Wine glossary

By Sherwin Lao

To the uninitiated wine drinkers, hearing terms like nose, body, balance, and other typical wine descriptors can be very daunting. Below, as requested by some of my readers, are the most basic terms you will hear used in every day wine conversation. The wine glossary list below is an excerpt from my small-run wine book, Why Wine? Why Not?, written some four years ago (though materials remain very relevant).

Acidity?Used to indicate the tartness of the taste of wine.

Aperitif Wine?Refers to wine taken before meals to stimulate the appetite. It is normally a crisp and light-bodied white wine, or a sherry?the fortified wine from Jerez, Spain.

Appearance?In wine, it refers to two visible characteristics??clarity and color:

Clarity?refers to degree of "clarity" a wine exhibits in a glass; this ranges from brilliant, when wine is crystal clear, to cloudy, when wine is muddled and opaque

Color?refers to "color" depth and hue of the wine

Appellation?The geographic origin of the grape used in the wine.

Aroma?Defined as the smell that wine acquires from the inherent grape qualities.

Astringency?The quality that caused the mouth to pucker. The degree of astringency of a wine depends primarily upon the amount of tannin it has absorbed from the skins and seeds of the grapes.

Balance?Wine has balance when no one element dominates, so wine is harmonious. Like acid balances against oak and tannin, while alcohol balances against acid and flavor.

Blending?The art of mixing selected wines of various qualities and characteristics to make a better quality wine and ensure more uniformity from year to year.

Body?The body of the wine refers to how thin or thick the wine feels in the mouth. Three descriptions are normally used:

Light?a thin feel in the mouth like water

Medium?noticeable body, but not too heavy

Heavy/Full?a rich velvety feel in the mouth like cream milk

Botrytis Cinea?A fungus, known as "noble rot", that affects the outer berries of the grape bunches, and helps produce the delicious sweetness in dessertlike wines.

Botrytized?Wines that are left with the Botrytis Cinea to make them sweet and honeyed.

Bouquet?The scents and smell that are created during the winemaking process (fermentation and aging). Also a more developed aroma as wine matures, evolving into more complex nose of leather, cigar, chocolate, and the likes not normally found in younger wines.

Capsule?Made of foil, cellulose, wax paper or plastic that covers the mouth up to near the neck of the wine bottle, to add extra protection to the cork, discourage tampering, and add to overall aesthetics of the wine bottle.

Cask?Also commonly called an oak barrel. The round, bulging wooden container for wine.

Cellar?Any storehouse or storeroom with the right insulation, humidity, lighting, and temperature control for wine. Normally located in a basement.

Chaptalization?The practice of adding grape sugar to the must before fermentation to increase alcohol content and add more weight to the wine.

Cooperage?The term derives from the occupation of a cooper?the one who makes or repairs wooden casks.

Dry?Description of a wine with no perceptible taste of residual sugar in its makeup. Wines fermented to dryness have 0.2 percent residual sugar or less.

Enology or Oenology?The science or study of winemaking.

Generic Wine?A wine classification that covers a broad scope of wines, that is cheap, non-vintage, and has no varietal composition in the label. The lowest classification of wine with the least quality to expect.

Estate Bottle?A term with no legal definition when used in a wine label, but is used in New World to refer to the winery's top notch wines.

Fermentation?A complex chemical reaction by which yeast through their enzymes transform the grape sugar into equal parts of alcohol, heat, and carbon dioxide.

Finish?Is the taste sensation remaining after one swallows the wine. It is also the length, pleasantness or unpleasantness of the wine aftertaste.

Fruity?Description of wine with very pronounced, distinctive aroma, and taste of fresh fruit.

Lees?Yeast sediments deposited by the wine in the cask after fermentation.

Malolactic Fermentation?A secondary fermentation that naturally occurs in wines but can be manipulated by the winemaker. This secondary fermentation converts the harsh malic acid into the friendlier lactic acid making for creamier textured wine.

Must?Unfermented grape juice, with or without the skins and seeds.

New World?Refers to wines from wine producing countries that are into serious wine production only in the last century. The US, Australia, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa are among the most popular New World wines.

Nose?The nose of the wine refers to the aroma and bouquet.

Old World?Refers to wines from wine producing countries in Europe that are into serious wine production for centuries and centuries already, and has so much wine legacy to brag about. This is led by the triumvirate of France, Italy and Spain, with Germany and Portugal also serious wine producers.

Pomace?The pulp, skins, seeds of grapes remaining after the juice of newly fermented wine has been drawn off or pressed out.

Racking?The drawing of wine from a storage cask into a fresh cask. A process used for fortified wines like Sherry.

Residual Sugar?Is the natural grape sugar, normally purposely left in the wine after fermentation, to give wine balance.

Sour?In wine terms, a sour wine is a spoiled wine. Can be used to describe acidity in wine, though it is a negative description.

Sur Lie?It literally means "on the lees" in French. A process were the settled or bottomed lees inside the cask, are agitated by a stirrer to produce fuller bodied and more yeasty wine.

Sweet?Description of wine with perceptible presence of residual sugar. In wine terms, residual sugar of 1.5 percent is already considered semi-sweet, with 3 percent and above, very sweet.

Tannin?Is the puckery substance in red wines and a few white wines that is derived primarily from grape skins, seeds, and stems. Tannin also serves as a natural preservative that helps the wine develop over time.

Tannin can dry out the aftertaste and can taste bitter if not kept in balance. Astringency is a related term.

Tart?In wine, tartness reflects the content of acceptable fruit acids.

Taste?Like our perceptible taste qualities, in wine, we can detect sweetness, sourness, and bitterness, except saltiness (only genuine Spanish Sherries may have salty qualities, but sherries are fortified wines).

Sweetness comes from residual grape sugar, sourness from grape acid, and bitterness from grape tannins.

Ullage?The gap between the cork and the wine fill in the bottle. Also, the amount of wine in the bottle that falls short of being quite full.

Varietal?When a wine is named for the principal grape variety from which it is made. A term used to describe the different species of wines.

Vendange Tardive?It means "late harvest" in French. Is used to refer to a sweeter wine style that comes from late harvest grapes with high residual sugar after fermentation. Is a term found in sweet Alsacian (Alsace, France) wines.

Vintage?The crop of grapes harvested and their fermentation into wine of one specific season or year.

Vintner?The term is used broadly to designate vineyard owners, wine growers, and even wine blenders.

Viticulture?The cultivation of grapes, and the science or study of the production of grapes.

Winery?The place or building in the which the juice of grapes is fermented into wine. Also refers to the owner of the property that makes wine.

Why Wine? Why Not? is a practical wine reference book for HRM and culinary students. Also helpful for neophyte wine drinkers and wine enthusiasts. The contents include winemaking process, wine rituals, types of wines, wine classifications, the different grape varietals, important wine regions, food and wine pairing and much more?all in concise easy-to-understand context. I had a small run printing done, and gave these books away in my wine seminars before. I am now in the process of upgrading and adding more materials for my second printing.

If there are corporate sponsors interested in advertising in my back page or keen on any form of tie-up with my book, kindly e-mail me at protegeinc@yahoo.com. Real estate, automobile, phone companies, and other industries catering to the same sophisticated wine drinking populace would make great strategic partners for this book.