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H –

hard

Tasting term applied to wine that is high in astringent tannins and apparently lacking in fruit.

W –

Weissherbst

Is by German law a rosé wine at least 95% of which is made by direct pressing of a single red wine grape variety named on the label (Spätburgunder and Portugieser are especially common).

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B –

Bocksbeutel

Special bottle in the shape of flattened flask used in the German wine region of Franken and four communes in the northern Ortenau area of Baden.

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B –

barrique

The most famous of the barrel types, Bordeaux's relatively tall 225 lit.cask with thinner staves than the Burgundian pièce and most other barrels.

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R –

Rivesaltes

Town north of Perpignan in southern France that gives ist name to two of the biggest appellations of Roussillon, Rivesaltes and Muscat de Rivesaltes, both of them vins doux naturels.

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C –

chambré

French word also used in English to describe a wine that has been deliberately warmed to room temperature before serving.

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N –

New World

Term much used in the wine world, initially smoewhat patronizingly but with increasing admiration in the last quarter of the 20th century as the New World's share of global exports rose from 3 to 23%, to distinguish the colonies established as a result of the longer voyages in the 15th century.

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M –

malolactic conversion

Widely known as malolactic fermentation, and often abbreviated to MLF or malo, is the conversion of stronger malic acid into lactic acid.

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L –

lees contact

Increasingly popular and currently fashionable winemaking practice known to the Ancient Romans whereby newly fermented wine is deliberately left in contact with the lees. This period of lees contact may take place in any container, from a bottle to a large tank or vat-although a small oak barrel is the most common location for lees contact.

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S –

soutirage

French term for racking, or moving clear wine off ist sediment and into a clean container. It can also be used for the wine serving process of decanting.

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A –

amphora

Latin word from the Greek for a vessel with two handles. Although the term may refer sometimes to fine wares, it is normally used to describe the large pottery containers which were used for the bulk transport of many goods and luquids ind the Mediterranean world.

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C –

clarification

Progressive winemaking operation which removes suspended and insoluble material from grape juice, or new wine, in which these solids are known as lees.

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D –

dormancy

Sleep, the normal state of vines in winter. This period normally starts with autumn leaf fall, although buds are in a state of so-called organic dormancy from veraison onwards.

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B –

Beaune

Vinous capital of Burgundy giving ist name to the Côte de Beaune sction of the Côte d'Or.

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C –

Completer

Ancient white grape variety grown in graubünden in eastern Switzerland. It is a specialty of Bündner Herrschaft.

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B –

Blanc de Noir

French for "white of blacks", describes a white wine made from dark-skinned grapes by pressing them very gently and running the pale juice off the skins as clear as possibl.

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N –

Nuits, Côte de

Named after the principal town of Nuits-St-Georges, this is the northern half of the escarpment of the Côte d'Or, producing the greatest red wines of Burgundy, from the Pinot Noir grape, and very occasional white wines.

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P –

pétillante

French term for a lightly sparkling wine, somewhere between perlant and mousseux.

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V –

vin jaune

Meaning literally "yellow wine" in French, extraordinary style of wine made in France, mainly in the Jura region, using a technique similar to that used for making Sherry but without fortification.

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F –

Federweisser

German term for young wine popularly consumed before botteling-generally cloudy and often still fermenting-and typically referred to in Austria as Sturm or Heuriger.

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T –

terra rossa

Red-brown loam or clay directly over well-drained limestone found typically in regions with a mediterranean climate. Such soils are found in southern Europe, North Africa and parts of Australia.

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D –

dosage

The final addition to a sparkling wine which may top up a bottle in the case of traditional method wines, and also determines the sweeteness, or residual sugar, of the finished wine. A mixture of wine and sugar syrup.

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N –

noble rot

Sometimes simply as botrytis, is the benevolent form of botrytis bunch rot, in which the Botrytis cinerea fungus attacks ripe, undamaged white wine grapes and, given the right weather, can result in extremely sweet grapes.

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V –

viscosity

The quality of being viscous, the extent to which a solution resists flow or movement.

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C –

crianza

Spanish term used both to describe the process of ageing a wine and also for the youngest officially recognized category of a wood-matured wine. A crianza wine must have spent a minimum of six months in cask.

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