Often our knowledge of wine is limited to flavor, color, and strength. At the same time, the main wine terms are neatly bypassed. In fact, there is a special list of definitions – wine terms that every wine lover should know.
List of wine terms
Abbocatto – Slightly sweet wine.
Abfuller (Abfuller) – spilled into…
Anejo (Анехо, Анеджо) – Spanish wines aged for at least 3 years.
Amabile (Амабиле) semi-sweet (medium sweet).
Amontillado (Амонтилядо) – dry, with a full body of Sherry.
APNr. – an identification number issued by the German regulatory authorities.
From this code it is possible to know exactly the origin of the bottle, the date of bottling, the plant, the batch.
selection (Уаслезе) – German wines from specially selected bunches of grapes.
Azu means “sweet”.
Area (Берейх) is a wine subregion in Germany.
Blanc de Blanc – white (sparkling) wine made only from white grapes.
Cellars (Бодэга) wineries in Spain.
Brut (Brut) – Dry Champagne.
Cava – Spanish sparkling wine. It is made using the same method as Champagne.
Cantina a winery in Italy.
Cantina Sociale or CS (Cantina sociale) is a cooperative in Italy that grows grapes and produces wine from them.
Cave Cooperative – cooperative cellar in France.
Claret (Claret) – the old historical name of the red Bordeaux.
Clarete (Clarete) – Spanish rose wine in the regions of Castile and Leon.
Classico (Classic) – means that the origin of the wine belongs to the central historical part of the production zone. For example, in Italy – Chianti Classico.
Clos – a vineyard, originally enclosed by a stone wall 50 cm thick. If the walls are destroyed, the vineyard loses this term.
Concord – an American red grape variety used in the preparation of local authentic wines.
Harvest (Косеха) – Spanish term, translated as “seasoned.” Means crop or year of harvest.
Raised and bottled by (Криадо и амботеладо пор) – wine produced and bottled.
Breeding (Крианца) – wine of at least two years of aging, of which at least 6 months – in oak barrels, and the rest of the time – in bottles.
Cru Bourgois (Cru Bourgeois) – officially this term was established for the wines of the Medoc in 1932.
Сru Classe (Cru Classe) is a French legal term for a historic vineyard or the excellent quality of the wine produced there.
Dolce – sweet wine.
single layer (Айнцелаг) is the German name for a specific section of a vineyard.
Eiswein (Айсвайн) – a variety of Beerenauslese, a German wine made from late harvested (during early frosts) grape varieties. It has a high concentration of sugar.
Eleve en futs (Elve en fu) – aged in barrels.
Eleve en futs de shene – aged in oak barrels.
Faugeres (Фожэр) is a wine region in Languedoc and the name of the wine produced there.
Fendant – dry white wine produced in Switzerland from the Chasselas grape variety.
Nice nice) – Sherry in a dry, light style.
Sparkling, Lively, Cheerful (Фрицантэ, Виваче, Бриозо) – light sparkling wine of moderate effervescence.
Gradi Degrees is the percentage of alcohol.
Gran Reserva – Spanish wine of at least five years of aging, of which at least two years – in oak barrels.
Grand Cru is a French term for vineyards that produce exclusive varieties of wines or are famous for their ancient history.
Grand vin – translates as “great wine” or “elite wine”. It should be borne in mind that this inscription does not serve as an official guarantee of quality.
Grosslage (Грослаг) – German legal term for several individual farms, whose products can be combined under one name.
good filling – bottled in the estate. Provided that the grapes are harvested and the wine is made on the estate (estate).
Halbtrocken – semi-dry wine or champagne. It is determined according to a special German principle.
Haut-Medoc (O-Medoc) – part of the Medoc region in Bordeaux, where most of the Bordeaux red wines are produced.
Young (Ховен) is a young Spanish wine from this year’s vintage, which is either not aged at all in oak barrels, or aged for a shorter time than established for Crianza wines.
Jurancon (Жюрансон) – French dry aromatic wine from the Pyrenees region in southwestern France.
Kabinett (Cabinet) – one of the classes of German wines. Light dry wine.
Liqueur (Ликоросо) – liquor sweet strong wine.
Madeira – an island in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa. It produces strong wine with the same name.
Chamomile (Manzanila) – dry Sherry style, same as Fino.
Mistela (Mystery) – grape juice with the addition of alcohol in Spain.
Oloroso (Олоросо) – the wine contains more than 50 grams of residual sugar per litre. The term has a second meaning: a type of wine with the characteristics of Sherry or Montilla Moriles.
Optima (Optima) – a German grape variety, a hybrid of Sylvaner – Riesling – Muller-Thurgau.
Passito (Пассито) – Italian winemaking process, in which the collected bunches are placed in a dry room in order to turn into raisins by the time of pressure. This procedure concentrates the sugar in the grape juice, and usually sweet wines are made from these berries.
Perlwein – sparkling wine. They have a pressure in the bottle of at least 3 atmospheres, and at least 9.5% alcohol.
Primeur – young wine (French term).
Petillant – Slightly sparkling French wine.
Rancid (Рансио) – aged wine, specially oxidized and exposed to the sun in glass bottles to speed up the maturation process.
Recioto (Riccioto) – wine from the Veneto region in northeastern Italy, made from late harvest grapes, almost raisins. The production technology of this wine uses the “passito” process.
The wines are usually thick, sweet, with a high alcohol content (the exception is the dry wine Amarone).
Reserve (Reserve) – Spanish wine of at least three years of aging, of which at least a year – in oak barrels.
Reserve (Ризерва) is an Italian term. In combination with the name of the wine, it indicates that the wine has been aged for 2-3 years. Produced in the best areas.
Pink (Rosado) – Spanish wine made from red grapes or a mixture of red and white with fermentation without grape skins.
Sangria (Sangria) – a refreshing drink made from red grapes, water, sugar and citrus fruits. The white version of Sangria is called Zurra (Zurra) or Zurracapote (Zurrakapote).
sparkling wine – sparkling wines produced by secondary fermentation.
Sekt – sparkling quality wine. Has special storage standards. These wines can also originate from certain QbA or Sect bA regions and only come from the specified vineyard.
Sekt is made exclusively from wine of German origin. According to the residual sugar, the label will have the following inscriptions: Extra brut, extra herb = up to 6 g/l of sugar. Brut, herb = up to 15 g/l sugar. Extra troken, Exra dry = 12 to 20 g/l sugar. Troken, Dry = 17 to 35 g/l sugar. Halbtroken = 33 to 50 g/l sugar. Mild = over 50 g/l of sugar.
Selection des grains nobles (Sleksyon de Grand Noble) – selected wine from noble grape varieties in Alsace.
Sparkling wine (Спуманэ) is the Italian name for sparkling wines.
Spatlese – a variety of expensive German wines made from late harvest grapes, with the aroma of ripe berries and a complete taste.
Stravecchio (Stravekchio) – very old Italian wine.
Sur lie – aged on lees or fine lees.
Szamorodni (Native) – traditional Tokaj wine.
Tempranillo – a magnificent variety of red grapes from Spain.
Tinto is the Spanish word for red wine.
Trockenbeerenauslese – German wine made from almost withered berries selected from late-harvest grapes.
Usually extremely expensive and rare varieties.
Late harvest (Вяндаж тардив) – wine from a late grape harvest. The inscription is typical for the Alsace region in France.
Harvest (Вендемия) – harvest year in Italian.
Vendimia Tarda – late collection in Spanish.
Old vines (Вье винь) – literally translated as “old vines”, whose age is at least 15 years.
Villages – wine from certain villages (communes).
Vin Gris is the French name for lightly colored rosé wines. The literal translation is “gray wine”.
Vin jaune – yellow wine.
Vino de Licor (Vino dé likor) – Liquor Spanish wine.
Vino de Pasas (Vino dé pasas) – Spanish wine made from dried grapes.
Vinho Verde is a fresh, light, sometimes slightly effervescent Portuguese white wine.
Relevance: 25.12.2015
Tags: Encyclopedia