Wine Glossary
Wine Glossary N
Nebuchadnezzar: The term for the largest of the various Champagne bottles. It is a bottle that is capable of holding 15 liters of wine, equivalent of 20 standard bottles. more»
Wine Glossary W
Watery: Term that describes a taste of wine that is thin and lacks in flavor.
Weak: Terms that describes a wine having a lack of character more»
Wine Glossary P
Palo Cortado: A rare style of dry sherry which is the result of the incomplete development of the flor, this sherry starts life as neither Fino nor Amontillado that eventually develops a character best described as in between an Amontillado and an Oloroso. more»
Wine Glossary R
Racking: This is the practice of moving wine from one container to another by means of a hose in order to leave sediments behind. more»
Wine Glossary B
Backbone: this term is for noting down those wines which are full-bodied, well-structured and balanced by a certain pleasing level of acidity. more»
Wine Glossary O
Oak: An important source of wood for barrels used to store wines. It is the number one choice for wine barrels aside from other wood species such as cherries. more»
Wine Glossary Y
Yeast: Type of micro-organisms used in fermenting wines. These micro-organisms produce the enzymes which enables the conversion of sugar into alcohol. This conversion is essential for turning the grape juice into wine. more»
Wine Glossary Z
Zymase: The name for the enzymes given out by the yeast during fermentation. more»
Wine Glossary T
Tanky: Term used to describe the dull and damp qualities that show up in wines that are aged too long in tanks. more»
Wine Glossary V
Vegetal: Term used to describe wines that contain certain elements in their taste and smell which are suggestive of plants and vegetables.
Velvety: Wines having a rich flavor coupled with a silky and sumptuous texture. more»
Wine Glossary A
Acetic Acid: Each and every wine contains acetic acid, or vinegar. However, the amount is considerably quite small-ranging from 0.03 percent to 0.06 percent--and it is usually imperceptible to smell or taste. Whenever your normal table wines reach to a level of 0.07 percent or above, there will be a sweet-sour vinegary smell and the taste of the wine becomes quite sour. At the low levels, acetic acid can augment the character of a wine, but at whenever it is observed at higher levels (over 0.1 percent), it may turn out to be the dominant flavor and if this happens, it is believed to be a major flaw. A related substance, which is ethyl acetate, adds a nail polish-like smell to the wine. more»
Wine Glossary S
Salmanazar: A type of oversized bottle that can hold about 9 liters, the equivalent of 12 standard wine bottles. more»
Wine Glossary C
Carbonic Maceration: This refers to the process of fermentation as a whole and is characterized by uncrushed grapes that are placed in a carbon dioxide atmosphere. In essence, what will happen is that the weight of the upper layers of grapes contained in a vat will eventually break the skins of the grapes that are located in the lowest layer. The wine that one gets from this particular process is partly a product of carbonic maceration and partly the traditional fermentation of juice. more»
Wine Glossary D
Decanting: This is a method of taking away the sediment that is present in a wine before drinking it. It is achieved by carefully and surely pouring out the wine from its original bottle into another bottle or container altogether. more»
Wine Glossary E
Early Harvest: This means that the wine comes from early-harvested grapes which have been usually lower than average on the alcoholic scale or sweetness. more»
Wine Glossary F
Fading: Denotes a wine that is slowly losing flavor, fruit or color because of age.
Fat: Signifies a wine which is "full-bodied". The high alcohol wines which have low acidity are able to give a "fat" impression on one's palate. This characteristic can be an advantage for those wines which have ripe, bold and rich flavors although this can also suggest that the wine's structure is suspect. more»
Wine Glossary G
Graceful: What one would call a wine which is harmonious as well as enjoyable in a subtle way. more»
Wine Glossary H
Half-bottle: This only means a bottle which holds 375 milliliters or about 3/8 of a liter. more»
Wine Glossary I
Imperial: An oversized bottle holding 4 to 6 liters; the equivalent of eight standard bottles. more»
Wine Glossary L
Late Harvest: This is on the labels and it means that the grapes that make up the wine were picked very much later than normal also with a higher sugar level than normal. This is most commonly associated with botrytized and dessert-style wines. more»
Wine Glossary M
Maceration: During the process of fermentation, this is the steeping of the grape skins as well as solids that are in the wine wherein the alcohol acts as a solvent to extract the tannin, aroma and the color from the skins. more»
