Plain-language reference
Wine words, clearly explained.
51 essential terms for tasting, making, reading, serving, and storing wine—without circular definitions.
Reference section
Taste & structure
- Acidity →
- The mouthwatering freshness in wine; it can taste tart but is not the same as sour spoilage.
- Aroma →
- A smell from the grape, fermentation, winemaking, or development.
- Astringency
- A drying, puckering sensation commonly caused by tannin.
- Balance
- The impression that sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, fruit, and flavor intensity work together.
- Body →
- How light or heavy a wine feels in the mouth.
- Bouquet
- A traditional word for a wine's developed or combined aromas.
- Brut
- A sparkling-wine sweetness category that normally tastes dry.
- Complexity
- The presence of multiple, changing, or layered aromas and flavors.
- Dry
- A wine with little perceptible sweetness; it can still smell intensely fruity.
- Finish
- The flavors and sensations that remain after swallowing or spitting.
- Flabby
- An informal description for wine that seems low in refreshing acidity.
- Fruit-forward
- A style in which fruit aromas and flavors are especially prominent.
- Minerality
- A tasting word for stone, chalk, saline, or flinty impressions; it does not mean literal minerals can be tasted from soil.
- Off-dry
- A wine with a small but noticeable amount of sweetness.
- Residual sugar
- Grape sugar remaining after fermentation, commonly measured in grams per litre.
- Tannin →
- Compounds that create grip and dryness, especially in red and skin-contact wines.
- Varietal character
- Aromas or structure commonly associated with a grape variety.
- Vintage variation
- Differences between growing years caused by weather and harvest conditions.
Reference section
Winemaking
- Carbonic maceration
- Fermentation involving intact grapes in a carbon-dioxide-rich environment, often producing bright fruit and low tannin.
- Chaptalization
- Adding sugar before or during fermentation to raise potential alcohol, where legally permitted.
- Fermentation →
- The process in which yeast converts sugar into alcohol, carbon dioxide, and flavor compounds.
- Fining
- Using an agent to remove selected particles or compounds before bottling.
- Fortified wine
- Wine strengthened with grape spirit, such as Port, Sherry, or Madeira.
- Lees
- Spent yeast and other sediment left after fermentation; contact can add texture and savory flavor.
- Malolactic fermentation
- A bacterial conversion that softens malic acid and can add creamy or buttery notes.
- Maceration
- The period when juice or wine contacts skins and other grape solids.
- Must
- Freshly crushed grape juice containing skins, seeds, or stems before or during early fermentation.
- Natural wine
- A loosely defined term generally associated with minimal intervention; no single global legal definition exists.
- Oak aging
- Maturing wine in oak vessels, which can change texture and add spice, toast, or vanilla.
- Orange wine →
- White-grape wine fermented with skin contact, often amber-colored and lightly tannic.
- Oxidation
- Exposure to oxygen that can mature wine or, when excessive, flatten fruit and cause browning.
- Skin contact
- Time that juice spends with grape skins, influencing color, tannin, and aroma.
- Solera
- A fractional blending and aging system associated especially with Sherry.
- Traditional method
- Sparkling-wine production in which the bubble-forming second fermentation occurs in the bottle.
Reference section
Labels & places
- Appellation
- A legally defined geographic origin, often with production rules.
- AVA
- American Viticultural Area: a federally recognized U.S. wine-growing region.
- Blend
- A wine made from more than one grape, site, lot, or vintage component.
- Cru
- A French term connected with a vineyard, village, or official quality classification depending on region.
- Cuvée
- A selected lot or blend; the word alone is not a guarantee of quality.
- Estate bottled
- A regulated U.S. statement linking grapes, winery, and bottling within one AVA under common control.
- Old vine
- A claim that vines are old; age thresholds are not universally standardized.
- Single vineyard
- Wine identified with one vineyard source, subject to local labeling rules.
- Terroir
- The combined influence of site, climate, soil, topography, and human practice on wine.
- Varietal wine
- Wine labeled primarily by grape variety.
- Vintage
- The year in which the grapes were harvested.
Reference section
Serving & storage
- Breathing →
- Informal term for exposing wine to air after opening.
- Corked wine →
- Wine affected by cork taint, commonly perceived as damp cardboard or muted fruit.
- Decanting →
- Pouring wine into another vessel to separate sediment or increase air exposure.
- Serving temperature →
- The temperature at which wine is poured; cooler temperatures mute aroma and emphasize firmness.
- Ullage
- The air space between wine and its container closure, or the missing level in an older bottle.
- Wine fault →
- An unwanted aroma, flavor, or condition caused by contamination, storage, or winemaking problems.
Use terms as tools, not scores.
Tasting language helps people compare impressions. It does not turn a personal preference into a universal quality judgment, and a familiar aroma descriptor is not an ingredient list.
Practice with the tasting guide →