Wine glossary
Look up wine's key terms, explained simply and reliably.
- A
- AstringentAstringent describes the rough, puckering sensation you can feel in your mouth when you drink a wine with a lot of tannin....
- Alcohol contentAlcohol content tells you how much of the wine consists of alcohol, more precisely ethanol, which forms when yeast converts the grapes'...
- AOCAOC stands for Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, which can loosely be translated as controlled designation of origin. It is the backbone of the...
- AppellationAn appellation is a defined geographical wine area whose name is protected and tied to a set of rules for how the...
- AromaAroma is a collective term for everything you experience with your nose when you drink wine. It comes from volatile compounds in...
- AssemblageAssemblage is the French word for the art of composing a finished wine from several components. These can be different grape varieties,...
- B
- BalanceBalance is about how a wine's fundamental elements work together, rather than how they taste on their own. The most important building...
- BarriqueA barrique is a small oak barrel in which wine is aged after fermentation. The word is used in particular for the...
- Biodynamic wineBiodynamic wine is wine made from grapes grown according to biodynamic principles. It is a form of farming that builds on organic...
- BouquetBouquet is the part of a wine's smell that arises during fermentation and ageing, that is, after the grapes have been pressed....
- BrutBrut is a term for the sweetness level in sparkling wine, and it tells you that the wine is dry. When a...
- BâtonnageBâtonnage is a French term for a cellar operation in which the winemaker stirs the sediment of dead yeast cells (called the...
- L
- LeesLees are the sediment that settles at the bottom of fermentation vats and storage tanks or barrels while the wine is being...
- C
- CavaCava is a Spanish sparkling wine made by the traditional method, meaning with the second fermentation taking place inside the bottle itself....
- ChampagneChampagne is a sparkling wine that comes exclusively from the Champagne region in northern France, northeast of Paris. The name is protected...
- CruThe word cru comes from French and literally means a growth or a place where something grows. In the wine world it...
- CrémantCrémant is the term for French sparkling wine made by the traditional method, but outside Champagne. The traditional method (also called méthode...
- CuvéeCuvée is a French word you come across again and again on wine labels, and it actually covers several related things. At...
- D
- DecantingDecanting is when you pour the wine from the bottle into a carafe before serving it. It is done for two reasons....
- Demi-secDemi-sec is a term describing the level of sweetness in a wine, and it sits between completely dry and decidedly sweet. The...
- Dessert wineDessert wine is an umbrella term for sweet wines in which the grapes' natural sugar has been concentrated. That sweetness can be...
- DODO stands for Denominación de Origen and is the Spanish designation of origin, equivalent to the French AOC or the Italian DOC....
- DOCGDOCG stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita and is the top tier of the Italian classification system for wine. The...
- G
- Grape ripeningGrape ripening is the process in which grapes develop from sour, green berries into ripe fruit that is ready for harvest. During...
- Grape varietyA grape variety is the specific type of wine grape a wine is made from, for example Chardonnay, Riesling or Nebbiolo. Almost...
- A
- AftertasteAftertaste is the flavour that lingers in your mouth after you have swallowed or spat out the wine. Some wine enthusiasts also...
- E
- Extra brutExtra brut is a term you will find on sparkling wine, and it tells you about the wine's sweetness, that is, how...
- B
- Barrel ageingBarrel ageing means that the wine is allowed to mature in wooden vessels, most often oak barrels, for a period that can...
- F
- FiltrationFiltration is one of the last clarification methods a winemaker can use before the wine goes into the bottle. Wine is rarely...
- B
- Bottle ageingBottle ageing refers to the time a wine spends in the bottle after it has been bottled but before it is drunk....
- F
- Fruit-drivenFruit-driven describes a wine where the fruit takes centre stage in both aroma and flavour. When you taste a fruit-driven wine, the...
- G
- Grand CruGrand Cru is the highest classification you will come across in several French wine regions, and the term simply means "great growth"...
- F
- FermentationFermentation is the stage of winemaking where grape juice is transformed into wine. It happens with the help of yeast, tiny single-celled...
- Fortified wineFortified wine is the umbrella term for wines that have had grape spirit added to them, so that they end up at...
- H
- HarvestHarvest is the moment when the grapes are picked and brought in from the vineyard. It marks the end of the vine's...
- I
- Ice wineIce wine (in German Eiswein) is a sweet wine made from grapes that have frozen on the vine and are harvested and...
- C
- Clarification (Klaring)Clarification is the step in winemaking where the winemaker removes the tiny particles that make a young wine cloudy or murky. Right...
- ComplexityComplexity is the word we use for a wine that has many different aromas and flavours at once, and where they work...
- Cork taintCork taint is the fault that occurs when a wine tastes and smells of wet cardboard, a damp cellar, a musty cloth...
- B
- BodyBody is a word wine people use for the fullness and weight a wine has in your mouth. Think of the difference...
- A
- Ageing potentialAgeing potential describes a wine's ability to develop positively over time if you let it rest in the bottle instead of drinking...
- M
- MacerationMaceration is the phase of winemaking where the grape juice is allowed to steep on the solid parts of the grape, that...
- MadeiraMadeira is a fortified wine from the Portuguese island of the same name, which lies out in the Atlantic Ocean west of...
- Malolactic fermentationMalolactic fermentation is a transformation that often takes place in wine after the ordinary alcoholic fermentation. Here the sharp malic acid, the...
- MineralityMinerality is one of the more elusive words in the wine world, but in practice it covers a particular kind of aroma...
- Most (grape must)Most, or grape must, is the fresh grape juice pressed from the grapes before it has fermented into wine. When the grapes...
- S
- Sparkling wineSparkling wine is quite simply wine with bubbles. The bubbles consist of carbon dioxide, a gas that forms naturally when yeast turns...
- N
- Natural wineNatural wine is an umbrella term for wine made with as few interventions as possible, both in the vineyard and in the...
- O
- Orange wineOrange wine is a white wine that is made more like a red wine. Instead of pressing the white or pale green...
- OxidationOxidation is the changes that happen when wine comes into contact with oxygen. It is the same process you know from a...
- P
- Portvin (Port)Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. What makes port special is that you stop the fermentation...
- Premier CruPremier Cru is a classification you will mainly come across in Bourgogne in France, where it denotes a level between ordinary village...
- PressingPressing is the step in winemaking where the juice is pressed out of the grapes or out of the solid parts that...
- ProseccoProsecco is an Italian sparkling wine from Veneto in north-eastern Italy, and it is made above all from the Glera grape. The...
- R
- ReservaReserva is a classification term that you will mainly come across on Spanish wine, and it tells you something about how long...
- RoséRosé is wine made from blue (dark) grapes, where the juice only has very brief contact with the grape skins. It is...
- S
- Serving temperatureServing temperature is quite simply the temperature the wine has in the glass when you drink it. It sounds like a detail,...
- SherrySherry is a fortified wine from southern Spain, made mainly from the white grape Palomino. Like other fortified wines, sherry has grape...
- Single vineyardSingle vineyard, in Danish often called enkeltmarksvin, refers to a wine made exclusively from grapes from one particular, named vineyard. Instead of...
- SommelierA sommelier is a trained wine expert who typically works in a restaurant and is responsible for the wine from purchasing all...
- StrukturStructure is the word we use for a wine's "skeleton", that is the sum of the elements you feel in your mouth...
- Ståltank (stainless steel tank)A ståltank is a container made of stainless steel that winemakers use to ferment and store wine. Today, stainless steel is the...
- SulphurSulphur is shorthand for sulphur dioxide (often written as SO2), an additive that winemakers have used for centuries to keep wine stable...
- A
- AcidityAcidity is the freshness that makes a wine taste alive. Grapes naturally contain various acids, and these carry over into the finished...
- S
- SweetnessSweetness is the sweet taste you experience in a wine, and it comes first and foremost from the sugar that remains in...
- T
- TanninTannin is a group of natural compounds (a kind of phenol) found in grapes, located especially in the skins, seeds and stems....
- Tannin structureTannin structure is about how the tannins in a wine are experienced in your mouth. Tannins come from the grapes' skins, seeds...
- TerroirTerroir is the French word for the interplay between all the place-bound conditions that shape a wine: the soil, the climate, the...
- Traditional methodThe traditional method is the classic way of making mousserende vin, and it is also known as méthode traditionnelle or méthode champenoise....
- D
- Dry wineDry wine is wine with very little residual sugar. During fermentation, the yeast converts the grapes' natural sugar into alcohol, and when...
- V
- ViticultureViticulture is the work of cultivating the vine and bringing the grapes through to a ripe harvest. It covers everything that happens...
- VinificationVinification is the collective term for the whole journey from grapes to finished wine. It covers all the steps a winemaker takes...
- W
- Wine cellarA wine cellar is a place where wine is stored and aged until it is ready to be drunk. The classic image...
- V
- VineyardA vineyard is the piece of land where the vines grow. It sounds simple, but the word holds the entire foundation for...
- Vine (grapevine)A vine is the wine plant itself, the perennial climbing plant on which the grapes for wine grow. Almost all classic wine...
- VintageVintage is the year the grapes for a wine were harvested. On the label it often appears as a year, and so...
- N
- Noble rotNoble rot is a very particular fungal infection of ripe grapes, caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. Under the right weather conditions,...
- O
- Organic wineOrganic wine is wine made from grapes grown according to organic principles, that is, without the use of synthetic sprays and chemical...