A Professional's Guide to Wine Terms

Heyy Winers! Has anyone you ever told you a story and name dropped like you know who they're talking about but you have literally no clue? It can be the same way when wine professionals tell you about a wine. Join me as I give you the professionals cheat sheet to wine terms!

Flavor Terms:

Sweet: Containing noticeable residual sugar (8g/L or more)

Bone- Dry: Containing no noticeable sugar (less than 3g/L)

Fruit Forward: Having pronounced fruit flavors

Oaky: Having a taste imparted from oak (think Vanilla, butter or smoke)

Earthy: Having a taste of soil, dirt or nature (think wet leaves)

Clean: having simpler palette, expressing the natural flavors of the wine

Production Terms: 

Malolactic Fermentation/Conversion: When the malic acid which makes wine taste green (green apples/pears) coverts to malic acid (prominent in milk/butter). This gives the wine a creamier texture.

Carbonic Maceration: When whole clusters of grapes are placed into a tank that is oxygen deprived and rich in Carbon dioxide. This causes the grapes to start fermentation intracellularly (from the inside out) and that results in a juice that is at about 2% ABV. Once the clusters become crushed, they are fermented to desired ABV like normal.

Style Terms:

Traditional Method: refers to sparkling wine that is made in the champagne style involving a second fermentation in the bottle.

Cuvee: Made from a blend of grapes from different vineyards or a blend of different grape varieties. (also known as Assemblage)

Pet- Nat: a natural wine that undergoes continued fermentation in bottle without having the yeast removed

Frizzante: A wine that is naturally effervescent but not a level of being a full sparkling wine. (think Moscato D' Asti or Vhino Verde).

There you have it! Now you can walk into your next wine store with the confidence of a pro. Have more terms you want defined? Submit them now on the FAWQs page!