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ACETIC ACID: All wines contain acetic acid, or vinegar, but usually the amount is quite small--from 0.03 percent to 0.06 percent--and not perceptible to smell or taste. Once table wines reach 0.07 percent or above, a sweet-sour vinegary smell and taste becomes evident. At low levels, acetic acid can enhance the character of a wine, but at higher levels (over 0.1 percent), it can become the dominant flavor and is considered a major flaw. A related substance, ethyl acetate, contributes a nail polish-like smell.
ACID: A compound present in all grapes and an essential component of wine that preserves it, enlivens and shapes its flavors and helps prolong its aftertaste. There are four major kinds of acids--tartaric, malic, lactic and citric--found in wine. Acid is identifiable by the crisp, sharp character it imparts to a wine.
ACIDIC: Used to describe wines whose total acid is so high that they taste tart or sour and have a sharp edge on the palate.
ACIDITY: The acidity of a balanced dry table wine is in the range of 0.6 percent to 0.75 percent of the wine's volume. It is legal in some areas--such as Bordeaux and Burgundy, Australia, California--to correct deficient acidity by adding acid. When overdone, it leads to unusually sharp, acidic wines. However, it is illegal in Bordeaux and Burgundy to both chaptalize and acidify a wine. See also chaptalization.
ACRID: Describes a harsh or bitter taste or pungent smell that is due to excess sulfur.
AERATION: The process of letting a wine "breathe" in the open air, or swirling wine in a glass. It's debatable whether aerating bottled wines (mostly reds) improves their quality. Aeration can soften young, tannic wines; it can also fatigue older ones.
AFTERTASTE: The taste or flavors that linger in the mouth after the wine is tasted, spit or swallowed. The aftertaste or "finish" is the most important factor in judging a wine's character and quality. Great wines have rich, long, complex aftertastes.
AGGRESSIVE: Unpleasantly harsh in taste or texture, usually due to a high level of tannin or acid.
ALCOHOL: Ethyl alcohol, a chemical compound formed by the action of natural or added yeast on the sugar content of grapes during fermentation.
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: As required by law, wineries must state the alcohol level of a wine on its label. This is usually expressed as a numerical percentage of the volume. For table wines the law allows a 1.5 percent variation above or below the stated percentage as long as the alcohol does not exceed 14 percent. Thus, wineries may legally avoid revealing the actual alcohol content of their wines by labeling them as "table wine."
ALCOHOLIC: Used to describe a wine that has too much alcohol for its body and weight, making it unbalanced. A wine with too much alcohol will taste uncharacteristically heavy or hot as a result. This quality is noticeable in aroma and aftertaste.
AMERICAN OAK: Increasingly popular as an alternative to French oak for making barrels in which to age wine as quality improves and vintners learn how to treat the wood to meet their needs. Marked by strong vanilla, dill and cedar notes, it is used primarily for aging Cabernet, Merlot and Zinfandel, for which it is the preferred oak. It's less desirable, although used occasionally, for Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Many California and Australia wineries use American oak, yet claim to use French oak because of its more prestigious image.
AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREA (AVA): A delimited, geographical grape-growing area that has officially been given appellation status by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Two examples are Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley.
AMPELOGRAPHY: The study of grape varieties.
APPEARANCE: Refers to a wine's clarity, not color.
APPELLATION: Defines the area where a wine's grapes were grown, such as Bordeaux, Gevrey-Chambertin, Alexander Valley or Russian River Valley. Regulations vary widely from country to country. In order to use an appellation on a California wine label, for example, 85 percent of the grapes used to make the wine must be grown in the specified district.
AROMA: Traditionally defined as the smell that wine acquires from the grapes and from fermentation. Now it more commonly means the wine's total smell, including changes that resulted from oak aging or that occurred in the bottle--good or bad. "Bouquet" has a similar meaning.
ASTRINGENT: Describes a rough, harsh, puckered feel in the mouth, usually from tannin or high acidity that red wines (and a few whites) have. When the harshness stands out, the wine is astringent.
AUSTERE: Used to describe relatively hard, high-acid wines that lack depth and roundness; usually said of young wines that need time to soften, or wines that lack richness and body.
AWKWARD: Describes a wine that has poor structure, is clumsy or is out of balance.
BACKBONE: Used to denote those wines that are full-bodied, well-structured and balanced by a desirable level of acidity.
BACKWARD: Used to describe a young wine that is less developed than others of its type and class from the same vintage.
BALANCE: A wine has balance when its elements are harmonious and no single element dominates.
BALTHAZAR: An oversized bottle which holds the equivalent of 12 to 16 standard bottles.
BARREL FERMENTED: Denotes wine that has been fermented in small casks (usually 55-gallon oak barrels) instead of larger tanks. Advocates believe that barrel fermentation contributes greater harmony between the oak and the wine, increases body and adds complexity, texture and flavor to certain wine types. Its liabilities are that more labor is required and greater risks are involved. It is mainly used for whites.
BITE: A marked degree of acidity or tannin. An acid grip in the finish should be more like a zestful tang and is tolerable only in a rich, full-bodied wine.
BITTER: Describes one of the four basic tastes (along with sour, salty and sweet). Some grapes--notably Gewürztraminer and Muscat--often have a noticeable bitter edge to their flavors. Another source of bitterness is tannin or stems. If the bitter quality dominates the wine's flavor or aftertaste, it is considered a fault. In sweet wines a trace of bitterness may complement the flavors. In young red wines it can be a warning signal, as bitterness doesn't always dissipate with age. Normally, a fine, mature wine should not be bitter on the palate.
BLANC DE BLANCS:"White of whites," meaning a white wine made of white grapes, such as Champagne made of Chardonnay.
BLANC DE NOIRS: "White of blacks," white wine made of red or black grapes, where the juice is squeezed from the grapes and fermented without skin contact. The wines can have a pale pink hue. (e.g. Champagne that is made from Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier.)
BLUNT: Strong in flavor and often alcoholic, but lacking in aromatic interest and development on the palate.
BODY: The impression of weight or fullness on the palate; usually the result of a combination of glycerin, alcohol and sugar. Commonly expressed as full-bodied, medium-bodied or medium-weight, or light-bodied.
BOTRYTIS CINEREA: Called the "Noble Rot." A beneficial mold or fungus that attacks grapes under certain climatic conditions and causes them to shrivel, deeply concentrating the flavors, sugar and acid. Some of the most famous examples come from Sauternes (Château d'Yquem), Germany and Tokay.
BOTTLE SICKNESS: A temporary condition characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines (usually fragile wines) are shaken in travel. Also called bottle shock. A few days of rest is the cure.
BOTTLED BY: Means the wine could have been purchased ready-made and simply bottled by the brand owner, or made under contract by another winery. When the label reads "produced and bottled by" or "made and bottled by" it means the winery produced the wine from start to finish.
BOUQUET: The smell that a wine develops after it has been bottled and aged. Most appropriate for mature wines that have developed complex flavors beyond basic young fruit and oak aromas.
BRAWNY: Used to describe wines that are hard, intense, tannic and that have raw, woody flavors. The opposite of elegant.
BRIARY: Describes young wines with an earthy or stemmy wild berry character.
BRIGHT: Used for fresh, ripe, zesty, lively young wines with vivid, focused flavors.
BRILLIANT: Describes the appearance of very clear wines with absolutely no visible suspended or particulate matter. Not always a plus, as it can indicate a highly filtered wine.
BRIX: A measurement of the sugar content of grapes, must and wine, indicating the degree of the grapes' ripeness (meaning sugar level) at harvest. Most table-wine grapes are harvested at between 21 and 25 Brix. To get an alcohol conversion level, multiply the stated Brix by “.55”.
BROWNING: In reference to a wine's color, and can be a sign that a wine is mature and may be faded; a bad sign in young red (or white) wines, but less significant in older wines. Wines 20 to 30 years old may have a brownish edge yet still be enjoyable.
BRUT: A general term used to designate a relatively dry-finished Champagne or sparkling wine, often the driest wine made by the producer.
BURNT: Describes wines that have an overdone, smoky, toasty or singed edge. Also used to describe overripe grapes.
BUTTERY: Indicates the smell of melted butter or toasty oak. Also a reference to texture, as in "a rich, buttery Chardonnay."
CARBONIC MACERATION: Fermentation of whole, uncrushed grapes in a carbon dioxide atmosphere. In practice, the weight of the upper layers of grapes in a vat will break the skins of the lowest layer; the resultant wine is partly a product of carbonic maceration and partly of traditional fermentation of juice.
CEDARY: Denotes the smell of cedar wood associated with mature Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet blends aged in French or American oak.
CELLARED BY: When wine was not produced at the winery where it was bottled. It usually indicates that the wine was purchased from another source.
CHAPTALIZATION: The addition of sugar to juice before and/or during fermentation, used to boost sugar levels in under-ripe grapes and alcohol levels in the subsequent wines. Common in northern European countries, where the cold climates may keep grapes from ripening, but forbidden in southern Europe (including southern France and all of Italy) and California.
CHARMAT: Mass production method for sparkling wine. Indicates the wines are fermented in large stainless steel tanks and later drawn off into the bottle under pressure. Also referred to as the "bulk process."
CHEWY: Describes rich, heavy, tannic wines that are full-bodied.
CIGAR BOX: Descriptor for a cedary aroma.
CLEAN: Fresh on the palate and free of any off-taste; does not necessarily imply good quality.
CLONE: A group of vines originating from a single, individual plant propagated asexually from a single source. Clones are selected for the unique qualities of the grapes and wines they yield, such as flavor, productivity and adaptability to growing conditions.
CLOSED: Describes wines that are concentrated and have character, yet are shy in aroma or flavor.
CLOUDINESS: Lack of clarity to the eye. Fine for old wines with sediment, but it can be a warning signal of protein instability, yeast spoilage or re-fermentation in the bottle in younger wines.
CLOYING: Describes ultra-sweet or sugary wines that lack the balance provided by acid, alcohol, bitterness or intense flavor.
COARSE: Usually refers to texture, and in particular, excessive tannin or oak; also used to describe harsh bubbles in sparkling wines.
COLD STABILIZATION: A clarification technique in which a wine's temperature is lowered to 32° F, causing the tartrates and other insoluble solids to precipitate.
COMPLEXITY: An element in all great wines and many very good ones; a combination of richness, depth, flavor intensity, focus, balance, harmony and finesse.
CORKED: Describes a wine having the off-putting, musty, moldy-newspaper flavor and aroma and dry aftertaste caused by a tainted cork.
CRUSH: Harvest season when the grapes are picked and crushed.
CUVEE: A blend or special lot of wine.
DECANTING: A process for separating the sediment from a wine before drinking. This is accomplished by slowly and carefully pouring the wine from its bottle into another container.
DELICATE: Used to describe light- to medium-weight wines with good flavors; A desirable quality in wines such as Pinot Noir or Riesling.
DEMI-SEC: In reference to Champagne, a term relating to sweetness. It can be misleading; although demi-sec means half-dry, demi-sec sparkling wines are usually slightly sweet to medium sweet.
DENSE: Describes a wine that has concentrated aromas on the nose and palate; a good sign in young wines.
DEPTH: Describes the complexity and concentration of flavors in a wine, as in a wine with excellent or uncommon depth; Opposite of shallow.
DIRTY: Covers any and all foul, rank, off-putting smells that can occur in a wine, including those caused by bad barrels or corks; A sign of poor winemaking.
DOSAGE: In bottle-fermented sparkling wines, a small amount of wine (usually sweet) that is added back to the bottle once the yeast sediment that collects in the neck of the bottle is removed.
DRY: Having no perceptible taste of sugar. Most wine tasters begin to perceive sugar at levels of 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.
DRYING OUT: Losing fruit (or sweetness in sweet wines) to the extent that acid, alcohol or tannin dominate the taste. At this stage the wine will not improve.
DUMB: Describes a phase young wines undergo when their flavors and aromas are undeveloped.