Wine ABC

A

• Nature The overall impression of a wine, its character.
• Acidity Adding acids to wine or must to improve the balance between sweet, sour and bitter of the wine.
• Earthy Description for mineral wines in which you find the taste of the soil.
• ABC Abbreviation for "Anything But Chardonnay." A fundamentalist group of Chardonnay haters is attempting to halt the McDonaldization of the wine industry by casting anathema on the world's most popular white grape. The critical voices are now quieting somewhat as winemakers from around the world stop trying to imitate white Burgundy (Chardonnay big agitator) and start respecting its own terroir. Moreover, the "no to Chardonnay sayers" did manage to get "An Own Grapes First" movement going. In many regions where Chardonnay first prevailed, interest in homegrown grapes is now beginning to emerge again.
• Apricot A fragrance description applicable to various white wines, especially Chardonnay. Moreover, the bouquet of the new white fashion grape viognier. Particular apricot: Condrieu, the most delicious and also most expensive wine made from viognier.
• Breathe Those who want wine to benefit from oxygen pour the bottle empty into a decanter. Young wine in particular, which can still be harsh, brightens from this. Caution is not required, as there is usually no sediment yet. Note: do not do this with old wines!
• Aftertaste The taste that lingers in your mouth. The final stage of the tasting process.
• Wastepoint of Europe Wine producers from all over the world rub their hands together when the Netherlands takes its order. A great opportunity to sell lesser quality wine. Ends up mostly in the supermarket where over seventy percent of all wine is sold at an average price in 2004 of €2.68 per bottle.
• Alcohol About 20 grams of sugar are needed to obtain 1% alcohol. Alcohol is the base of the wine, which allows it to preserve. However, the taste of alcohol should never dominate.
• Alcoholic strength Since 1980, alcoholic strength has been referred to as percentage of pure alcohol in wine.
• Alcoholic fermentation The sugars in the juice of grapes are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast cells.
• Almond You still sometimes want to encounter in the aftertaste of a good so very rare Soave.
• Amarone Wine term for wines made from semi-dried grapes. Used primarily in the province of Veneto in Italy.
• Ampelography The teaching of grapes.
• Amtliche Prüfungsnummer Is a number that always appears on a German label, making the wine easy to trace.
• Anbaugebiete Delimited wine-growing region in Germany.
• Annata Year in Italian.
• Anreichern Is adding sugar to the must to make wine with a higher alcohol content.
• Antifreeze A scandal in 1985 that nearly killed the Austrian wine industry. Traces of this drug were found in dessert wine that was on the market in Germany. This led to an acute ban on all Austrian wine. Now the country has recovered and produces one of the most exciting white wines there is: the Grüner Veltliner.
• AOC Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée. AOC is an abbreviation that indicates you are dealing with a quality French wine from a particular region. It is a legally protected designation of origin.
• Aperitif Drink that you drink before a meal.
• Apple Scent and flavor sensation often found in white wines that have not undergone the second (malolactic) fermentation (deliberately). Because the malic acid created in the first fermentation has not been converted into the much softer lactic acid, the wine remains fresh and acidic. Usually this is the intention and tastes fine in sauvignon blancs from the cool Loire region, for example. Sometimes the second fermentation is deliberately not started in order to avoid giving white grapes that have had a lot of sunshine a mouthfeel that is too sultry and ripe.
• Appellation Is a designation of origin. The appellation indicates where the wine comes from.
• Appellation d'Orgine Côntrolée Is a legally protected designation of origin for French wines. The name of the wine's place of origin is controlled and established by law.
• Argentina One of the fastest growing New World wine countries. The main wine region of Mendoza accounts for 90% of all wine. Thanks to the peso crisis, Argentina was able to secure a wonderful place in the budget wine category, a place where space had opened up as neighbor Chile began to slowly price itself out of the market. Supermarket buyers have therefore lovingly embraced the South American. Attractive results are being achieved with the malbec for red, which has been christened the national grape. For lovers of aromatic muscatel there is white from the torrontés.
• Aroma The aroma, largely derived from the grape, comprises the totality of individual odors. Some of the aroma disappears during fermentation over time. Through aromas we know fruity wines, earthy wines (with the taste of mushrooms, shrubbery, garden soil, autumn leaves), spice wines (aromas of cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and Indian spices), herbaceous wines (mint, hay, rosemary, Provençal herbs...).
• Assemblage Blending together in one vat several wines, each made separately from different grape varieties.
• Auslese Third German predicate class in a regional area of sweet, ripe and noble grapes.
• Australia New World wine country of the first hour. Is world famous even though only four percent of all wine comes from Down Under. The country is very export-oriented and within twenty years saw its exports grow from less than ten million to five hundred million liters. Incidentally, the country has only 1,500 wineries (by comparison, there are more than 10,000 in the Bordeaux region alone), but only twenty of them account for 94% of all wine exported. The thousands of hectares of newly planted vineyards were just beginning to give fruit at the very moment the world economy began to falter. Large quantities of unsellable wine are now ready to be processed into industrial alcohol. What does get bottled, however, can be simple and good or even some of the finest wine in the world. Brilliant results are being achieved with semillon for white and Shiraz which is the country's national pride.
• Car tires Also referred to as burnt rubber. An odor designation used primarily to describe the bouquet of wines made from Pinotage, a grape planted only in South Africa.
• AVA American Viticultural Area. Has existed since 1980 and is similar to AC, appellation controlee. It guarantees that 85% of all grapes in the wine come from the area on the label.
• Vinegar In the natural development of grape juice, wine is only an intermediate step in its development into vinegar. Wine can even skip this step and become vinegar directly.

B

• Bag-in-box Box packaging with a capacity of 2 to 20 liters, in which an aluminum vacuum package containing wine is placed. Through a tap, the box always gives fresh wine, thanks to a special vacuum system, which keeps the wine protected from contact with oxygen.
• Bairrada Portuguese wine region between Daõ and the Atlantic Ocean. The word barro means clay. The vineyard is 80 percent planted with the blue baga grape. It produces rich, fruity red wines.
• Balance This is an indication of the interrelationships in the wine of four components: alcohol, acidity, sugar and dry extracts. A wine is balanced if none of these characteristics dominates. In general, a wine is balanced if the hard side and soft side are equivalent.
• Banana Common odor in young Beaujolais, Primeur or otherwise. This immigrant component is due to the use of factory yeasts that act as enhancers on flavors or aromas vaguely present in the grape. Only a handful of Beaujolais are still made that come about thanks to "wild" yeasts present on the grape and in the winery. And those wines then taste just as Beaujolais was once intended.
• Barbaresco Important DOCG in Piedmont. One of Italy's great red wines, from the nebbiolo grape variety. It can be remarkably delicate and typically lasts up to 10 years.
• Barbera Popular blue grape variety widely planted in Italy, especially in Piedmont. Typically produces dry, acidic wines.
• Bardolino Light, very fruity red wine from Veneto, with a slight bitterness in the aftertaste. Grape variety corvina veronesa.
• Barolo Italy's most important and impressive DOCG wine, from southern Alba in Piedmont. The grape variety is nebbiolo, which gives a deep-colored red wine, with a complex aroma and a dry, lush flavor. Ages at least three years in cask and can age very well.
• Barossa Valley The important wine region near Adelaide in South Australia. A wide variety of wines are made here.
• Barrique This oak barrel (in Bordeaux 225 liters) in which wine is allowed to ferment or mature, greatly influences its flavor. By burning (toasting) the inside of the barrel, another component can be added. However, new oak is expensive and lasts only two harvests for ambitious winemakers. You can easily spend between 500 and 700 euros for a French barrel from Allier, Troncais or Nevers. American (Kentucky is an important supplier) is slightly cheaper, but makes the wine a bit sweeter. Because of the high cost, alternatives are used lavishly. Especially with inexpensive wines that still want to appear classy, there is a lot of artistry involved. Opportunities abound. For example, there is a lively second-hand market. Nothing wrong with this and sometimes even recommended, as the oak is then no longer so prevalent. Alternatives include hanging oak rods in the stainless steel or cement tubs, using oak shavings in a kind of large tea bag, dissolving powder or oak essences.
• Barrique bordelaise Wine barrel, as is common in Bordeaux, as a rule of oak. Its capacity is 225 liters, thus good for 300 bottles. Four barriques make up the capacity of one tonneau, which is 900 liters, so good for about 1,200 bottles.
• Bâtonnage French term for stirring the "groin" (dead yeast cells) or yeast sediment. This adds flavor to the wine.
• Beaujolais Primeur Youthful ambassador of the gamay grape. Has used Parisian bistros as a springboard to become a world star. Knows some unsuccessful copies in the form of South African First Pick and Italian novello. Primeur's popularity is currently waning which is mainly due to sloppy and uninspired winemaking in the Beaujolais region. Reason: the wine had to be paid for by the buyers even before the harvest. For many winemakers, this did not seem to raise their ambitions. The drop in demand for the cheerful, fruity youngster had another side effect. It has had a negative influence on the enthusiasm for the other Beaujolais wines, making drastic grubbing up inevitable.
• Beerenauslese White wine of German or Austrian origin made from specially selected very ripe grapes, often affected by noble rot. Sultry, highly concentrated nectar-like drink of the gods can be yours.
• Aged Older wine, softer and milder in flavor. Fruit becomes somewhat less emphatic and the tannin disappears (if it is good).
• Petrol Also referred to as "goût de petrole," an aroma and flavor component in Riesling wines. It is considered a quality indicator.
• Settling Period to allow the fermented grape juice/must to stand so that the coarse constituents of the grape must sink to the bottom of the barrel or tank.
• Dregs Solid residue after draining the juice. This consists of branches and stalks, grape skins and grape seeds. These residues can be distilled to make "eau de vie."
• Bianco Italian for white. Blanco in Spanish and branco in Portuguese.
• BIN Australian organizing system to indicate different batches. The term has emerged as a kind of sub-brand for organic and biodynamic wines. A concept not yet found in European regulations. There are only rules that determine which grape can or cannot be called organic. Using herbicides and pesticides in the vineyard, for example, are out of the question. But for winemakers who truly work organically, such measures do not go far enough. After all, a truly clean wine is made in the cellar. For example, by not filtering, not using wood, letting wild yeasts do their work and using less or no sulfur at all. Their wine is often so good that buyers line up for it. Those who grow biodynamically also invoke the help of higher hands. The position of the planets, earth rays, ebb and flow, the cosmos, they all seem to influence growing, pruning and harvesting times. By the way, the growing interest in organic and biodynamic wines is to be commended. According to unofficial figures, until recently 80% of all agricultural toxins in France were consumed by viticulture. Most important question, however: are the aforementioned wines also tastier? No. There are just as many dirty organic wines as there are ordinary ones. After all, good wine is only made by winemakers who know their craft. And craftsmanship does not come standard in the organic package.
• Bitter Bitter is often the result of impatient winemakers. Those who pick too early punish their drinker with severe flavors. And that's where you get a stingy palate. Ripe bitters are, of course, delicious. Like those of almond in good Soave and grapefruit bitters in some Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs and good, dry Spanish and Italian rosé.
• Blanc de Blancs Blanc de Blancs is quite often used as a designation of quality, especially in Champagne. However, is nothing but white wine made from white grapes.
• Black rot A fungus that causes yellow spots with a dark edge on the leaves of the vine. The grapes become milky on the inside, black on the outside and mummify. In cases of severe attack, black dots appear on the branches.
• Blue Grapes Designation for the grape from which red wine is made. In practice, the color of these "blue grapes" ranges from purple, red to blue-like.
• Blanc de noirs Is a term derived from French and a designation for white wine made from blue grapes.
• Blend Wine made from different/multiple grape varieties.
• Blind tasting Of the hundreds of wines out there, who can taste which one it is, from which country it comes, from which region, from which vineyard, from which year and from which farmer? Reassuring knowledge: no one. During blind tasting, it is quite a feat even for professionals to correctly guess five out of ten blinded wines.
• Flowers Common bouquets are: Violets and roses.
• Blush rosé The longer the skins remain on the juice, the darker the color of the rosé. With a blush rosé, however, it is not counted in days, but rather in hours. Because of this short soaking time of the skins, the rosé obtains its light salmon-pink color.
• Bodega Spanish term for winery or winery.
• Body This represents the overall impression of the wine. Wines have little body, medium body or much body, depending on the "thickness" of the wine.
• Bonarde This Italian emigre (Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romag-na) is doing well in Argentina and is increasingly allowed to solo. Like the malbec grape, it is being billed there as the national flagship, but still has some work to do.
• Bordeaux Since the Middle Ages, Bordeaux has been a wine-producing region. France's largest wine-growing region of impressive red wines. The grand vin de Bordeaux reputation the region owes to around 250 chateaux of name and fame whose wines are coveted around the world Latour, Lafite-Rothschild, Petrus... However, there are more than 12,000 wine domains and not all of them perform nearly as well. Quite the contrary, in fact. Many of them are unimaginably sloppy. For a very long time they got away with it because it said Bordeaux on the label. But now that, among others, New World countries with the same grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot) are marketing really tasty wines more cheaply, people are starting to feel pain in their wallets.
• Botrytis Cinerea Is a fungus with sometimes beneficial effects. In so-called noble or noble rot, botrytis attacks the grapes, creating micro holes in the skin. The result is that the juice is lost from the grape and the sugar and acid content becomes very high.
• Bottling Is the act of filling a bottle. It is done in the Netherlands with wine imported in bulk, but of course also in wine producing countries. Bottling brings convenience to the consumer, but it also ensures that the wine is kept air-free, allowing it to keep longer than in a tank or barrel.
• Bottling information In many countries it is mandatory to include on wine labels. Information about where and by whom the wine was bottled.
• Bouquet The bouquet includes all the different aromas of a wine. Young wines are referred to as aroma, older wines as bouquet. A powerful bouquet is also referred to as "a full nose" Bouquet includes earthy, woody, animal, spicy, nutty, tobacco-like aromas. Bouquet arises more in wines with more acid and wines from poor soils.
• Burgundy This area has been proficient with wine since the Middle Ages. One-third in area of Bordeaux, but the demand is the same so you can understand what that does to the price. Sometimes that's justified. White Burgundy is the ultimate Chardonnay wine and without a doubt the best white wine in the world, at least, the good ones. Unfortunately, the second and third choices feel they have to take advantage of the slipstream of the leaders. Thus, exorbitant prices are asked for mediocre or bad wines because they happen to be allowed to put Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault or Rully on the label. In reds, things are not much better. Beautiful, ultimate and delectable wines are made there, but you have to look for them with a lantern in one hand and a platinum card in the other.
• Boutique Winery Small wine producer producing small quantities of very expensive and often excellent wine.
• Branding This refers to how large wine producers try to use their brand names to gain more and more space in the market.
• Brut Designation for dry wine. Brut is often used with sparkling wine. With Cava only if it contains less than 15 grams of sugar per liter.
• Bulk wine Cheap wine that is brought into the country in refrigerated containers and then bottled here because it is more economical. Then appears on the market mostly under the supermarket house wine banner. Or, in the case of bulk champion South Africa, with a funny name like Fraaie Blik, Mooi Vooruitsig or Groot Genoegen. The chance of a Flinke Koppijn is then not inconceivable.

C

• Cabernet Sauvignon The main grape variety for red Bordeaux. It produces good to excellent, powerful, noble and elegant wines.
• Cabernet Franc Grape from the cabernet family. This blue grape produces good Bordeaux wine, resembling that of cabernet sauvignon. However, it is somewhat lighter in color and nature, but more elegant and fragrant. It is usually combined with other varieties. Pure cabernet franc, for example, is made in the Loire Valley (Chinon, Bourgueil).
• California America's most famous and largest wine-growing region. Main AVAs within it (American viticultural Areas, comparable to the French appellation contrôlée): Sonoma and Napa. chardonnay and sauvignon blanc for whites and cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel for reds. Supply both spotty bulk wines and exorbitantly priced collector's items. Those with money to spare hunt for Screaming Eagle, Opus One and Far Niente which often have higher price tags (chauvinism is costly) than Premier Grand Cru Classes from Bordeaux. Those less fortunate have a bargain ana the wines of Charles Shaw, a producer who buys up overproduction and sells them as "Two Buck Chuck. California has also emerged as a budget supplier in the Netherlands. Imports of bargain wines are exploding.
• Canada Wine from the far north of the United States? Yes indeed. Especially with Icewine (Eiswein), the country has a reputation and is even the largest supplier in the world.
• Cantina Catina is a cellar or winery in Italy. a Cantina Sociale also exists. You are then dealing with wine that has been corked, bottled and packed by a cooperative wine company.
• Capsule Casing that is placed over the cork, mouth of the bottle and part of the neck. It is made of metal or plastic. It should be cut off in the most correct way several millimeters below the mouth of the bottle to avoid contact with the wine.
• Carmenère A grape that had an identity crisis until the mid-1990s, having been worn out as Merlot until then. Was once a hero in Bordeaux where it was considered an equal to Cabernet Sauvignon. Went on an adventure to Chile where winemakers mistook him for Merlot, so he was planted among them. An obvious mistake, as the two are extremely similar in appearance and taste. One difference, however, is that Carmenère ripens three weeks later than Merlot. When DNA research revealed its true identity in 1996, the grape was able to show its true face in Chile and emerge as a national hero. Rightly so. Can when properly ripe, produce beautiful, uniquely sweet wines with lots of fruit. Especially if, in the near future, the vines on which it grows really do age.
• Cava Sparkling wine made according to the Méthode Traditionelle, that is, fermentation in the bottle. Used for sparkling wines from Spain.
• Cava Reserva Being aged for a minimum of 3 years.
• Cava Grand Reserva Being aged for a minimum of 5 years.
• Cave The cellar or winery. The most common: Cave des vignerons, being the local cooperative of winemakers.
• Caves coopératives Cooperatives of winemakers who collectively make wine, sell it, etc.
• Carignan A blue grape variety planted generously in southern France, North America and California. It produces quite powerful wines that are fruity in their young years. Probably a grape of Catalan origin. Nowhere does this grape give a more beautiful wine than in Roussillon.
• Cepage Wine made 100% from one grape variety. The legal limit is usually 85%. Blends of grape varieties are often tastier as well.
• Chablis Chablis is white Burgundy, yet different from the rest. Is perhaps because the region is separated from Burgundy by the primeval forests of the Morvan and is also closer to Champagne. Moreover, the white that comes from there is not typically Burgundy. Until the 1980s, Chablis was mainly an export product, especially loved in the United States. Since then, domestic demand has also increased significantly. unfortunately, the area is small, which is asking for trouble. The quality is often not top notch. Moreover, angry tongues claim that Chablis is the white Burgundy most commonly maligned. According to unconfirmed reports, an entire vintage of Chablis is drunk every day worldwide. However, good Chablis is rare and quite expensive. Anyone who finds a bottle under ten euros should be fine. Above that, it usually only begins. Then the investment is rewarded with that typical terroir of tangy acidity, tight white fruit, steel and flint. This flavor structure makes it the ideal dinner companion for oysters, but get one not raised on wood. That oyster affinity the wine owes to the lime-infused soil in which the vines grow. Once, at the time of the Jura, Chablis was an inland sea and now it is a final resting place for the shellfish that lived there then. And you can taste that.
• Chai The wine storage room. 'Mise en bouteille dans nos chais' is often seen as an indication of quality, but draw your own conclusions.
• A bottle of red wine that comes from the cellar or wine cabinet.
• Champagne Wine region in northeastern France, not far from Paris. Annually accounts for over three hundred million bottles, eighty percent of which are vintage. According to tradition, the method of allowing wine to undergo a second fermentation in the bottle was invented here. The bubbles that accompany this cannot get out and voilá, sparkling wine is the result. Inventor of this "method champenoise" is the monk Dom Pérignon who was then lovingly branded by the largest Champagne house, Moët et Chandon. For this he was rewarded with eternal life and is now a frequent guest in starred restaurants, nightclubs and brothels. However, opinions are divided on the origins of "the method. Manuscripts have been found in London showing that people in England had invented bubble wine much earlier. Then again, who really cares? Limoux also claims the premiere. But the CIVC, the Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne in Reims, has erected a wall of protection around Champagne that is not exactly made of Styrofoam. Champagne is one of the best protected brand names in the world. To illustrate, the successful Champagne coupe on the "method champenoise. A term that was also put on the label by bubble wine producers from outside the Champagne region as an indication that, like Champagne, their whites also enjoyed a second fermentation in the bottle. This is no longer allowed: the indication has been replaced by "methode traditionelle. Recent ruling by the European Court of Justice: the winemakers of the Swiss town of Champagne, producer of purely 'still' white wines (270,000 bottles, intended for local consumption only) are no longer allowed to put their own name on the label. And this despite the fact that wine has been made in Swiss Champagne since Roman times, and bubble wine was only started near Reims around 1700.
• Champanski White Russian sparkling wine, often very sweet.
• Chaptalization The addition of sugar to the fermenting must to raise the alcohol content of the wine.
• Chardonnay World Brand. Equivalent to white wine. Unprecedented achievement of a grape that accounts for less than one percent of the world's vineyard arsenal. Started its triumphal march, according to tradition, in the town of Chardonnay in Burgundy barely thirty or so years ago. It is in this region that, according to enthusiasts, the finest Chardonnays are made. Winemakers from all over the world believed that they too could do this. Copying was the result. Unfortunately, the quality contribution of these copycats was often underwhelming. Quantity input, however, followed the opposite route. This led to a flood of vinological horrors, especially from New World countries. Bombardments of exotic fruit, rivers of liquid wood (well, only suitable for repairing rotten window frames) and vanilla vanilla wine. But also limp, sour woes because some farmers could not keep up and wanted to squeeze the highest possible yields from their fields to satisfy hysterical demand. Nowadays, the madness has subsided somewhat. Wine growers in both the Old and New Worlds are beginning to discover and respect their own terroir. And that produces increasingly tasty and "individual" wines that continue to surprise the drinker with the unprecedented range of colors, aromas and flavors he finds in his glass. From almost transparent white-green to compact, honey-colored yellow. From understated scents of grass, straw and unripe apples to overwhelming aromas of passion fruit, coconut and mango. From cool, sleek and mineral and delicate to a success number full of peach, vanilla, cream, Butter scotch and toasted almonds. Sometimes a bottle of such content costs only a few euros, sometimes several hundred.
• Château Known term for a wine chateau where grapes are grown and wine is produced. Commonly used term in Bordeaux.
• Château bottling Wine bottled at the same Château where the grapes were grown.
• Chenin blanc One of the Loire's most important white grapes. Can produce fabulous sweetness. Has also traveled and settled mainly in South Africa where it quickly became a bulk white producer and is also known as "stone. Does not currently have it easy there and is being extensively grubbed up.
• Chianti Red Italian star from Tuscany whose base ingredient is the famous Sangiovese grape. Available from box office bargain to reassuringly expensive. Became popular here during the first symptoms of the Pizza Budapest that emerged in the 1980s. Then still came in droll basket bottles rarely filled with fine wine. Degradation to ceiling decoration was their just fate. However, whoever manages to get hold of a puik specimen may, in the case of a simple edition, greet a fresh fruity and spicy wine in his glass. In the best cases we are dealing with dark, rich, filling and intriguing wines in which bitter cherries, violets, spices, characteristic high acidity and a tea-like finish can be found. These big boys then have Chianti Classico or, if the wine comes from a single vineyard, Chianti Classico Reserve on the label.
• Chile Perfect conditions, hot, dry summers, plenty of melt water from the Andes, good soil, hardly any animals and fungi attacking the vines or grapes and cheap workers. In other words, you actually have to be an incredibly oafish person not to get a decent wine in a bottle there. And there is plenty of that. Especially the old favorites Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz for reds and Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc for whites. But there is now also plenty of scoring with "homegrown grapes" such as Carmenere. The starting signal for success sounded in the late 19th century. The rest of the wine world was then plagued by mildew and phylloxera, but these did not reach distant Chile. Even then, the foundations were laid for a wine industry that truly took the world by storm in the 1990s. The economy flourished mainly because democracy had been restored and foreigners could also invest again. Initially, the market was surprised by very inexpensive wines of impeccable quality of around 5 euros and less. And now the country is playing itself increasingly in the spotlight with (especially red) wines in the higher segment. Only point of attention: those inexpensive wines are gradually becoming more and more expensive.
• Chocolate A flavor description in red wine, mostly a thick Shiraz from Australia. Chocolate for dessert is a notorious nuisance when wine still needs to be drunk. Banyuls survives, Pedro Ximenez can handle it, Maury, Mavrodaphne, an occasional sweet sherry and a top Zinfandel.
• Citrus Flavor description that applies to many white wines. The entire citrus family can be addressed. Lemon, lime, tangerine, orange, grapefruit. Important, because a good wine cannot do without acidity.
• Classic Divided German wines to give consumers more clarity in the world's most complicated wine information system. Classic guarantees you "a dry Cepage wine for everyday drinking pleasure. Somewhat less everyday drinking needs? Then you are someone for 'Selection,' the highest designation for dry wine. A maximum yield per hectare is guaranteed as is the fact that the wine has been put to the test during a blind tasting. But despite this oversimplification, the craze around German globally just won't erupt.
• Classification Wines are classified into quality categories, for example: Grand Cru, Premier Grand Cru, etc.
• Climat Term in Burgundy for an individual vineyard or appellation.
• Clos French term for a specific walled vineyard. Common in Burgundy.
• Complexity A term used in wine tasting. A complex wine has many different flavors in it.
• Concentration Is a procedure in vinification. juice/water is extracted from the must before fermentation to create a more concentrated wine.
• Cooperative A cellar run jointly by a group of winemakers. About 30% of French wine production is produced by more than 1,000 cooperatives.
• Côte Nothing more and nothing less than a French slope, but is also still a used to suggest extra quality. This is true in that vines planted on a slope often get more sun than those on "the ground floor. But then if a bad winemaker gets to work with the grapes, you still have dirty wine.
• Crémant Is sparkling wine from France and other French-speaking areas. The wine is made according to the méthode traditionnelle.
• Cru In France, it is best known for the ten crus that make up the Beaujolais, being the villages that make the best wines there. On paper, that is. In Piedmont, by the way, it is a demarcated vineyard.
• Cru bourgeois Is a designation of quality in the Bordeaux region. This qualification is below that of the Cru classés in rank.
• Cru classé Quality designation for the famous châteaux in the Bordeaux region.
• Coulure Phenomenon in the vineyard in which some of the potential fruit does not set fruit during flowering in early summer. The result is low yields of grapes at harvest.
• Crianza Is a type of wine, but crianza has different rules about aging in barrel and in bottle by area.
• Cru Is a French word and literally means "crop." Wines labeled cru come from the best vineyards within a particular area.
• Crush In the "new world," this term is widely used for grape harvesting and winemaking.
• Cuve Is French for a vat or tank in which wine is made or aged.
• Cuve Close method Is a method of making sparkling wine. The second fermentation takes place not in the bottle but in a large sealed tank.
• Cuvier The building in which fermentation takes place and the cuvés stand. Term commonly used in Bordeaux.

D

• Decanting The pouring of wine into a decanter in order to separate the "sediment" from the wine.
• Demi-sec Literally means half dry. In practice, wines with a fairly sweet character, is mainly used with sparkling wines.
• Pine Tree You have Retsina in your glass, the white or sometimes pink wine pendant of Greece. Thanks this flavor addition of resin to the Aleppo pine.
• Density The amount of vines planted per hectare of vineyard. But a lot does not necessarily guarantee more wine. The grapes have to settle for less food and that starvation. Is good for them because that produces grapes with more concentration and therefore more flavor.
• Deposit Sediment. Wine from cabernet sauvignon grapes gives a lot of deposit, pinot noir barely. Can taste very bitter. Not to be confused with tartar. Deposit forms during fermentation at the bottom of the barrel (lie). If the wine is bottled unfiltered, solid particles will be able to enter the bottle. Deposit also forms during the aging of red wine in the bottle and collects at the bottom. Can be removed with decanting.
• DO Is the second highest quality designation for Spanish wines. Stands for: Denominación de Origen.
• DOC (Italy) Is the abbreviation for "Denominazione di Origine Controllata." And is the second highest qualification in Italy. The wine comes from a special piece of land. Anno 2012, Italy has 334 DOC wines.
• DOC (Portugal) Is the highest quality designation for Portuguese wines. Stands for: Denominacão de Origem Controlada.
• DOC (Spain) Is the highest quality designation for Spanish wines. Stands for: Dénominación de Origen Calificada.
• DOCG Is the abbreviation for "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita." The very highest standard of quality in Italy. Wines must be inspected by a committee before they can be bottled. As of 2012, Italy has 73 DOCG wines.
• Dolce Contains 50 grams of sugar per liter or more.
• Domaine French term for a property/house/castle that produces wine. Common on wines from Burgundy.
• Domain bottling Wine made and bottled by the same person/company that grew its grapes.
• Dosage The amount of sweet wine substance added to a sparkling wine before bottling.
• lees The sludge that sinks to the bottom of the tank. It may contain dead yeast cells, pulp, seeds and stems. Sometimes this also refers to the sediment that sits in the neck of the bottle after the second fermentation of sparkling wines. This sediment is removed later in the process.
• Dry A dry wine, nowadays is also called "tight." To obtain a dry wine, heat will often have to be added to the fermenting wine to ferment all the sugar (to less than 4 g/l).
• Doux Contains 50 grams of sugar per liter or more.
• Grape variety The grape variety is the main factor that determines the taste of a wine. Nobody knows exactly how many grape varieties there are. In any case, there are many thousands.
• Dry Curiously, a term used in Italy to indicate that a sparkling wine is sweeter than the brut version. So you have to pay attention.
• Germany Globally, things just don't seem to be working out for this wine superpower. Despite being host to one of the world's most beautiful, versatile grapes: the Riesling. Riesling rivals the level of Chardonnay. Consequently, a top Riesling is breathtakingly good and often as expensive as the coveted Burgognes. But unfortunately, they are not always good. To illustrate: at wholesale in the Netherlands, more than 90% of German wines are priced around €3.00. No country with any wine reputation can produce cheaper than Germany. Most German wine is therefore used as box-office bargains in the supermarket. And they are never the best... Add to this the confusing wine legislation, although there is improvement in this and the labels that are designed as if the occupation is announced on them, and it appears there is still a lot of work to be done. But those who trust their wine advisor (and wish to pay significantly more than €3.00) may find that trust rewarded with a great treat. Anyone who has ever drunk a high German Riesling will never forget it. Transparency, honey, citrus, minerals, blossom, peach, green apples, apricot and pineapple, marzipan, not to mention that characteristic goût de pétrole can be your reward. And sometimes all at once.
• Thin Lean, flavorless wine, often with lots of acidity. Occurs very frequently.

E

• Proprietary grape As the Big Five threaten to annex global vineyards and "degenerate" into global brands, local grapes are actually beginning to become more of a distinctive marketing tool. Increasingly, the new generation of winemakers is harvesting Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and then replanting the grapes that traditionally made wine in their region. And increasingly with stunning results. Pay particular attention to Italy.
• Oak Many wines are brought into contact with oak, in the form of oak barrels or sometimes wood chips to give the wine an extra dimension of flavor.
• Eiswein Very sweet wine from grapes frozen on the vine. It is a German and Austrian specialty.
• Alsace Wine-producing region since the Middle Ages. Sometimes German, sometimes French. Difference from the German way of making wine: the Alsatian winemaker lets all the grape sugar ferment into alcohol. Result: drier and fuller wines. Clear region in terms of wine legislation. There is AC Alsace, AC Alsace Grand Cru and AC Crémant d'Alsace. Moreover, it is the only appellation where wines are named after the grapes they are made from. The most "noble" are considered Riesling, Muscat, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. Only these four can claim grand cru status. Unfortunately, Alsace is in the same damned corner as Germany. Alsatians are also still perceived as "too sweet. A regulation that wines counting less than 9 grams of residual sugar per liter may put 'sec' on the label does not help. There is still persistent ebb in market share. Alas. The better varieties are wonderful aperitifs and also ideal accompaniments to Indonesian and Indian cuisine so popular here.
• En Primeur These are wines in "presale." Wines that are sold before it is even bottled. It is a common way of doing things in Bordeaux.
• Grafting Is a technique whereby the fruit-bearing part (upper part) of the vine is grafted onto another rootstock. Often on a rootstock that is resistant to disease.
• Estate bottling Wine that is bottled on the "estate" where the grapes also come from.
• Espumante Is a sparkling wine from Portugal.
• Extra brut (Cava) Wines containing 0 to 6 grams of sugar per liter.

F

• Phenols General term for the potential tannins, pigments, flavors and fragrances in the grape.
• Fermentation Sugars in grape juice are converted to alcohol by yeast. This is accompanied by carbonation and heat. Many white winemakers try to keep that temperature as low as possible, so-called cold fermentation: 15° C maximum, but preferably even lower. This requires specially cultivated yeasts that still wish to do their work in such a fresh working environment. Result: wines with more aroma and flavor, more spice, more immediate fruit, more concentrated. Often this technique is easy to recognize. Nose into the glass and we smell soursop, fruit drop and lemonade syrup. Red likes it a little warmer. Fermentation here takes place between 30 and 40° C at the most. Below that, the wine gets no extraction. Above that, reds still like to take on a "cooked fruit" sensation. And that only goes well with mulled wine.
• Fifo principle First in, first out. The wine shelf should be restocked so that the bottles not yet sold (first in) are at the front so that the customer takes them first (first out). When the shelf is restocked, the new bottles are placed at the back.
• Filtering Intervention during the vinification process: solid components such as yeast cells are filtered out of the wine.
• Bottle The standard unit of the volume of wine in the bottle is 0.75 liters.
• Bottle aging The aging of wine in the bottle.
• Flor Yeast that forms as a thick layer on the wine surface. Occurs in the production of Sherry wines.
• Flying winemaker This phenomenon got off the ground in the 1980s and mainly strikes Australians. Australian winemakers, after harvesting in their own country (if it's autumn in the New World, it has yet to become so in the Old World) bought a plane ticket to once again monetize their knowledge especially in emerging wine-growing regions. Sometimes leads to unitary wines from completely different parts of the world.
• France Faltering wine empire: domestic consumption halved and ecstatic export figures faded. Dwelled too long in an ivory tower that it had a monopoly on making red, white and rosé. Its number one positions are now rapidly being lost. In America, the (wine) baton had to be handed over to Italy (France's stance on the Iraq issue didn't help either). But it can get worse: in the United States it even has to beat Australia and now has to settle for being the third exporting country. In England, too, the signs have changed. There, Australia now flaunts the gold medal. In the Netherlands, market share is also leaking away. At the beginning of the 21st century, it trickled below 50% for the first time. New World countries are advancing. especially South Africa (number two) is popular here, but also Argentina, Chile, California. Sanitizations are imminent in Bordeaux, the Rhone and Beaujolais. But meanwhile, the country sits with huge amounts of unsellable "quality wine. Normally there is a surplus of vin de table, but in 2005, for the first time, appellation contrôlée wine was distilled into industrial alcohol. A total of 1.5 million hectoliters of wine was diverted, the largest quantity of which, nota bene, came from Bordeaux. And that while production continues to increase there mainly due to improvements in winemaking techniques. A confusing wine legislation that ensures an unprecedented (growing) amount of (often saddening) ACs, grands crus classés, grands crus, crus bourgeois and vins de pays does not help to (re)win back foreign consumers who are just used to the big 'Chardonnay' or 'Shiraz' on the label. Many French winemakers have yet to take notice and do not wish to make wine that meets that kind of modern desire. Financial compensation from the government is demanded and roads are blocked, but the foundation of the French wine kingdom is in dire need of renewal. That starts with a lot of grubbing up, reflection, and then rebuilding with a clear picture in mind. Chauvinism and blinders forbidden.
• Fresh Mostly white wine. Fresh in aroma, but especially in taste. Is caused by the acids present in the wine. Too fresh does not mean "too sour," but is because the bottle of white has been in the refrigerator too long. Not good, because cold numbs the taste buds and then there is less to taste.
• Fruit drops Welcome to the candy store. An odor sensation (as well as candy cane and lemonade syrup) often released during cold fermentation.
• Fruity Generic wine description. Blackcurrants, blackberries (often referred to in tasting notes as "black fruit"), apricots, peach ("yellow fruit"), raspberries, currants and cherries, gooseberries ("red fruit"), pineapple, mango, lychee, banana ("exotic fruit"), oranges, mandarins, lime and grapefruit ('citrus fruit'), apples, pears and gooseberries ('white fruit'), figs, tutti frutti ('dried and candied fruit') and wild strawberries, blueberries ('forest fruits'). No greengrocer has it all, but your wine specialist, on the other hand, has them all. Avoided comment: 'Well, that's a nice fruity wine'.
• Futures Wines that are sold "en primeur."
• Physiological ripeness Term for the ripeness in the skins of grapes. These skins contain so-called phenols: color, odor and flavor compounds.

G

• Gamay Full name Gamay Noir á Jus Blanc. Blue grape that owes its existence mainly to Beaujolais and especially Beaujolais Primeur (or Beaujolais Nouveau). Produces light, digestible, fruit-filled wines there with the main characteristics being pears, banana (especially if factory yeasts have been used), cherries, raspberries and black pepper. Soft tannins. Also feels at home in the Loire. In Switzerland, it is often blended with Pinot Noir. And in Napa Valley (California), they call the grape Napa Gamay.
• Garage wine Vin de Garage. Garage wine. Not to be confused with the wine in your garage because you don't have a wine cellar. Is an out of control joke in Bordeaux. A handful of winemakers started on tiny plots with tiny production thanks to tiny yields with the intention of making very large wines from them. The quantity harvested could easily fit in the garage, hence. Now become a serious joke, especially with the astronomical amounts paid for these collector's items. Very occasionally justified. According to unofficial sources, the carport is also in development: a vintage port produced in such minute quantities that it can fit in the back seat of a small passenger car.
• Garrafeira Portugal. Is it red wine then it must have rested in oak for at least three years. Is it white then it must have spent at least a year of its youth between planks. Another requirement: 0.5% more alcohol than the required minimum.
• Madeaderized Maderisé (French). Maderizato (Italian). A wine that has been oxidized by the influence of oxygen and therefore no longer tastes fresh. Sometimes this is precisely the intention. Some white winemakers detest these carefree fruit bombs and instead make their wines the "old-fashioned way. Stainless steel had yet to be invented at the time, and wines fermented and aged in oak barrels or foeders. There were also no 'blankets' of nitrogen sprayed over the just-picked grapes to minimize contact with oxygen. It is a style that does not usually draw full houses. The old-fashioned Marsala is also made this way. In Sicily, winemakers then refer to it as "Marsallato. To no avail. In recent years, this fortified wine, which was once mentioned in the same breath as Sherry and Madera, has not been doing well. And anyone who knows how popular those are at the moment can imagine that more and more Marsala producers are converting their vineyards to "normal" wine.
• Temperate climate zones Not too hot, not too cold, not too humid; the ideal climate for wine. These areas are found in the northern hemisphere between 40° and 50° north latitude and in the southern hemisphere between 30° and 45° south latitude.
• Oxidized Old wine or wine that has been in contact with too much air giving it a brown color, losing its fruity aromas and acquiring overripe and often acidic aromas in its place.
• Yeast Single-celled microorganisms (fungi) that occur naturally on the skin of the grape. They initiate alcoholic fermentation and are indispensable in the preparation of wine.
• Grenache Is originally a Spanish grape variety and, because of its thin skin with little pigment, is widely used to produce rosé and blend wines. It is probably the most widely planted blue grape variety in the world.
• Grand Cru Commonly used term in Bordeaux and Burgundy designating the very best vineyards.
• Grand Crus classé 1855 Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification for the best wines of Bordeaux exhibited at the 1855 Paris World's Fair. Wine merchants responded by creating a system in which châteaux were classified based on reputation and trade price of the wines. The result was the Classification of Bordeaux Wines of 1855.
• Gran Reserva Spanish , red wines aged at least 24 months in wooden barrels and at least 36 months in bottle. White and rosé wines aged a total of 48 months, with a minimum of 6 months in barrel. Number of months aged in barrel and in bottle varies by area/country.
• Vigor Is the tendency of a vine to produce leaves. A vigorous vine can develop too many leaves, causing fruit set to stagnate.
• Grüner Veltliner Austria's trump card on the world wine market (over a third of all "white" vineyards there). Especially in Wachau, Kamptal and Kremstal. Lively, spicy, peppery, with white fruit, yellow citrus and always with a characteristic grapefruit bitterness at the end. Some light and lively, others just round, full and juicy. Good quality wines can easily age for five years. Therefore, enthusiasts believe that Grüner Veltliners can easily compete with the best wines of Europe. And connoisseurs agree. Jancis Robinson, one of the world's leading wine writers, mixed top Bourgognes and the best Grüner Veltliners in a blind tasting. Seven Austrians ended up in the final top-ten.

H

• Halbtrocken Is a German term for semi-dry. In practice, it means that the wine has a slightly sweet taste.
• Handpicked Handpicked. Vendange à la main. Quality designation that regularly even makes it to the front of labels. Is the opposite of machine harvesting, where in addition to the good bunches, many unwanted ingredients often disappear into the bin on the back of the tractor such as unripe bunches, branches, stones and leaves. The farmer who does not take it so closely, squeezes everything. The drinker then tastes raw, bitter, rattling wine. In true craftsmanship, only the ripe bunches are picked, any moldy fruit is removed, unripe is left hanging or thrown on the ground as natural fertilizer. The next step toward the perfect wine takes place at the winery where, after destemming, the grapes roll onto the "table de trie. Here skilled officials are on hand to manually remove the last iniquities (small, unripe grapes, sticks, snails). Even more ambitious winemakers even have the grape stripped of its tiny stalk in their pursuit of even smoother wines. Incidentally, many wineries in Chile and Argentina in particular insist on hand-picking their harvests. Nice touch, but consider that hand labor is much cheaper there than the tractor.
• Hanging time Expression for the often extra time that grapes remain on the vine to achieve the right balance of ripeness.
• Hectoliter Measurement indication. For each region, the competent authorities specify the maximum number of hectoliters that may be harvested per hectare if the wine in question is to meet the requirements of AOC or DOC, for example. Self-imposed yield limitation often produces better (more concentrated) wine.
• Herbicide Weedkillers. Vintners have long been scared to death of anything that grew in the vineyard that was not a vine. Flat spraying was the remedy. Threatening fungi, grass, weeds, everything was killed. According to unofficial figures, until recently 80% of all agricultural poisons in France were consumed by viticulture. This is being reversed under pressure from public opinion and because the land is becoming exhausted. But above all because more and more winemakers want to work "clean". Resistant grape varieties are helping and the poison spray is being replaced by the much more environmentally friendly mixture of copper sulfate, lime and water, which deals with downy mildew, one of the biggest pests in the vineyard. Grass and herbs between the vines are allowed to continue to grow and are even planted. The grapes must now share the available water and food, thus having to work harder to get their daily dose. This produces healthier, more vigorous fruit and ultimately wine with more flavor.
• Wood tank Also called plank juice. Wine with which the winemaker on duty likes to show that he bought expensive oak barrels from his savings. Too often, however, they forget to put in grape juice of sufficient quality to cope with the influence of the wood. Is then also labeled as "liquid wood."
• House wine The most sold and ordered wine in the Netherlands. Should be the calling card of the café or restaurant you visit, but often turns out to be just a closing item. It is the cork on which the wine department of the supermarket floats. But here, too, the quality is often nothing to write home about. Especially the price pressure caused by the supermarket war does not help the taste. Trend: greater diversity in the house wine segment. Soon you will be able to choose whether your house wine comes from Chile, South Africa, France or another wine country. Whichever country you choose, keep tasting carefully. The content can vary every few months and often depends on which bulk wine has now been landed in the Netherlands again.
• Hybrid Is a vine variety grown by crossing one species (Vinifera) with another species (often American).
• Hygiene code Are legal rules for working with wine. For example, how to make wine and how a wine merchant should store and control his wines.

I

• IGT Is the third highest quality designation for Italian wines. It stands for "Indicazione Geografica Tipica." It can be compared to French Vin de Pays wines.
• INAO Institut National des Appellations d'Origine des Vins et des Eaux-de-Vie. The French institution that defines the requirements to be met by the vineyard, the grapes used, the geographical location and the winemaking method in order to put appellation contrôlée on the label. Is also responsible for determining the origin of cheeses and other food products.
• IPR Is the second highest category of quality designation for Portuguese wines. It stands for "Indicacão de Proveniencia Regulamentada."
• Irrigation Basically, grapes like dry. Working hard for the daily portion of liquid food often produces healthy, vigorous grapes and therefore tastier wine. Too much water makes wine watery, but too little is not good either. In Europe where there is no shortage of rainwater, vineyards are not likely to run short. But in countries such as the United States, Australia, Chile and Argentina, viticulture is not possible without a helping hand from nature. Both South American countries enlist the help of meltwater from the Andes, often still collected in irrigation canals dating back to the 19th century. Modern winemakers, however, are increasingly turning to drip irrigation, identified by black rubber pipes placed between the vines that provide water to the vine at set, computer-designated times. In the U.S. and Down Under, this is actually the only way of working. In France, on the other hand, it is pretty much a death sentence. Only in the sunny south are vineyards allowed outside help, usually only when there are young vines on them. Then again, it is not called irrigation there, but moisture compensation.
• Irrigating Is the artificial spraying of the vineyard.
• Italy Along with France, the world's largest wine producer. Depending on the harvest results, one year one is the biggest and the following year another. By the way, this is not to say that one also finds the largest vineyard arsenal in these countries, as that is located in Spain. Unlike Spain and France, everywhere in "The Boot" the vine grows rampantly. From the Alps in the far north to the deep south of Sicily. The main two areas are Piedmont and Tuscany. Until recently, Italians did not care much about the quality of their red, white or rosé. Wine was a foodstuff. However, now that they are increasingly viewing their daily portion as a means of enjoyment, quality is also going up by leaps and bounds. There is already talk of a metamorphosis of the wine industry. As a result, predictions are that within ten years Italy will be the most surprising wine country in the world. There is even already talk of the Golden Age for Wine supposedly having begun. To that end, old wine estates have been torn down and new ones are being created. The short-lived love for the ubiquitous international varieties growing everywhere has cooled. The country's strength is that each region has its own indigenous grape. Old, characteristic varieties and modern technology will soon make the distinction between ready-to-drink wine and wines with a character all their own. Only concern: the utter lack of clarity in wine legislation. But more Old World wine countries suffer from that. Bright spot: it may often be unclear what is in the bottle, but it is increasingly tasty.

J

• Jammy Pronounce : djemmie. Expressions used to denote the taste of thick, sultry, highly fruity wines. Not infrequently, these are not too old Shiraz from Australia. Can be very "jammie" by the way.
• Jeroboam Is a wine bottle with a capacity of 4.5 liters.
• Young 95% of all wine is drunk within two years of the vintage. And is made accordingly. Imposition is not necessary, and thus neither is a cork really necessary because it is mainly intended to slowly oxygenate high quality wines in order to age them. Another fact about young wine: don't let your wine salesman tell you anything if you drink a glass of youthful wine that you don't like. Saying that it will be, because it has yet to age, is joking. Dirty young wine will later become dirty old wine.
• Joven Young wine from Spain that has enjoyed an oak-free youth. Often so carefree, fruity and very much itself.

K

• Cheese Biggest gastronomic blunder: with cheese comes red wine. In fact, there is not just one cheese but hundreds of different ones. And to keep it organized, each cheese prefers its own wine. And more often white than red. Cheese platters are therefore a vinological disaster. A little sommelier gives each piece of dairy a matching wine. But I have only encountered such an indulgence once.
• Kabinett Only a "Qualitätswein mit prädikat" can be called kabinett. It is then the least ripe (in German law much revolves around the ripeness of the grapes) and results in a light, rather dry wine with a nice structure.
• Calcareous Is a term used when describing a soil. It denotes a soil that possesses a lot of lime. It is common in Burgundy.
• Room temperature Persistent misunderstanding: red wine is drunk at room temperature. But hot red beats to death. Or it has to be Glühwein. The behind label decree "serve this wine at room temperature" is one from the days when our home was not centrally heated. After all, thanks to the blessings of the high-efficiency boiler, we may feel cozy, for our glass of red, an average of 21° C is too much of a good thing. Then it becomes unwieldy, sluggish and alcoholic. And then especially top reds begin to long for the old days: when room temperature was a count or 18. Fine Bordeaux, for example, is then fully in its element. For fine Burgundy that is already too warm, it feels really comfortable at 16° C. High Rhone, thick Zinfandel and super Italians such as Barolo and Chianti only feel comfortable when the mercury has dropped to 14° C. To completely bombard the room temperature credo, there are also red wines for which even 14° C is still on the high side. Beaujolais, for example, made from the Gamay grape, produces wine that is dusty in aroma and bursting with fruit. At its tastiest between 10 and 12° C. So in most cases that means chilling anyway. Note: too cold is not good. Then you no longer taste the fruit, the sweetness disappears and bitter-sour appears. And much too cold numbs the taste buds then you taste nothing at all. Beaujolais is not the only one that benefits from a cool reception. Gamay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc from the Loire also show their best side then. Also eligible for the "cool red" designation are Merlot from Chile, Tempranillo from Spain, Bonarda from Argentina and quite a few Italian grape varieties. Often these are young simple wines that have not had "wood." The tannins of the wood quite often tend to lord it over the young fruit.
• Character Describes the taste of the wine, for example: dry, sweet, robust, fruity, etc.
• Keller Is the German term for cellar.
• Clarification Making the wine clear. Through filtering (the crudest way) or by adding proteins or bentonite to the wine. These bind with the solids that precipitate and can be easily removed. Refrigeration (cold stabilization) of especially commercial wines also provides transparency, as these low temperatures cause the resulting wine crystals to sink to the bottom. The expensive version of precious wines: time, rest and from time to time transfer the wine to another barrel.
• Clarification Making the newly fermented wine clear by adding clarifying agents such as protein or bentonite. The agent attracts "suspended" particles and precipitates them to the bottom.
• Refrigerator Wine cellar for cellarless. Advantage: all wines can be kept at exactly the right temperature. Disadvantage: a little enthusiast soon needs several. But that's no problem either, EuroCave has plenty of them.
• In wine country, cloning is not an issue. Indeed, it is a completely accepted phenomenon. Without cloning, there is no wine industry. From a "model vine" with certain desired characteristics, several plants with the same DNA are reproduced. The current state of technology gives winemakers the choice between higher or lower yields, more or less quality, viral and disease-insensitive vines and cold-resistant models. It is only waiting for clones that also do the marketing of the wine.
• Coffee After wine please. Coffee before wine makes good tasting and enjoyment nearly impossible. Also: a fragrance term that sometimes comes up when reds are aged.
• Coconut Beloved by enthusiasts and especially found in New World Chardonnay.
• Stubborn Stubborn wines are becoming more common. Is a term that is becoming more common because the current state of winemaking technology and the far-sightedness of the Erwin Krolls of this world allows farmers to harvest riper grapes. Riper means more sugar, and more sugar makes for more alcohol. Consequently, this produces white and red wines with alcohol percentages of 14% and higher with all too great regularity. Often any fruit present is pushed away in favor of burniness.
• Cost It has been said that real wine under €4.00 does not exist. Excise, warehousing and transport cost €0.70 per bottle. Then € 1.50 is added for the so-called dry substances, the bottle, the cork, the capsule, the label and the box. But that doesn't include red, white or rosé. Depending on what that costs, and on the amount of the margin for the supplier and the seller, VAT is again charged on that. Inexpensive exceptions confirm the rule. The supermarket war in particular is causing a downward spiral in prices.
• Cold fermentation The fermentation of especially white wines at low temperatures. Commonly used in warmer climates.
• Herbs Smell and taste description especially in red and rosé wines. Laurel, thyme, rosemary, herbes de provence, cinnamon, spice, white and black pepper. The whole spice rack jerks out.
• Gooseberry Common and emphatic flavor in especially Sauvignon Blanc wines from the Loire or New Zealand.
• Fertilizer Out of the question in biodynamic viticulture. Organic material is used there. Reduced in normal industry as well. Too many complaints about empty, out-of-ground grapes. And exhausted vineyards are making more and more winemakers go back to the old days. Some labels even already make reference to the fact that the wine behind them is organic.
• Cork Sits on the bottle, but is increasingly driven from its place these days by Stelvin (the screw cap) or a plastic closure. More and more winemakers are doing away with cork. Because those who use cork are very likely to cork. A bacteria that listens to the chemical name 2,4,6- trichloranisole and makes a wine smell and taste like wet, old dog, a musty crawl space or a moldy mop. By the way, the cork industry claims that the amount of infection is not that bad and can also be caused by the cases and by mold combined with detergent. The market leader, Portugal's Amorim, puts it at one complaint per eight hundred million corks they produce, but for the industry as a whole, a rate of 5% is doing the rounds. But anyone who would open twelve bottles of older wine of one variety is unlikely to find one that tastes the same. After all, cork is a natural product and therefore no one is identical. Therefore, cork is coming under increasing scrutiny.
• Corkscrew A good one has an open spiral through which a match can be stuck. A closed one twists the cork. In deference to all nice design things: the classic waiter lever still does its job best.
• Quality This is used to rate a wine, for example: very good, good, moderate and bad.
• Quality classification The classification of wine into different qualities. This is mandatory in EU countries. For example: Vin de Table, Vin de Pays and AOC.

L

• Landwein Is the second lowest quality designation for German wines. It can be compared to French "Vin de Pays" wines.
• Languedoc and Roussillon First French wine-growing region where the Romans planted the vines they brought with them in their hand luggage. Once drew 10% of the world's wine production. Broadly the patchwork of vineyards from Marseille along the Mediterranean coast to the Spanish border. Also called France's New World. Settlement of young winemakers from Bordeaux and Burgundy who could no longer cough up the ever-rising land prices there. This emigration meant a huge quality boost for a region that until recently was only known for its bulk wine processed into anonymous vin de table. Some of France's finest wines now come from there. Producers from the real New World have also settled there. Best known name within the region is the Vin de Pays d'Oc.
• Late harvest Is an English term for the French vendange tardive, which literally means "late harvest." This results in a very sweet wine.
• Leather Fragrance impression often attributed to Shiraz wines, mostly Australian-made. But even an older Bordeaux will sometimes present itself as lordly with leather.
• Liebfraumilch Famous and most feared wine from Germany. Was developed purely for export. Unfortunately still takes 60% of that. Mostly semi-sweet, often very unpleasant.
• Lentils The Austrian white hero, the Grüner Veltliner, can sometimes smell somewhat like this.
• Liqueurized wine Is a French term for very sweet wine.
• Loire stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Although the wine-growing regions are far apart (for example, western Muscadet, at the mouth of the river, is 500 kilometers away from the vineyards of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé to the east), almost all of the dry, white wines harvested there are flavor technically related. Whether it says Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Quincy, Cheverny, Anjou or Touraine on the label. And whether they are made from the native Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc, the two most commonly planted grape varieties there, they always taste fresh, mineral, transparent and vibrant. A flavor pattern they owe in part to the fact that the Loire is the northwestern frontier of European wine culture. Consequently, many a summer passes when the local Sauvignon Blanc can leave the sun block unused. That doesn't always make buying wine from this district easy. Too little sun yields grapes with too little sweetness (a variety grows here that ripens late) and overly acidic wines are then the result. With a few exceptions - Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé - Loire whites are best drunk two to three years after the stated vintage, which, by the way, does not apply to the wonderful sweet wines that also come from here, made from the Chenin Blanc. These can often last a lifetime. But why wait long? Ripe fruit, honey, marzipan from the good pastry chef will be your reward if you open a Coteaux du Layon now.
• Foliage management Is a viticultural term in which the position and density of the foliage (leaves) is deliberately managed with the aim of obtaining optimum quality grapes.
• Lutte raisonnée Struggle the (organic) winemaker undertakes to keep pests, diseases and fungi out of his vineyard without herbicides and pesticides. Homeopathic preparations are used, Bordeaux porridge is just about acceptable and spiders that attack the scum. Labor-intensive, but it works and is fortunately being applied on an increasingly larger scale. After all, why do we stand on our hind legs when we find drugs and growth hormones in our piece of meat and would we quietly drink leftover weed insecticides?

M

• Macération Carbonique Is a French term for carbonation. A winemaking technique in which intact grapes are fermented in a closed barrel under the influence of carbon dioxide.
• Macération pelliculaire Peel contact wine. A technique for adding more flavor and aroma to white wine by leaving the skins with the juice four to 12 hours before fermentation. Too long is counterproductive and results in weird bitters.
• Malbec The grape of Cahors, in the French southwest where it goes by as cot, côt and Auxerrois. Now the pride of the Argentines who, nota bene, almost wiped it out in the 1980s because they saw no use for it. They came to their senses just in time. Now it is the country's red signboard and, in the right hands, can produce stunning results. Dark purple wines, smelling of violets. Lots of sultry, ripe, rich, thick dark fruit. Soft tannins. A red-wine lover's wine.
• Maceration Soaking of grapes.
• Magnum Is a bottle with a capacity of 1.5 liters, 2 times a "normal" wine bottle.
• Malolactic fermentation Is a vinification technique in which the sharp malic acid is converted to the milder lactic acid under the influence of lactic acid bacteria and heat. Thus gives a softening effect to the wine.
• Mildew Is a fungal disease that lurks in the vineyard. Common treatment is spraying.
• Melange Is the composition of several base wines added together before bottling. The result is called a blend wine.
• Merlot Is a grape variety, first mentioned in books in 1784 as one of the better varieties in the Libourne area. The name is said to come from the French word merle (blackbird). It is a grape variety that belongs to the classic grapes of Bordeaux and is the main grape in Saint-Emilion and Pomerol.
• Mesoclimate The climate that prevails on a small piece of land.
• Méthode Champenoise The way of making Champagne by second fermentation in the bottle. Many other bubble wines are made in exactly the same way, but Champagne farmers no longer allow them to say so on their labels. They now rely on the description "methode traditionelle," metodo classico in Italy and method Cap Classique in South Africa. The joke, by the way, is that on a Champagne label you will look in vain for the term methode Champenoise.
• Méthode Charmat Way of making bulk bubble wine. The wine undergoes its secondary fermentation not in bottle, but in stainless steel tanks, followed by bottling. Also referred to as cuve close.
• Méthode Gazéïfiée Is a method of making sparkling wine. The carbon dioxide gas is not created by a second fermentation in the bottle, but is injected as in cola, for example.
• Methode Traditionelle Wine preparation in two steps. First fermentation in barrel or tank and second fermentation in the bottle. Because the carbon dioxide created in the second fermentation cannot escape, it dissolves in the wine, creating a sparkling wine. The term Méthode Traditionnelle may be used outside the Champagne region.
• Millerandage Is a French term for uneven fruit set during flowering that can result in uneven ripening of grapes.
• Mineral Mysterious flavor element in wine. Those who try hard can taste it in wines made from grapes derived from flint, slate, limestone or lava subsoil. In Sancerre, they coquettle with it and "flint" has even become something of a trademark.
• Mise Is French for bottling the wine. "Mise en bouteille au Château/Domaine" means bottled at the Château/Domaine.
• Mis en bouteille Vague term that flirts with quality, but means nothing more than 'bottled'. Often this is done 'au chateau,' possibly in a mobile bottling plant that can be ordered on demand and parked in the yard. A godsend for wine companies that are not large enough to purchase a bottling plant or, on the contrary, are so large that they do not have sufficient capacity to bottle all the wine themselves. Sounds all confidence-inspiring, but if the content is not good, a true chateaubottling also disappoints. The only guarantee is that - unlike "mise en bouteille par..." - there is also the wine in the bottle as the winemaker intended. Those who sell their stock to a merchant may still find it in the bottle in a completely different composition.
• Monocépage Are wines made from one cépage, one grape variety.
• Must The unfermented juice of grapes.
• Moulleux Literally "with marrow. Now this bone stuffing is not found in, say, the Bouvray and Coteaux du Layon wines that have this on their labels, but rather a hefty portion of residual sugar. Their taste is searching, creamy and round.
• Sparkling wine Wine that fizzes, has bubbles and thus contains carbon dioxide.

N

• Navarre Once a kingdom stretching from Bordeaux to Barcelona, now a Spanish DO where wines come from that offer pretty good value for money and are thus popular in the Netherlands: we occupy the second spot on the export list. Unlike neighboring Rioja where Tempranillo reigns supreme, here Garnacha (Grenache) reigns supreme. This grape used to make only saddening bulk wine, but it has mended its ways and can be pressed into pleasant, never-too-expensive reds, sometimes in combination with some windblown Tempranillo or some Cabernet Sauvignon from the other side of the Pyrenees. The rosé from Navarre is often bold and hearty. And the little white made there (10%) is mostly Viura or Macabeo, but the inevitable Chardonnay also pops up. Not too bad, as it often produces much tastier wines here than that other duo.
• Nebbiolo Along with Sangiovese the grape of grapes in Italy. Tricky, but once tamed it is an artist that conjures up Barolos and Barbarescos. Lots of everything gets its drinker: tannins, acidity, roses, tar, cherries, plums, leather, spices (fresh and dried), licorice and dried fruit. And he doesn't have to rush to finish it all at once. The Big Boys have a very long breath.
• Netherlands Wine making here hardly transcends the hobby level. A few nice wine estates (Apostelhoeve, among others) are curiosities rather than unmissable products. There are, however, many Dutch people abroad who grow wine (or have it grown) at a (high) level. After the second house, the second car and the second wife, now the first wine estate is wildly popular. Holland already speaks a word in France (Giscours), New Zealand (Staete Landt), America (Bernardus) and Argentina (Salentein), among others.
• Négociant Is French for a bottling merchant.
• New World or New Wine Countries The set of wine countries that do not belong to the old European wine countries, such as Chile and Australia. Old World includes such wine countries as France, Spain and Italy.
• New Zealand Quantitatively speaking, New Zealand wine is still sometimes scorned: the country's entire annual harvest is still less in liters than that of Southcorp, Australia's largest wine company. Overall, the country contributes no more than 1% to global wine production. Qualitatively speaking, however, their reds and whites garner global admiration. Quite an achievement: because "real" winemaking has only existed in New Zealand since 1973. It makes very tasty Pinot Noir and beautiful Chardonnay (the wine the Kiwis themselves prefer to drink). And according to Oz Clarke, celebrated and feared wine writer, Marlborough is even "the Sauvignon Blanc capital of the world. A statement with which he has made no friends in the Loire. On the North Island, the main wine regions are Hawkes Bay (especially for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot), Gisborne (for their tropical yet fresh Chardonnay) and on the aforementioned South Island, Marlborough (the mecca of Sauvignon Blanc). Not only is the country divided in two, so is the wine industry: 60% is owned by two major players: Montana/Corbans and the Villa Maria/Vidal/Esk Valley group. The rest (over 20,000 hectares in total) is divided among hundreds of small but often hyper-fanatic winemakers, many people who have traded their "normal" jobs out of sheer passion to make wine.
• Nominal volume Is the amount of wine in the bottle.
• Non-vintage Is a term used particularly for sparkling wines such as Champagne to denote a wine that does not carry a vintage, but is a composite of different vintages.

O

• Oenology Is the science of winemaking. Includes both viticulture and vinification.
• Oenologist An oenologist is a viticultural engineer.
• Oyster water The alias by which Chablis presents itself. Owes it to the lime-infused soil in which the vines grow. At the time of the Jura, Chablis was an inland sea and now it is a final resting place for the shellfish that lived there then. But attention! Not all Chablis is "oyster water. Often, precisely the complex, wood-aged Chablis wines with Grand Cru or Premier Cru status taste significantly less with this delicacy than the much simpler ones that have been assigned 'only' stainless steel in their youth. Moreover, it then only creates 'a marriage made in heaven' if the oysters are savoured raw and the wine vinegar with onions avoided as an additional seasoning.
• Reverse osmosis A way to concentrate must and thus make more powerful, flavorful wine. The must is filtered leaving water behind. Reverse osmosis is used to its heart's content in harvests that have had a lot of rain. Has both proponents and opponents. Related to reverse osmosis is cryo-extraction which sounds like the juice is then sent into orbit. In reality, it is merely a system in which "evaporation" takes place in a vacuum state.
• Rootstock The root-bearing part of a vine.
• Unfiltered Unfiltered wine, where lees can still be found at the bottom of the bottle.
• Destemming For some winegrowers, the "table de trie" does not yet go far enough to strip their grapes by hand of such flavor-defining impurities as leaves, twigs, stones and slugs. Especially in low-wage countries where manpower is more advantageous than machines, ambitious winemakers usually put the ladies to work to have the flagship made from grapes from which those tiny stalks on their bolls have also been removed. Heathy task, heavenly result. Because even the minute amounts of tannin contained in these little ends are now denied access to the wine. A soft, blissful, creamy red wine is the reward.
• Deacidification Is a winemaking technique used in relatively cool climates where the acidity of a wine is deliberately reduced, by adding lime and sometimes water.
• Harvesting The act of bringing in or picking the fruit. This can be done manually or by machine. Sometimes it is done at night because it is cooler: to prevent spontaneous fermentation or because the law requires a minimum temperature (Eiswein). Sometimes it is done at full moon (macrobiotic). Early harvesting is done when it has been a hot summer (2003). The fruit is already ripe then (tannin) and with longer delayed harvesting, all the acidity is lost.
• Harvest year The year the grapes were harvested. This concept has been around since 121 B.C., the year Lucius Opimius became consul. The wine (from dried grapes) from that year was still being drunk and described in A.D. 46. However, it was not until the 17th century (when the storage of wine shifted from the barrel to the bottle) that "vintage" really became a concept. Indicated since that time for clarification purposes, it causes great confusion for the majority of wine drinkers. After all, was "it" a good year or a bad year? Did it apply to white or red, or both? Should I drink that bottle now or can I wait? Remembering used to be simple. Back then, all we had to do, so to speak, was keep an eye on what the weather had been in Bordeaux or Burgundy, and if you looked into it a little, you could also tell what the situation in Bordeaux had been on the left bank and on the right bank. And Burgundy freaks often knew what to expect from the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits as well. But now the boundaries of the wine world have been pushed far below the equator. Especially in the New World where the weather often shows fewer downward and upward outliers, the differences in vintages are also smaller. True crop failures are rare. And modern technology (both in terms of weather forecasting and during winemaking) also enables the Old World to contain the risk of complete crop failures. But large differences from one year to the next still exist. Now it is going too far to give here the harvest characteristics of each wine-producing country and its regions. Separate, fist-sized books have even been written about that. But for guidance: Vintage Champagne and Vintage Port have a year on the bottle because they are only made in (very) good years (on average three times per decade). Rosé - with few exceptions - is best drunk in the year after the vintage on the label; otherwise it loses its fruit. And perhaps most importantly, good winemakers actually make good wine in the bad years.
• Austria Unjustly lumped together with Germany because there are a lot of differences. Very orderly wine legislation and a great innovator. Risen like a phoenix from the ashes after the infamous antifreeze scandal in 1985. Signs now for exciting whites thanks to its own "Grüner Veltliner" that already produces delicious wines at entry level, but also provides absolute high-flyers. Gastronomically highly sought after. Wonderful Rieslings too. Excitingly sweet, especially thanks to the efforts of Alois Kracher near Neusiedlersee where the Edelrot feels very much at home. Reds (20% of vineyards now) are also slowly but surely starting to reach international levels.
• On tap When a wine has matured enough to be drinkable. Most wines are already drinkable at bottling. Quicker to drink means less stockpiling and suitable for everyday consumption.
• Open Opening A bottle of red wine ahead of time serves the sole purpose of not being able to empty it otherwise. The influence of oxygen through that square inch is less than minimal. Once the bottle is open and not yet empty, good, young red will keep for about 24 hours. White wine will keep - depending on the quality of the fruit used - between 24 and 48 hours. Well in the refrigerator Or even better in a Wine Art from EuroCave (automatic vacuumed wine bottle cooler)
• Imposition A wine deliberately aged in the bottle. Usually for a number of years.
• Ouillage The space between the wine and the barrel or the wine and the cork in the bottle.
• Transfer Pumping/ siphoning the wine from the yeast sediment to another vessel.
• Old World Includes mainly France, Germany, Spain, Italy and their well-known wine-growing regions. The Old World felt even older as it was overtaken by the New World in terms of quality, marketing and communication, reliability, clarity and taste. Has the blinders off now, but it will never be the same again.
• Old vines Are often held in esteem because their lower yields give the wine higher concentration and quality. In French terms, they are referred to as vieilles vignes.
• Owc Is a common abbreviation in auction catalogs for "original wooden case": the original wooden cases.
• Oxidative Ripe, sultry aromas to to acidity; the wine has had too much contact with oxygen.
• Oxidation/oxidation An oxidized wine has been in contact with oxygen for too long. An oxidized wine no longer tastes fresh.

P

• Parker, Robert (USA) Former lawyer, now a wine critic with—as one might expect with a surname like that—a powerful marker. He has a major influence on purchasing behavior in English-speaking countries. Celebrated and feared for his “Parker points,” which he assigns to wines in his magazine, *Wine Advocate*. He himself turns out to be a big fan of “great wines” with plenty of everything: plenty of fruit, plenty of (toasted) oak. These wines usually score very highly as a result. The wine in question then sells out immediately. An additional pro and con: the price skyrockets. Good news for the chateau owner, bad news for the consumer. Expression. “This wine is ‘Parkerized.’” This refers to the fact that producers sometimes make a special small batch of wine (also called a “Cuvée Parker”) as a sample for the Great Writer. Detractors claim that the rest of the harvest often bears no resemblance to this wine.
• Pepper Black pepper is often detected in the aftertaste of Syrah or Shiraz. White pepper is found in a good Sauvignon Blanc or Grüner Veltliner. Those who use a lot of pepper as a spice in their dishes should be wary of fine and complex wines, as they perish. Also very "peppery" wines do not feel so comfortable with competition from the same palate. Pepper and pepper quickly create an unpleasant mouthfeel.
• Pressing The pressing of grapes. Pressing the juice out of grapes with the foot used to be the custom. It is still done in Portugal (Douro). A modern machine now allows this to be done very precisely. An important moment in winemaking. The less solid parts you let flow with the juice, the less of the skin (tannin) will end up in the must. You can also leave the skin wall undamaged. For a pure wine, the glucose-rich juice and yeast cells are important. If one allows solids in a must, the wine will taste different. Solids can be filtered out later, but good equipment to do this is very expensive.
• Pezsgö Is sparkling wine from Hungary.
• pH Is an important measure of wine acidity that can also affect color and aging potential.
• Phylloxera Is a disease in the vines, caused by a tiny fly (phylloxera) that destroyed most of European viticulture in the late 19th century. About 3/4 of French vineyards were destroyed at that time. The technique of grafting saved French vineyards.
• Piedmont Northwestern Italy. Literally "foot of the mountain," because located with the Alps to the north and west and the Apennines to the south. Together with Tuscany the most important wine region. Most important red wine grape: Nebbiolo. Signs, among other things, for the coveted and famous Barolo. But also Barbera, Dolcetto and Barbaresco have meanwhile conquered the world. White: especially Moscato d'Asti and Gavi from the Cortese grape. But also Chardonnay is enjoying more and more fans. Already 25% of Piedmont is white.
• Pinotage Unique South African grape. Also exploited only there, although experimented with on a very small scale in Australia. Cross of the Pinot Noir and the Cinsault introduced to each other in 1925 at the University of Stellenbosch by Professor Perold. Has been applauded and reviled ever since. Signs for both simple bulk wine and spectacular and quite expensive blockbusters. In any case, is always a wine with a completely unique signature in aroma and taste. Blackcurrants, mulberries, plums, toasted marshmallows and spices. Delicious when they all present themselves, but that rarely happens. Often all these delicacies are swept away by a tannin bombardment. And the delicious "marshmallows" all too often smell like burnt rubber or car tires. Even in blends, the Pinotage is usually overpowering.
• Pinot blanc Is a grape related to the Pinot noir and Pinot gris and originates in France. Pinot Blanc is a grape variety with low susceptibility to disease. The grape gives fairly neutral wines and both the taste and aroma reveal apples and white fruit.
• Pinot Noir Is a blue grape from which all the great red Burgundies are made. The Pinot Noir is a widely planted grape worldwide and is one of the oldest grape varieties and, according to experts, has its origins in the Nile Valley. Only from the 4th century the Pinot Noir is cultivated in Burgundy.
• Polyphenols Are tannins and colorants in wine. They are water-soluble substances that play important roles in all foods, as antioxidants, dyes, counteracting browning, inhibitors of enzymes.
• Port Is the most famous wine of Portugal. Together with Sherry and Madera one of the three famous "fortified" wines in the world. Originates from the Douro Valley in the north of the country. Port is made from a huge variety of blue grapes that are partially fermented, then the wine is fortified by adding brandy. The fermentation stops and the residual sugar remains, giving Port its magical, sweet taste. The vintage is famous; this Port with a vintage is rare. On average, only three vintage years are recorded per decade. Vintage Port can age tremendously well. Seventy-plus wines are no stranger to this category. However, its sheer immortality is also its weakness. For whereas vintage Champagnes (these have the same vintage size as Port with a year) are seen as the perfect consumption to conclude a nice deal, during a cozy vernissage or just because it's the weekend, vintage Port's moments of use are much rarer. The pride of the Douro Valley must wait in the cellar for the moment when newlyweds turn silver, children move into their first home of their own or Abraham arrives at the door. Then we conjure up one of those bottles from its birth year, decant it, then sip it gently. So much to the chagrin of modern port marketers, the flow is nil. They go out of their way to emphasize that this Port can also be drunk young. Vintage Port may be the most sought-after port, it is not the best selling. If only because there is particularly little of it. Abundantly available, however, are the Ruby and the Tawny which (unfortunately) have become stakes in the ever raging supermarket battle. They are snatching market share from Sherry, but not without the use of the markdown pliers. Thus the neat Port threatens to become a stunt item.
• Portugal Largest cork country in the world. Also Port producer, and producer of commercial rosé (Mateus is the largest rosé brand in the world). Is now beginning to have other exciting wines to its credit. As in Italy, its greatest strength is its vast arsenal of native grapes, which, whether blended with "the internationals" or not, produce surprising, not too expensive wines. Not 'many' is still the motto (Portugal, by the way, is still the fourth largest producer in Europe) but 'good'. Dao is slowly but surely getting rid of its image of tired old man. In Alentejo, beautiful whites are made and reds with lots of fruit. Estremadua signs for spicy reds with lots of fragrance and flavor, and the white that comes from there today is no longer lifeless and oxidized, but dynamic, lively and lively. Illustrative of the Portuguese wine industry.
• Pourriture noble Literally means "noble rot." It is a fungus that attacks ripe grapes just before harvest. The grapes then lose a lot of moisture and shrivel up on the vines. Rich and complex wines like Sauternes from Bordeaux are made from these grapes.
• Premier cru Is a commonly used term. In Burgundy and Champagne, it points to one of the best vineyards.
• Primeur (new wine) Wine produced by a rapid method. Primeurs may leave wineries as of Nov. 15.
• Priorat Until the 1980s, a Spanish DOC in Catalonia that was barely significant until youth seized power there. And they indeed turned out to have the future. Modern winemaking techniques and Cabernet Sauvignon (in combination with the familiar Garnacha and Carinena) suddenly managed to extract beautiful wines from the steep slope full of slate. Now Priorat is producer of sometimes impressive, almost always (very) expensive reds that can age very well.
• Productivity Indicates how many hectoliters (hl) of wine a vineyard produces per hectare (ha).
• Prosecco Is a white grape and is mainly used for sparkling wine. The grape is planted in Italy east of Venice and in Frioul. The origin of this grape probably lies in the municipality of the same name Prosecco.

Q

• QbA The second highest quality designation for German wines. Stands for "Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete" and can be compared to French AOC wines.
• QmP The highest quality designation for German wines. Stands for "Qualitätswein mit Prädikat".
• Qualitätswein German and no guarantee for quality, because 95% of all wine from our eastern neighbors gets this stamped on its label, including those of poor quality.

R

• Reduction The opposite of oxidation. Contact with oxygen many modern winemakers see as a mortal sin. They try to market their wines young and sparkling with fruit. Wines are raised in the low-oxygen environment of stainless steel tanks and then, with luck, placed under a screw cap so that no "oxygen leakage" can occur. This method of production has the disadvantage that the wine can sometimes smell somewhat reductive. In ordinary human terms: it smells. Like rotten eggs, boiled cabbage, nasty mushrooms. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Often this failure is limited to the smell, but in rare cases it also "hits" the wine. Those who hit a reductive wine waltz it through the glass for a while.
• Refractometer Is a device for measuring the sugar content in grapes.
• Remuage Is a French term used in the production of sparkling wine. The yeast sediment that precipitates during secondary fermentation in the bottle by tilting and rotating the bottle.
• Yield (in a vineyard) Is the yield of grapes per unit area. Expressed in hectoliters per hectare.
• Reserva Is wine in which the number of months of aging in barrel and bottle varies by area/country. A reserva must meet three conditions: it must come from one good vintage and have been aged for at least one year in barrel and one year in bottle. The alcohol content must be at least half a percent higher than prescribed. E.g. Portugal: 12 months aged in wood, 24 months in bottle.
• Residual sugar content An important property in wine. The amount of unfermented sugars remaining in the wine.
• Rhône The French wine district that produces most of France's AC wines next to Bordeaux. Syrah and Grenache flourish and provide reds. Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier take care of white production. The Rhône Valley is home to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Saint-Joseph, Vacqueras, Cornas, Gigondas, Condrieu and Muscat de Beaumesde-Venise, for example. Makes the world's most coveted wines in red (Côte Rôtie) and white (Château Grillet), but is also producer of unlikely quantities of red Côteaux-du-Rhône that we would love to pour into the aforementioned home port. In the Rhône, therefore, winemakers are not only literally but figuratively in the doldrums after making too long, overpriced wines that were undrinkable. And now the market is turning against them. The story is familiar: the New World makes better wines from the same grapes (especially in terms of reds) and markets them more cheaply. Large quantities of unsalable stocks dominate the cellars. The solution, by the way, is simple. Just start making good wine again and the buyers will line up again.
• Ribera del Duero Large counterpart to Rioja in the Castillo y Leon region. Tempranillo is the big player here as well, often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Has only really been on the Spanish "wine map" since the 1980s, but it makes reds that are often of better quality than those from Rioja. However, producers must be careful not to get too greedy. They are planting like crazy, in danger of losing sight of quality. This does not affect Pingus, the most famous domain here, which, despite its relatively young age (in 1995), is by far the most expensive wine in Spain. Spanish aficionados will kill for that, too. And even elsewhere in the world, you have to rob a bank before you can buy: between two and five hundred euros for a bottle is the usual price, making it more expensive than the established names Vega Sicilia and Pesquera.
• Riesling Some thirty years ago, Riesling was still the most famous and coveted grape in the world. Anyone who drank white wine then, drank Riesling. Of Chardonnay at that time there were only a few sticks in Burgundy. Riesling, on the other hand, was planted everywhere. Or rather, mostly other grapes so named. Austria had its Welschriesling, Hungary Olaszrisling and the Czech Republic Rizling Vlassky. The New World also copied lustily. In Australia, Semillon was renamed Riesling and another grape, Crouchen, was given the same alias with ease. In America, too, there was unlimited Riesling drinking, thanks in part to the Emerald Riesling, the Missouri Riesling and the Gray Riesling. But that fame evaporated. Now the violation of this "trademark right" is not even at the root of it. For that, we have to go back to the 1950s, note Germany. There, other grapes, especially Müller-Thurgau, were rapidly being planted at that time. In the 1970s, it was even the most widely planted grape in the country. In addition, more and more wine was produced with increasing ease. The use of such recent inventions as fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides was heartily promoted, wine making itself industrialized. And then consumers slowly began to wonder why on earth they had been drinking that bland, lifeless sugar water for years. His new love was called Chardonnay and the Riesling was discarded when, through all those imitations, it had probably never been introduced to its true nature. Too bad, because Riesling is made into wine in its purest form. The grape is allergic to wood. Whereas the Chardonnay gets its character only in the winery thanks to the use of French or American oak, the Riesling looks for it much closer. Its own terroir is its greatest asset. A true Riesling maker may like to call himself a "terroirist. He makes his wine in the vineyard and not in the cellar. Those who cherish that motto can produce unique whites. Light and lower in alcohol yet full of power. Nervous yet balanced. A wine with wonderful youth and great aging potential in which there is so much to discover: flowers, honey, minerals, citrus fruit, apples, pears, peaches, marzipan and pepper and in which acid and sweet form a dream duo. In Germany, where the decline began, the first signs of recovery are now visible. Industrial work is being increasingly renounced and Rudolf Steiner's biodynamic principles are being embraced. Special compost and the position of the moon and the other planets are replacing art and craft. The Riesling seems to have begun its Renaissance. And from Australia, Austria and New Zealand, too, we taste it more and more often and, above all, at a higher level.
• Aging Letting wine rest to make it taste better.
• Rioja For a long time, the vineyards along the Ebro and Rio Oja in northeastern Spain were the country's calling card. Main grapes: Tempranillo and Garnacha that were allowed to rest their juice for a nice long time in American oak, good for a hefty shot of vanilla. That combined with the unmistakable strawberry flavor and often some stewed fruit drew packed houses for decades. But consumer tastes changed and Rioja producers slowly began to raise price levels, and together, that ended up being a tried-and-true recipe for crowded cellars. Still the quality is variable. But new, ambitious producers (Artadi, Roda) are emerging and trying to at least match the quality of "competitor" Ribera del Duero.
• Stainless steel Also called inox. Biggest revolution in the wine world since the invention of the bottle. Replaces the oak barrel as a storage or fermentation site and allows the winemaker to make his wine cleaner (no unwanted wood flavors), with no oxygen contact and an adjustable temperature. Fragrance and flavor aromas thus enter the bottle more concentrated. Ideal for wines intended to be drunk young.
• Grubbing The intentional removal of entire vineyards.
• Rose Is a fresh wine made by briefly fermenting the skins of blue grapes with the white grape juice for color. Usually an assemblage of grape varieties. Saignée comes in handy here.
• Raisin Dried grape from which certain types of wines are made such as Amarone.
• Rueda Recently very popular DO, just west of Valladolid. At first it made some Sherry-like wines and the dull Verdejo grape was king there. In the 1970s, the area got a tremendous quality boost when a big name from Rioja, the Marqués de Risqual, settled there and planted Sauvignon Blanc. This produced great crispy white wines, full of sparkling fruit. In the shadow of this success, Verdejo also blossomed again. De Riscal rediscovered the millennial and other winemakers also reintroduced it. Especially thanks to the now available modern winemaking techniques, they now know how to seduce the bland Verdejo into a fantastic blanco. Harvesting is done in the early hours, often still in the dark. The pickers enter the vineyards wearing miner's helmets equipped with a lamp. The grapes are collected in small plastic containers, which reduces the chance of bruising and the things already beginning to ferment. During transport, a "blanket" of nitrogen is placed over the fruit to minimize contact with oxygen, a process that also continues during actual winemaking. Despite this labor-intensive method and its growing popularity, this white from Rueda is still quite affordable.

S

• Saignée Literally means to bleed. It is a French term for during fermentation of red wine to allow a small portion of the must to bleed to make the wine more concentrated.
• Sangiovese Is a blue Italian grape variety that forms the basis of Chianti. The grape is grown throughout Italy and produces sparkling red wine with a spicy flavor.
• Saumur French sparkling wine from Saumur (not Champagne).
• Sauvignon Blanc Is a white grape with a greenish skin, used for making white wine. This grape is planted in many wine countries. Its origin is in southwestern France. It is the main grape in Sauternes and Barsac. But certainly also in the Loire Valley. More regions make successful wines from this grape. Both sweet and dry.
• Fungal diseases Diseases caused in the vineyard by fungi/bacteria that affect the grapes.
• Sec Is a French term for dry.
• Secco Used with Cava that contains 17 to 35 grams of sugar per liter.
• Sekt Is a sparkling wine from Germany.
• Sélection des Grains Nobles (SGN) The step above Vendange Tardive. White wine made from super-ripe grapes, often affected by noble rot, creating a hugely concentrated flavor. Well-known SGN: Gewürztraminer from Alsace.
• Sherry Is a Spanish wine. Characteristic of sherry are saltiness, oxidation notes, impressions of iodine and nuts, tight dry or just sweet, warm flavor patterns. The name comes from the city of Jerez de la Frontera (de la Frontera refers to the ancient border between the Moors and Christians).
• Sin-Crianza Is in Rioja a designation for a young wine that has aged less than 1 year in bottle.
• Single variety wine Is wine prepared from only one grape variety. It is labeled as such in the new world if at least 85% of the grapes used are from one grape variety. In the old world, if at least 85% of a particular grape variety is used, that grape variety may be listed on the label. Also called monocépage.
• Slobber wine Is an easily drinkable, inexpensive wine.
• Taste Indicates the amount of flavor in a wine, for example: watery, thin or rich.
• Flavor profile The different flavor tones that make up a wine.
• Taste style (flavor type or flavor structure) How does the wine smell and taste?
• Solera Is a system for Sherry preparation. In this, wooden barrels containing Sherry are layered on top of each other. The barrels are connected to each other. The goal year after year is to get a type of Sherry that always tastes the same by blending the Sherries in the different barrels.
• Sommelier Wine waiter/waiter responsible for wine purchasing and sales in restaurants. He/she provides expert advice and specializes in combination wine and food.
• Spain Wine country with a larger vineyard arsenal than the penny changing numbers one and two of the wine world rankings France and Italy. However, these countries produce more liters. Well counted as a producer of quality wines for only another 20 years or so. First Franco had to step down, after which foreign investors were again willing to step in. Accession to the European Union also put the wine industry into high gear. Initially by requiring vineyards with dull, high-producing grapes to be grubbed up and then providing subsidies to the aging wine industry to purchase modern equipment, which is especially vital for white and rosé. Meanwhile, Spain is one of the most exciting wine countries in the world. Thanks to unprecedented chauvinism, insane prices are sometimes demanded, for otherwise often wonderful wines. But Spain has also become a serious player in the entry level. Rioja is back in full swing, La Mancha, the country's former bulk wine barn is starting to stir, Navarra delivers value for money in red, white and rosé. And even in the premium segment, Spain has a range of DOs with their own signatures. For reds, for example, Ribera del Duero and Priorat. And for whites Rueda and Rias Baixas. Somontano, too, is at home in all markets. And let's not forget Jerez, from which Sherry is slowly but surely starting to recover.
• Sparklings Is an English term for sparkling wines.
• Spätlese German wine from late harvested grapes with a consequently often more concentrated flavor.
• Spritzy The white wine still has a bubble. Sometimes desired (Vinho verde), sometimes a youthful sin. The wine has then unintentionally undergone another fermentation in the bottle.
• Spumante Italian sparkling.
• Stable A wine is stable when fermentation no longer occurs spontaneously. An outdated term in this day and age.
• Steen (-flavor) Steen is a grape variety in South Africa. Is the same as Loire chenin blanc. Stone (rock) is very important as part of soil composition. Determines the degree of root growth, structure of a wine. Stone flavor refers to the taste a wine will take on when it is bottled in pitchers. If in wine is called mineral, then the origin of the stones may be from the soil.
• Still wine Is ordinary wine. So without bubbles nor enhanced or flavored.
• Structure Is the qualification that is important to indicate whether a wine can be kept. This is because structure is then needed. This is formed by the acids and tannins. By harvesting late, a wine loses structure but gains roundness.
• Pungent Very exuberant bouquet. Think Sauvignon Blanc with its fresh scents of grass, fresh tomatoes and gooseberries. But also Torrontés and Muscat.
• Sugar In wine, it is usually glucose and fructose. Is converted to alcohol during fermentation. The amount also determines the must weight. If there is not enough sugar, nature can be given a helping hand by adding sugar. However, this so-called chaptalization must be done with deliberation, otherwise an unbalanced wine that "falls apart" in acidity and sweetening is the result.
• Cotton candy An odor description that applies to white wines raised on toasted oak barrels. The term "caramel" is then also often attached to it.
• Supérieur Wine with a slightly higher alcohol content.
• Super-Tuscans Noun for Italian wines that do not meet DOC requirements (other grape varieties than prescribed, for example). Well regarded, they are equal in the pecking order to a Vino da tavola, but are, however, often of quality that rises above DOCs or even DOCGs. And, by the way, so is the price tag. Well-known 'Supers': Sassicaia, Tignanello, Ornellaia and I'Apparita. By the way, since 1992 there has been a law giving Sassicaia the same status as the official DOC wines.
• Sur Lie Is French for a type of wine that is deliberately kept in contact with the "lies" for extra flavor.
• Syrah Is the typical grape for wines from the northern Rhone Valley and is successful all over the world. Syrah has a complex aroma of violets, black cherries, red and black currants, wild herbs, licorice, chocolate and coffee. Syrah is an early maturing grape and contains a lot of tannin.

T

• Table de trie Quality enhancer. Sorting table cum conveyor belt on which any impurities remaining among the picked grapes are removed by hand by officials positioned on either side. Thus, only pure grape juice enters the must instead of being mixed with the juice of twigs, leaves and slugs.
• Tafelwein The lowest quality designation for German wines. Similar to French Vin de Table wines.
• Table wine Is the lowest category of wine. Usually with indication of country of origin or EU only.
• Tannin Tannin is one of the main constituents of red wine and is also called tannic acid and is found in the skins, seeds and stalks of grapes. Tannin also enters wine through an oak wine barrel. When grapes are pressed and fermented, tannin enters the wine. Tannin allows a wine to keep longer because tannin slows down the oxidation process. White wine is poor in tannin, ten times less than red wine. Tannin is to red wine what acidity is to white wine.
• TBA Abbreviation for Trockenbeerenauslese. German term for very sweet wine whose grapes are infested with botrytis.
• Tempranillo Is a typical Spanish grape variety for red wine, which ripens early (the name Tempranillo therefore means "early").
• Terroir Is French for soil composition. 'Terre' means ground or soil. It represents the totality of the vine's immediate environment. This includes soil, microclimate and natural water balance. Terroir also means that one can taste the soil in the wine.
• Toast Wine description often used with Chardonnays that have been aged in oak. Also a designation from the world of wine barrel making: toasting. A common process is to sear and burn the inside of the barrels. Possible gradations: between light and heavy. Depending on that, the stored wine gets an extra "smoked" flavor impression. Is not always a successful way of making wine, because here again (as with "normal" use of wood): if the quality of the grape juice is not good, the wine does not improve but becomes dirtier.
• Torrontés Popular white grape in Argentina. Gives musky, very "grapey" wines that can be great as aperitifs if made with enough acidity. Often seen paired with the inevitable Chardonnay.
• Tuscany The epicenter of Italy's wine industry. Not great in terms of quantity: only three million hectoliters, but 45% of it does have DOC status and is therefore mentioned in the same breath of quality with Bordeaux and Burgundy. The main DOCs are Chianti, Montalcino, Montepulciano and, of course, the Super-Tuscans also originate here. In red, Sangiovese reigns supreme. In white Malvasia and the Trebbiano.
• Tears Traces of glycerin (produced in small amounts during the fermentation process) on the inside of the glass. A term often used to feel admiring about the quality of the wine, but this does not mean everything.
• Trocken Is a German term for dry. It does not mean sweet.
• Trockenbeerenauslese Usually bunch by bunch, or even grape by grape, wines picked together. Grapes are parched and often "affected" by noble rot, creating enormously concentrated wine. Is highly coveted, is from the top domains, is reassuringly expensive and gives a unique experience.
• Second wine Brilliant marketing trick. Wine made from grapes from young vines or lesser plots. Depending on how highly regarded the first wine of a domain is, the second 'label' may also carry a hefty price tag. Famous 'twos': Les Forts de Latour, Pavillon Rouge (from Château Margaux), Carruades de Lafite and La Dame de Montrose.

U

• Bottling Is the sprouting of the vine.
• Unfiltered Also: non filtré. Wine contains solids that precipitate in the bottle over time, called lees or depot in reds and tartar in whites. Modern consumers find all that scary. There is also the myth that the wine is then no good. That is why modern winemakers often filter their modern wines, sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily. While this makes the wine clearer, a nasty side effect is that aroma, color and taste are diminished. In short, the wine does not necessarily improve. This is why self-respecting winemakers are increasingly switching to not filtering their product. Sometimes they are so proud of this that they put it on the label.
• Unwooded Wood-free wine raised on stainless steel. Counterpoint to all those shelf juices and oak elixirs. Is even mentioned on the label already.

V

• Vanilla Flavoring commonly imparted to wines aged in American oak.
• Varietal wine Is wine made mostly from one grape variety and named after it. These wines usually come from areas where many grape varieties are grown in a small area. Especially wine countries from North and South America, Australia and New Zealand apply this.
• Barrel aging The process of aging wine in a barrel. This makes the wine increasingly drinkable through a variety of biochemical reactions.
• Barrel fermentation, wood fermentation A common and well-known winemaking technique in which the initial fermentation takes place in a wooden barrel.
• V.D.l.T Means Vino de la Tierra. It is the second lowest quality designation for Spanish wines. Comparable to French Vin de Pays wines.
• VDQS The second highest quality designation for French wines. It stands for "Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure."
• V.D.T. Means "Vino da Tavola." It is the lowest quality designation for Italian wines. Comparable to French Vin de Table wines.
• Auctions: A chance to find bargains, though this rarely applies to the truly big-name wines. It is, however, the ideal place to purchase older vintages that are no longer on store shelves. A great opportunity to buy aged wines, whether or not they’re from the year your children were born. British and American wine magazines even have a separate financial section, which devotes extensive coverage to the prices top wines fetch at auction. And just as the financial markets rely on the Dow Jones, FTSE, and AEX indices, wine enthusiasts don’t have to do without an auction index, a fine wine price watch, and performance tracking. The world of red, white, and rosé also has its blue chips. Bordeaux from memorable vintages typically serves as the benchmark. Thanks to a hierarchy established in 1855, there is a clear classification ranging from 1st to 5th grand cru classés. Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Margaux, and Haut-Brion for their reds, and D’Yquem for its white Sauternes, form a category of their own. And, although they do not fall within this Bordeaux classification, Petrus and Le Pin (Pomerol) as well as Ausone and Cheval Blanc (Saint-Émilion) also belong to this elite group. Burgundy is more straightforward. Only one estate has managed to become a global brand: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which, with its grands crus Romanée-Conti, La Tâche, Richebourg, Grands Échézaux, and Échézaux, sets the standard. Port is largely determined by the prices paid at auctions for vintage bottlings from the fourteen most renowned houses. Naturally, the American wine press has also created a California Cabernet index. Chauvinism is a close ally of the auctioneer here. For the local heroes of Veaulieu Vineyards, Robert Mondavi, and Screaming Eagle, affluent American enthusiasts pay between one hundred and one thousand dollars per bottle without batting an eye. Meanwhile, some vintages of Opus One even fetch prices that are sometimes higher than those of the top Bordeaux wines. Old Europe shakes its head in disbelief that such sums are being paid for wines that, from a historical perspective, are still in their infancy, so to speak. All in all, serious sums are being hammered down at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the major players in this global wine auction game. They generate an average of 25 million euros in revenue worldwide through about forty auctions a year, depending somewhat on the state of the global economy.
• Vendange tardive Is a French term for late harvest. This results in a very sweet wine.
• Vendange vert The green harvest. Young bunches are cut well before the real harvest begins. This gives the remaining grapes more food and vigor, resulting in a better, because more concentrated wine.
• Vendimia Spanish harvest, but much more often the designation for the vintage year.
• Burnt toast Nothing to it. Some older St. émillons (some white Graves or wines from Hunter Valley in Australia) still like to smell like this.
• United States Actually: California, as this state accounts for 90% of all American wine. Oregon is also on the map, especially as a producer of more than deserving Pinot Noir. Washington is known not only for its white house, but also for its white wine from Chardonnay. And nice reds of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot come from there. Surprisingly, Canada is the largest producer of icewine.
• Vermouth Also called vermouth in Italian. Is a fortified white or red wine. Flavored with plants, herbs, sugar and caramel. The largest producers are in Piedmont. One of them, Martini & Rossi, has become so well known that Martini has become synonymous with Vermouth.
• Fortified wine Wine made strong by adding alcohol at some stage during winemaking. Examples include Port or Sherry.
• Fat Full-bodied, round, creamy, filmy wine.
• Vieilles vignes French for old vines. Sometimes vines more than eighty years old.
• Vigneron French for wine grower/grape grower.
• Five The big five. The five grape varieties that have made it to the world brand. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc for white. And Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syraz (Shiraz) for red.
• Villages Suffix e.g. to Beaujolais or Côtes-du-Rhône wines. Is meant to indicate that this is really a better wine. However, there are plenty of villages where driving past is the best option and opting for the option prochaine sortie.
• Vinã A Spanish vineyard. Not to be confused with what it was planted for, which is vino: wine.
• Vin de garde French for a wine made to age. A so-called storage wine. The potential of the wine in the bottle.
• Vin de paille Sweet wine made from dried grapes.
• Vin de Pays The second lowest quality designation for French wines.
• Vin de Table The lowest quality designation for French wines.
• Vin Doux Naturel Sweet strong wine made by adding alcohol to the fermenting must before the wine is fully fermented, e.g. Banyuls.
• Vin gris Pale pink wine resulting from very brief contact with the skins of the grapes. Also called blush wine.
• Vinho de Mesa Is the lowest quality designation for Portuguese wines. Comparable to French Vin de Table wines.
• Vinho Regional Is the second lowest quality designation for Portuguese wines. Comparable to French Vin de Pays wines.
• Vinifera Is a European species of vine of the genus viniferera.
• Vinification Is winemaking, the way wine is made.
• Vino Spanish for wine.
• Vino da Tavola The Italian table wine. But within this category also fell the Super-Tuscans because they did not meet the 2nd regulations belonging to DOCs.
• Vino de Aguja Is a Spanish light sparkling wine with less than 2.5 bar pressure in the bottle.
• Vino de la tierra The Spanish vin de pays.
• Vino de Mesa Is the lowest quality designation for Spanish wines. Comparable to French Vin de Table wines.
• Vinologist Someone who has successfully completed training as a vinologist. Knows a lot about wine, at least in theory.
• Vino tipico Italian wine term. Within the Vino da tavola provision, some wines may call themselves Vino tipico if they meet a number of region-specific characteristics.
• Vin santo The sacred wine, especially in Tuscany. Very sweet, concentrated white made from dried grapes. Most often Malvasia. Collectors item.
• Vintage Is a term for naming a single vintage. Occurs particularly with Champagne, Madeira and Port.
• Violets Commonly heard scent indication when a glass is filled with Pinot Noir.
• Vitis Vinifera Is a primordial vine, from which all current vine varieties derive.
• Volkel wine Is a sparkling wine from South Africa.
• Flint A scent indication in Loire wines, especially Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Real smarties also like to call flint.

W

• Rolling Turning the glass around (on a table or in the hand) to release aromas. First smell, then roll, then smell again. It is recommended to take a large glass when tasting wine.
• Water stress This means that the vines are not getting enough water to grow properly.
• Wine coding system Is a system for indicating the taste of wine. Bottles of wine on shelf are given a code. This code can be a number, letter or color that matches a particular flavor.
• Wine connoisseur Exists. There are too many countries, regions and grape varieties to label someone as a wine connoisseur. However, a person can know a lot about a variety or region. But even then, during blind tastings, these connoisseurs can get caught in the act. But perhaps that is what makes wine so much fun.
• Wine market regulation Legislation within the EU on the production of wines, as well as the trade in wines.
• Wine Scandal Those abound. Barolos that turned out not to be Barolo. Pétrus (the most expensive red in the world) served in a Hong Kong restaurant from a vintage in which no Pétrus had been made at all. Sauvignon Blancs from South Africa's largest wine producer to which artificial greens had been added to give them just the right bite. The amount of Chablis that appears on the market each year. The Austrian antifreeze in wine - incident. The batch of Liebfraumilch to which no grape had been added.
• Tartar Crystals visible as white-yellow crumbs at the bottom of the bottle. It is a sign of a good wine, as the content of the tasty tartaric acid has been high. Originates, among other things, from storing (white) wine at low temperature. In this process, tartaric acid crystallizes by combining with Potassium (mineral). It does not affect the taste, as dépôt can have with red wine (bitter).
• White Wine made from either blue or white grapes. In the first case, the winemaker does not include the skins in the fermentation process; in the second case, there is no harm to the color.
• Wry The cheeks pull inward, not very nice. Occurs in young wines: immature tannins and few tasty acids, such as malic and citric acid. The acids can fall away with aging, the unripe tannin does not.
• Wyn Originally South African equivalent of the French AC system. A guarantee of the grape variety used, vintage and origin of the wine.

X

• Xeres Also called Jerez. But we know it as Sherry.

Y

Z

• Soul The soul of a bottle is the cavity in the bottom of a bottle, originally intended to ensure that any sediment does not spread too much through the wine when poured.
• Zinfandel Is according to America their national grape. However, DNA testing has shown that this is the Primitivo grape from Italy and, even worse, the Plavac Mali from Croatia also yields the same fingerprint. Never mind that the Zinfandel can produce wonderful wines in America. If you want to creep out, drink a White Zinfandel. Sounds white but is a rosé of the most terrible kind that tastes like ant-sweet strawberry juice from the chemical factory. Zinfandel also fills many bottles with flat simple reds. But winemakers who do their best at it can make Zinfandel shine, eliciting from it a fragrance in which virtually all the aromas there can be in red wine can be detected. The taste buds need not be bored either. Peppers, cinnamon, oregano, violets, roses, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, bitter cherries, plums, dates and raisins, nuts and chocolate, cedar, toasty notes, vanilla.
• Sweet Flavor characteristic of a wine, at least 45 g/l.
• Summer wine A fresh wine with not too much alcohol, fairly dry and tight. Not complex.
• Salt Enhancing the effect of tannin.
• Sigh Champagne expression. Don't pop the cork, because it's a waste. Besides, it's dangerous. In Epernay, a town in the middle of the Champagne region, the ophthalmologist has to treat at least 20 cases a year of people who have gotten such a cork full in their eye. How to do it: carefully unscrew the cork and gently tilt it out. A soft sigh will come your way.
• South Africa English wine drinkers are on wine from their former penal colony of Australia. The country has ousted France from the number one position there. In the Netherlands, too, we preach the "what you get from afar is delicious" motto. But since we have been calling the shots in South Africa for a while, we choose their red, white and rosé. France, however, does not yet have to fear for its first place here. Almost half of all wines sold in the Netherlands come from chateau or a domaine. Still, South Africa currently already accounts for almost 18% market share. This is mainly due to their pricing policy. Much South African wine can be bought at a Dutch price. Second strong point: fun names. We finally understand what it is about when we look at the label. It promises us a Beautiful Forward, Great Luck or a Good Start. Hence, the patriotic Christmas package became a favorite habitat for many a South African. Unfortunately, that presence often leads to a hefty headache, as it is never the best ones who are surrounded by decorative candles, jars of plums and packets of party toast. But that growing popularity is not just due to competitive pricing and distinctive naming. Wine country South Africa does produce modern, well-made wines. Relative to other New World countries, however, they are still 3-0 behind. The starting signal for innovation sounded only when Mandela was allowed to leave Robben Island. Then South Africa was freed from its isolation and a new chapter could be added to a 350-year-old wine tradition. And that was much needed. Three and a half centuries of monopoly by the KWV, the Cooperative Winegrowers Association of South Africa, had resulted, among other things, in bans on importing European vines and a trade through the quota system that was only abolished in 1992. Thus this ministry of wine was responsible for overripe, long-simposed, red wines, which were locally called dikfoet and tasted like it. And white was not much better. Sluggish, sluggish, mostly oxidized woes that could not quench any thirst. Not at all from wine drinkers outside the country. In the meantime, a new generation of winemakers has emerged, experimenting in abundance with all kinds of grape varieties. Especially popular are the international Varielas. For reds, the most popular South African wine variety in the Netherlands, these include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz. The Pinotage, South Africa's only indigenous red grape, is actually in danger of being relegated to the doldrums. This unique cross between the Pinot Noir and Cinsaut grape has long been seen as the calling card of contemporary South African wine, but more and more ambitious winemakers no longer want anything to do with its DNA. There are, however, calls to continue using it in their own Cape Blend, which should contain a minimum dose and act as a counterpart to the blends with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz that are being produced worldwide. White is also widely represented. Naturally, it works with the obvious Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc that are made in many different styles. From pure and crisp to round, ripe and exotic. Chenin Blanc is still the biggest, yet it is not the most important grape. Too often it is still used to make insipid, flat, bland wines, mostly for bulk shipments. The good news is: people are grubbing up. The bad news is: South Africa still has the largest vineyard arsenal in the world. Biggest challenge overall: developing one's own style.
• Pure Clean. Positive impression of a wine. Occurs in tight white wines and rosé.
• Acid Usually refers to a dry wine. Various acids (malic, tartaric, etc.) occur in wine.
• Acidity All wines contain acids, but a distinction must be made between volatile and solid acidity. Volatile acidity gives bouquet to the wine, but too much of it sours the wine. The solid acidity gives harmony to the wine.
• Souring vine An odor often produced by (opponents say: due to)(too) cold fermentation. Is especially common in South African rosé.
• Heavy Heavy wine due to high alcohol content and tiring due to little acidity. Usually with warm years or hot areas. They often have a lot of tannin as well.
• Blackcurrant You are drinking Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Sulfur Stings in the nose when the wine is poured into the glass. Smells like rotten eggs. Serves as a preservative, but should be used in moderation. Despite legal requirements, however, dosage is still sometimes taken too liberally, especially with cheap stuff that can otherwise withstand travel badly. That it causes headaches has never been scientifically proven.Sources: wijnliefde.nl, wijnweetje.nl and wijn.eu