We know it can feel like winemakers and sommeliers have a language of their own, so we’re here to simplify some common wine terms in our very own Wine Defined glossary.
Appellation is the legally defined and protected rules used to define where the grapes for a wine are grown
Bouquet describes the aromas and fragrance of a mature, or maturing wine with secondary characteristics
Crush is the time of year when harvest and fermentation take place
Decanting is the process of slowly pouring wine from a bottle into a larger container, which separates out the sediment
Effeuillage is the removal of the lower leaves from the vines, allowing more sun to hit the grapes directly to ripen them
Fermentation is the process of turning sugars into alcohol
Grand Cru is the French quality designation for the best vineyards in a particular region
Hectolitre is the unit of volume equal to one hundred litres, where yields are quoted in hectolitres per hectare
Ice Wine is low alcohol sweet wine made from frozen grapes
Kabinett is the grape sweetness level used in the Prädikat German wine classification system
Late Harvest describes wines made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual
Maceration is a part of the winemaking process where the grapes, seeds, skins, pulp and stems are transferred to add flavour, colour and tannins to the wine
New Oak describes the first time a barrel has been used to age wine
Grapes from old vines have a minimum of 35 years of age. Known as ‘Vieilles Vignes’ in French
Punt is the indentation at the base of the wine bottle. There are many explanations as to why bottles feature this concave design, such as providing strength to the bottle and disperse the sediment
QPR stands for ‘Quality Price Ratio’, a designation for rating wine based on the ratio of its quality and its price
Racking is a process where the wine is moved from one barrel to another, adding air to help with the removal of sediment
A sommelier is a trained wine professional who specialises in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing
Terroir is used to describe how a particular region’s climate, terrain and traditional winemaking practices affect the wine’s taste
Ullage is the headspace of air between wine and the top of the container holding the wine
Vintage is the year the grapes in the wine were harvested in
Also called a ‘sommelier knife’ or ‘wine key’, a Waiter’s Friend is a type of corkscrew favoured by professionals to open wine
Standing for ‘Extra Old’, XO refers to a blend of Cognac which is stored for a minimum of six years
Yield is a measure of the number of grapes or wine produced per unit surface of vineyard
Zymology is the science of fermentation in wine
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