A to Z Wine Terms

Acidity Refers to the acid present in a wine.  It can either originate from the grape or be added during the winemaking process.  The level of acidity can influence a wine’s freshness, sharpness or sourness.

Botrytis Used to describe a dessert wine style which is made from grapes infected by the mould botrytis cinera.  The mould grows in warm, humid conditions and concentrates grape sugars.  The resulting wines often have strong apricot characters.

Cork Taint  A broad term for a range of unpleasant characters that are present in approximately 3 – 5% of wines sealed with a natural cork.  Affected wines often smell musty or dank.  In a small number of cases, the origin of the taint is not the cork but a tainted storage barrel or wine cellar.

Decanting  A process of slowly pouring clear wine away from its sediment.  It is best performed after the sediment has had time to settle in bottle (1-24 hours depending on the wine and the result required).  The process is also used to aerate the wine.

Elegant  Used to describe wines with refined and subtle aromas and flavours.  Elegant wines are usually light-to-medium bodied in weight.

Floral  Sensory characters reminiscent of flowers.

Grassy  Used to describe wines with a herbaceous element similar to grass.  These wines are often fresh in nature.  Wines made from the grape varieties Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc can sometimes be described as grassy.

Horizontal Tasting  A tasting of different wines produced in the same vintage.  It is often restricted to wines from the same region.

Intensity  Refers to the level of aromas and flavours present in a wine.

Juicy  Wines with abundant, obvious fruit flavours with accompanying medium-to-full palate weight.

Kosher  Wine produced in strict accordance to Jewish dietary laws.

Length The persistence of a wines flavour after swallowing.

Malolactic Fermentation The bacterial conversion of malic acid into lactic acid, which occurs during or after fermentation.  By-products of the conversion include carbon dioxide as well as butter-like aroma and flavour compounds.  It raises the pH and softens the acidity of a wine.

Nose Used to describe the wine’s aroma or bouquet.

Oxidised  Refers to wine that has been spoiled by exposure to excessive amounts of oxygen.  In bottle, it occurs    as a result of a faulty closure.  Oxidised wines smell flat, sharp and of brown apples.  Oxidised white wines tend to be golden in colour where as oxidised reds show browning.

Palate  It refers to either an individual’s personal taste or to the taste and structure of a wine.

Quality  A subjective term used to describe how good or bad a wine is.  Quality wines can be found at all price points.

Regional  Refers to wines displaying the aromas, flavours and structural attributes that are characteristic of the region in which the grapes were grown.

Sediment  A harmless deposit that forms at the base of a wine bottle when compounds such as acids, anthocyanins, tannins and proteins precipitate.  It is most commonly seen in aged wines.

Thin  Used to describe a wine which is lacking in palate weight and roundness

Ullage The space between the bottom of the closure and the upper level of the wine in bottle.

Vertical Tasting  A tasting of one wine from different vintages, usually presented in chronological order.

Weight  Refers to the heaviness of a wine.  Wines can be referred to as light, medium or heavy weight.  Using milk as an analogy, full cream milk is heavier in the mouth than skim milk.

Xérès The French term for sherry.

Yeasty  Aromas and flavours reminiscent of yeast.  Sparkling wines are often described as yeasty, due to extended aging in the presence of yeast lees.

Zesty  Used when a wine has the lift and flavour intensity associated with citrus zest.

© Toni Paterson October 2006