay, green leaves).

Vertical tasting: tasting of different vintages of the same wine.

W

Warm: a wine that: seems warm and vinous through its alcohol.

Watery: a wine that seems thin, lacking in body and flavours.

Woody: wines can take on woody smells and flavours, sometimes closer to vanilla, caramel, toast or smoke, due to fermenting and/or ageing in wood barrels, usually made of oak.

Y

Young: a wine, usually in its first few years (the exact age will depend on the type of wine), which may not yet be ready to drink.

AOC: Appellation d’ Origine Contrôlée. It is a French legislative system that uses the geographical identity of production for a food-stuff, including wine, to identify and qualify it. Linked to production constraints which varies according to the area. Initiated in the 1930’s, it has since been imitated in other major European countries (DOC in Italy, DO in Spain, etc).

AVA: American Viticultural Area: geographical area, of variable size, officially identified in the USA. The wines that comes form such an area can use its name. Unlike the European equivalent, no other production constraints are attached.

Cellar: Storage space for wine before it is shipped to markets, usually underground or at least air-conditioned.

Château: a term found on most wines from Bordeaux, and some from other places. Initially means a castle or large house, but has come, by extension, to signify a wine estate with a house on it.

Claret: the name given by the British to red wine from Bordeaux. Before the 18th century, it designated a rosé wine, and was derived from the French word “clairet”.

Classico: in Italy, the historical heart of an appellation that has been extended to surrounding areas, as in Chianti.

Crémant: French term for a type of sparkling wine. It is associated with a regional name (eg. Crémant d’Alsace, de Bourgogne, etc.) to designate sparkling wines under the AOC system.

Cru: means “growth” and is used to define a vineyard site. Can be used to describe just one field, or a larger territory covering one or several villages.

Cuvée: used in Champagne and elsewhere to designate a particular blend. In technical terms in Champagne, it is also means the first (and best) juices from the pressing operation.

DO: Denominacion de Origen. The Chilean and Spanish equivalent of the French AOC system.

DOC: Denominazione di origine controllata. The Italian equivalent of the French AOC system.

DOCG: Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita. The upper and elitist echelon of the Italian DOC system.

Frizzante: a sparkling wine in Italy

Gran Reserva: in Spain, wines produced in the best vintages and aged for at least 5 years, at least two of which are in barrels.

Grand Cru: an official term in three French regions:

• In Champagne, it designates the grapes and wines from 17 specific villages.
• In Burgundy, the top 2% of quality vineyards have been classified as Grands Crus. Some are for white wines and some for red. Their vineyard names alone identify the wines they produce (ex: Montrachet, Musigny).
• In the Bordeaux area, Saint Emilion Grand Cru is an appellation that demands higher quality constraints than simple Saint Emilion.

Millésime: a vintage, or year of an event, in this case a harvest.

Pétillant (or Mousseux): a sparkling wine in France.

Primeur wines: concerns young wines but can signify different things. Beaujalais Nouveau, sold as from November, is sometimes called “primeur”. Very different is the system proposed by top Bordeaux Châteaux, as well as some Burgundy Estates, top Californians an Italians, for the reservation in “premeur”, as from the spring following the harvest in question of their latest vintage. The means buying a year or two before the wine can e delivered. The financial investment is of variable interest, and the legal position of the buyer as to possession of this “virtual” wine is far form clear.

Red wine: wine made by the fermentation of the juice and skins of red grapes. Occasionally, some white grapes may be incorporated.

Reserva: Spanish wines from certain DO’s that are matured for 3 years (18 months or more in wood) before being delivered.

Riserva: certain Italian DOC or DOCG wines that have been aged for a minimal period (that varies according to the place) in wood.

White wine: wine made by the fermentation of the juice of white grapes, or of red grapes with white flesh.

Winery: building that houses wine-making equipment and is used for the production of wine (reception of grapes and must, crushing and pressing, fermentation and ageing).

THE VINEYARD

Ampelography: the science of description and identification of wine species.

Ban: the official opening of a grape harvest in France.

Botrytis cinerea: a fungus that attacks grape skins. Is an enemy if it strikes during the ripening phase. For certain sweet wines, can produce highly beneficial results when it attacks very ripe grapes as it concentrates the sugars even further. It is then known as “noble rot” and produces some of the greatest sweet wines.

Grape variety: the individual member of a vine species. In the case of wine, almost all grape varieties used belong to the vitis vinifera species.

Phylloxera: a root-feeding aphid from North America that destroyed the majority of Europe’s vines between 1860 and 1880. Native American vines are resistant to this pest, hence now all vines are grafted on to root stock derived from American plants.

Powdery Mildew: a fungal disease, also called Oidium that affects the green parts of the vine.

Alcoholic fermentation: the chemical reaction which transforms grape juice into wine by the interaction of yeast with grape sugar, producing alcohol.

Blanc de Blancs: white wine made only with white grapes. In Champagne, signifies wines made with the Chardonnay grape , which is the region’s only white variety.

Blending: assembling different batches of wines to produce larger quantities of a homogenous ensemble. If under an appellation system, all the wines must come from the designated area. May imply the use of different grape varieties, different vineyard plots, different vats, barrels, or several of these combinations. In Champagne, in particular, blending wines from different harvest years is also frequent. The resulting Champagne is called “non-vintage”.

Brut: sparkling wines that have received little added sugar before final corking.

Cellaring: ageing a wine in bottles in a cool cellar to improve it.

Chaptalisation: the legal (in some areas) and controlled process of slightly increasing the alcohol level in wines by adding sugar to the must before fermentation.

Crushing: breaking the grapes skins to allow the juice to contact the skins. Used for red wines, as this contact is essential for the extraction of their specific flavours and colorous.

Demi-sec: a semi-sweet sparkling wine which contains between 35 and 50 grams of added sugar per litre.

De-stemming: removing yeast deposits from bottles of sparkling wines that have undergone a secondary fermentation in bottles (Champagne process)

Disgorgement: removing yeast deposits from bottles of sparkling wines that have undergone a secondary fermentation in bottles (Champagne process).

Malolactic fermentation: a chemical reaction that reduces the effective levels of acidity in wine by the transformation of malic acid into lactic acid. Is desirable for some wines and not for others.

Maturing (or Ageing): keeping the wine in tanks, vats, barrels or bottles to improve its flavours prior to selling or shipping.

Pressing: pressing the grapes to extract juice.

Vatting: keeping red grape skins in contact with the juice in tanks or vats to help extract the colour and flavours.