Wine 101: Your definitive wine words glossary

ABV: standing for ‘alcohol by volume’, the ABV measures the amount of alcohol in a drink – the higher the percentage, the stronger it is. As a rough guide, wine’s ABV generally falls between 12–14.5%, while spirits can be 40% and higher.  

Acidity: the fresh, lively tartness in wine that makes your saliva glands go into overdrive. High-acid wines might be described as crisp, racy or zippy.

Aeration: the important process of introducing oxygen into your wine before drinking it to help soften harsh edges and bring out those cracking aromas. See ‘Decant’.

Aftertaste: no surprises here – this is about the flavours that linger after a wine has been swallowed. See ‘Finish’ and ‘Length’.  

Ageing: when you stash wine away (in bottle, barrel or tank) to help it develop more complex flavours. See ‘Cellaring’. 

American oak: US-grown oak that’s made into barrels for wine maturation. This oak contributes certain traits to the wine, including trademark vanilla and coconut flavours. See ‘Barrel aged’, ‘French oak’ and ‘Oaked / oaky wine’.     

Appellation: a legally defined geographical area that determines how certain wines may be produced, labelled and marketed. Rules vary from country to country (and appellation to appellation), but usually require that the wine be made mostly or entirely from grapes grown within the appellation’s boundaries (which can be as large as an entire region or as small as a single vineyard). Some even go so far as to regulate which grape varieties can be used, how they’re grown and harvested, and how the wine gets made. For example, to label a wine as ‘Chablis’ it needs to be a dry white wine made from 100% chardonnay grapes, produced in a specific area near the French town of Chablis. Key examples include France’s Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC), Italy’s Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) and the United States' American Viticultural Area (AVA).

Aroma: the smell of wine (that was easy). Aroma is generally used when talking about young wines. If you’re sniffing a more complex, aged wine, it might be called ‘bouquet’. 

Bagnum: a magnum in a bag, the bagnum is a sustainability-focused (and picnic-perfect) pouch that holds 1.5L of wine, which equals two standard 750mL bottles, or a magnum. See ‘Magnum’.

Balance: when all the elements of a wine are in harmony, such as acidity, tannins, sugars, fruit and alcohol. Because there’s nothing worse than when someone dominates a group. 

Barrel: an oak vessel (à la Donkey Kong) used for fermenting and ageing wine.

Barrel aged: a wine that’s been matured in a barrel (varying from months to years) often taking on some of the oak’s traits. Not all wines are barrel aged – some go into stainless steel tanks to keep them at their freshest (think bright whites like sauvignon blanc). See ‘American oak’, ‘French oak’ and ‘Oaked / oaky wine’.     

Barrique: a type of oak barrel that holds 225 litres with an exotic-sounding name, thanks to its origins in France’s Bordeaux region.

Baumé: pronounced boh-may, this is the measure of sugar in grapes, and one of the determiners for when fruit is ready to pick. The baumé percentage roughly equates to the resulting wine’s ABV.   

Bead: the bubble in sparkling wines. A fine bead, for example, refers to tiny, well-formed, persistent bubbles – a very good thing in your glass of fizz.   

Bin: standing for Batch Identification Number, a bin is the barrel or storage location of a wine in a cellar, but, these days, it also tends to turn up in wine names and brands without too much meaning, too.

Biodynamic: a biodynamic wine is made from fruit that’s grown and harvested following biodynamic practices. These include using the cycles of the moon to determine the best days for planting, picking and more.   

Blanc de blancs: a style of sparkling wine made only from white grapes – usually chardonnay, being the one white grape permitted in Champagne.

Blanc de noirs: a style of sparkling wine made only from red grapes (but don’t expect a red wine – or even a pink one). The varieties are usually pinot noir and pinot meunier, being the two red grapes permitted in Champagne.   

Blend: a wine made from more than one type of grape variety.

Blind tasting: when the identity of a line-up of wines is withheld during a tasting. Most wine shows are judged this way to avoid any bias that might come from knowing the producer, variety, vintage and price point.  

Body: how the wine feels in your mouth. Is it rich and heavy, or light and delicate? It’s not unlike comparing skim milk to full cream. 

Botrytis: a grey mould that causes wine grapes to shrivel and become super sweet. Botrytis (aka ‘noble rot’) is responsible for some of the world’s best dessert wines.

Bouquet: the smell or aromas detected in a wine, usually used to describe aged wines. See ‘Aroma’ and ‘Nose’. 

Brut: a term coined by the French to describe a sparkling wine that is unsweetened or dry. 

Buttery: a character that often shows in richer white wines, especially in chardonnay due to a common winemaking technique. See ‘Malolactic fermentation’. 

Carbonic maceration: a type of whole-bunch fermentation, where full bunches of grapes, stems and all, are placed in a vat, which is then sealed, and carbon dioxide is added to remove the oxygen and trigger the fermentation process. It’s typically used for bright red wines, such as gamay, particularly in its native Beaujolais in France.   

Cava: the sparkling wine of Spain, made like Champagne in the traditional method, or Méthode Traditionnelle, but using other grapes, including native Spanish varieties. 

Cellar: a temperature- and humidity-controlled room for wine folk to store and age their treasured bottles of vino. 

Cellaring: the act of storing bottled wine – over many years, in some cases – so it can age and develop. Some varieties and styles are better suited to ageing, and the wines need to be stored in the right conditions (read: not under your bed).    

Champagne: the sparkling wine made in France’s Champagne region, and the region itself. 

Climate: when talking about a wine region’s climate, you’re referring to its temperature, proximity and access to water, altitude, exposure to sunlight, rain and winds, and all the other climatic factors that affect grape growing.

Closed: when a wine doesn’t offer up much in way of flavour or aroma. It tends to describe younger wines.

Complex: a descriptor for wine that is nuanced and has depth of flavour – it won’t be simple or one-dimensional. A wine’s complexity can also develop with age. 

Cork taint / corked: AKA the moment you realise the wine you’ve been ageing is dead in the water. A wine is considered ‘corked’ or having experienced ‘cork taint’ when that trusted cork fails, leaving aromas of wet dog and mouldy basements. A chemical compound called TCA (or ‘2,4,6-trichloroanisole’ if you want to get fancy) is often to blame. 

Crémant: sparkling wine from France that’s made outside of Champagne. 

Crisp: mostly describes white wines, but some reds can also fit the profile. A crisp wine will feel refreshing and palate-cleansing, which is often about its acidity levels; the higher the acidity, the crisper its sensation on the palate is likely to be. 

Cru: a French word that translates to “growth” and refers to a high-quality vineyard. The term is usually used alongside another word that identifies its level of quality (determined by the appellation rules – see ‘Appellation’). For example, Grand Crus are considered the top dogs, while Premier Crus are one notch down, but still considered bloody exceptional.      

Cuvée: French for “vat” and used to denote a special blended batch of wine. If used to describe a Champagne, the wine was made from the first pressing of the grapes. 

Decant: the act of pouring a wine into a vessel – this might be a fancy decanter or even a simple jug – to introduce oxygen before serving it, which can enhance a wine’s aromas and flavours. See ‘Aeration’.

Demi-sec: used by the French to describe a sparkling wine that’s “half-dry” or “medium-sweet”, depending on how you look at it. 

Dessert wine: these sweet wines are often called ‘stickies’ here in Australia due to their sticky, syrupy nature. They are traditionally made from botrytis, or noble rot. See ‘Botrytis’.  

Disgorge: the process of removing sediment in the traditional method of sparkling wine production before the dosage is added (see ‘Dosage’). 

Domaine: this French word refers to a producer with its own vineyards and is commonly used in France’s Burgundy region.       

Dosage: the form of sweetness added to sparkling before the final wine is sealed in the bottle. This balances out any overt acidity or tartness, and dosage levels vary between styles. See ‘Brut’, ‘Demi-sec’, ‘Extra Brut’ and ‘Sec’.   

Fault: when a wine has something wrong with it, which can come from the way it was made or how it’s been stored, and shows up as an unappealing smell or flavour.  

Fermentation: when yeast converts grape sugars into alcohol. It’s the process that makes wine wine! 

Filtration: this process clarifies a wine by removing any particles that can make a wine hazy or affect its texture. In this case, the wine is passed through a material or membrane that acts like a big sieve of sorts.   

Fining: the process of clarifying a wine when a winemaker adds a material (fining agent) to remove the particles that can make it hazy or affect the texture. If you’ve ever wondered why some wines aren’t vegan, it’s because some fining agents (but not all) are derived from animals – think eggs, milk and even fish. 

Finish: the final flavours and impression a wine leaves in the mouth as it’s swallowed – and after. A long finish is considered one of the big signs that a wine is of a high standard. See ‘Aftertaste’ and ‘Length’. 

Flabby: critics often use this term to describe a wine that lacks structure and shape on the palate. 

Fleshy: a descriptor for a wine’s texture when it feels full, plump, and ripe in the mouth. It’s almost like biting into a fleshy piece of soft fruit.  

Fortified wine: a wine that’s had a neutral distilled spirit added to it. Some fortified wine styles include tawny (formerly known as port), sherry, vermouth and topaque (formerly known as tokay), among others. 

Free-run juice: as it sounds, this is the juice from grapes as their skins split prior to being pressed at the start of the winemaking process. This is considered high-quality juice, particularly in whites, thanks to its brief contact with the grape material that would normally build tannins.  

French oak: French-grown oak that’s made into barrels for wine maturation. This contributes certain traits to the wine, including subtle cedar and tobacco flavours. See ‘American oak’, ‘Barrels’ and ‘Oaked / oaky’.   

Fruity: used to describe wines that are packed with fresh fruit flavours and aromas.  

Full-bodied: a wine that’s big, rich and (often but not always) higher in alcohol.

Fumé blanc: sauvignon blanc that’s been barrel aged, and often stirred, to build flavour and texture. Sauvignon blanc is otherwise produced in stainless steel tanks to retain its freshness and vibrancy.  

Harvest: the act of picking grapes off the vines, which happens once a year. Depending on the region, grape varieties and number of vineyards involved, this can happen over a couple of weeks or several months.  

Herbaceous: used to describe certain aromas and flavours in a wine, such as capsicum, asparagus and fresh herbs.

Horizontal tasting: a tasting of wines from the one vintage (production year) that may be from different producers. This line-up is often done to showcase one region’s key varieties and styles. 

Hot: if a wine is ‘hot’ on the palate, it will be higher in alcohol – generally 14.5% and above.

Jeroboam: a bottle that holds 3L of wine, which equates to four regular bottles or two magnums (see ‘Magnum’). 

Juicy: a descriptor for wines that are loaded with fruit flavours and have a full and fresh feel on the palate. See ‘Fleshy’. 

Lees: all those dead yeast cells, and other particles, that remain after fermentation has wrapped. They can play a big role in winemaking, with some wine kept on its lees (‘sur lie’, as the French say) to develop certain textures and flavours. The lees are often, but not always, removed from the wine before it makes it to you.  

Length: is all about how long the flavour of the wine lingers in your mouth after you swallow. The longer those flavours hang around, the better the length.

Lo-fi / natural wine: there’s no official definition of lo-fi / natural wines, but they tend to be made with as little intervention as possible (AKA minimal-intervention wines). This generally means no additives are used in the vineyard or winery.  

Maceration: a common winemaking step, particularly for reds, where the juice sits in contact with the grape’s crushed skins and seeds, and sometimes stems, too. This allows the juice to take on its all-important colour, flavour and texture. 

Magnum: a 1.5L bottle of wine, equivalent to two traditional 750mL bottles. 

Malic acid: You know that tartness you get when you bite into a green apple? That’s malic acid, and it's naturally present in grapes. 

Malolactic fermentation: winemaking technique used to convert malic acid, which is harsh and quite tart, into lactic acid, which is soft and creamy.  

Marc: see ‘Pomace’. 

Mature: a term for more developed wines that show some aged characters. A wine can mature in barrel during the winemaking process, and it can also further develop by being left to age in its bottle after being released. See ‘Cellaring’. 

Méthode Traditionnelle: a winemaking process used for Champagne and other sparkling wines made around the world.   

Methuselah: a bottle that holds six litres of wine (yes, really), which equates to eight regular 750mL bottles, or four magnums.  

Mid-palate: a tasting reference to describe a wine’s flavours and texture that hit the middle of the palate, or tongue. A wine can hit the front palate, mid-palate and back palate in very different ways.

Minerality: a contentious term that covers a range of mineral-like flavours, including slate, wet stones and flint. Gravelly soils are often believed to produce these traits, but this is a hotly debated idea in the wine world.   

Monopole: a French term for a wine-growing area that’s controlled by one winery, where that producer is the only one who can make wine from the vineyard or area. 

Mouthfeel: as it suggests, this is about how a wine feels in your mouth (on your palate). This incorporates a wine’s texture, tannins and structure. 

Must: when making red wine, this is the fresh-crushed grape juice that tends to contain the skins, seeds and, sometimes, stems. 

Native yeast: see ‘Wild yeast’

Natural wine: see ‘Lo-fi / Natural’  

New oak: a type of barrel material that contributes stronger characters to a wine because it’s, well, new. Old oak barrels have already been used to mature previous wines and, through this process, its flavours and impact soften. 

New world: the term for the countries and regions that are not traditional, historic winemaking places. Despite the fact wine has been made in Australia since the 1800s, we’re considered ‘new world’, as are South America, the US and South Africa. See ‘Old world’. 

Non-vintage / NV: a wine made from blending together multiple years, or ‘vintages’. A cracking example of this is NV Champagne. 

Nose: a winespeak word for a wine’s aromas. See ‘Aromas’. 

Oaky / Oaked: when your favourite drop has been aged in oak, it’ll flaunt flavours and aromas like vanilla, smoke, cinnamon, clove, coconut and wood.

Oenology: a big word to describe the study of wine and winemaking. 

Oenophile: pronounced ‘ee-nuh-file’, this is someone who loves wine or is considered a bit of an expert. 

Old oak: see ‘New oak’. 

Old world: the term for mainly European winemaking countries and regions; the places that have been making wine for centuries. See ‘New world’.

Open: to drink a wine at its best, it needs to be open, with its flavours as pronounced as possible. See ‘Aeration’, ‘Breathe’ and ‘Decant’. 

Orange wine: this wine style can be made from any white grape and is orange or amber because the juice gets lots of contact with its grape skins, which enhances the colour, as well as the flavour and texture. Think of it as a white wine made more like a red. 

Organic: an organic wine is made from fruit that’s been grown and harvested following organic principles. This generally means no chemical fertilisers have been used in the vineyard. 

Oxidation: if a wine is oxidised, it means it has come into contact with too much oxygen, undergone a chemical change, and lost some vibrancy in its colour and flavour. 

Palate: refers to your sense of taste, as well your mouth – i.e. ‘on the palate’.   

Pétillant naturel: affectionately known as pet nat, this lo-fi sparkling wine can be made from almost any grape and its bubbles come from the fermentation process being completed in the bottle. See ‘Lo-fi / natural wine’.

Phylloxera: a microscopic insect that kills grapevines by feeding off its roots. Not-so-fun fact: in the 1800s, phylloxera nearly destroyed every wine grape in Europe.

Piquette: not technically wine, piquette is a lower-in-alcohol spritzy drink that’s made from leftover grape skins, seeds and stems (see ‘Pomace’). Water is added to the mix, which triggers fermentation of the remaining sugars. 

Pomace: the material left behind after grapes have been pressed for their juice, including skins, seeds and stems. This is also known as ‘marc’.  

Press / pressing: the winemaking step where grapes are pressed to extract the juice.   

Prosecco: the name of an Italian DOCG (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin – see ‘Appellation’), and the sparkling wine made there. In Australia, prosecco refers to sparkling wine made with the glera grape, despite attempts by Italy to restrict the name’s use, much like Champagne. 

Racking: when wine is moved from one vessel to another during the winemaking process. This might happen from tank to barrel, or from one barrel to another, and it’s mostly done to separate the sediment. 

Racy: a racy wine will generally have high acidity levels, making it feel lively and vibrant.  

Reductive: reductive winemaking techniques minimise a wine’s exposure to oxygen, which can maintain its freshness and fruit characters. A reductive wine’s flavours span a spectrum, from struck match (delicious) to rotten eggs (not cool). Like everything in winemaking, it’s a fine balance. 

Reserve: used to denote a wine of quality – a reserve wine. There’s no official definition in Australia, so the term can technically be applied to any wine, but most producers do use it to distinguish their better-quality wines from their entry-level releases. 

Residual sugar: the term for sweetness in wine, which comes from the natural grape sugars left after fermentation; the higher the residual sugar levels, the sweeter the wine. While relevant to all wine, it’s commonly referenced in relation to certain white varieties, especially riesling, which is made in various styles with differing sweetness levels. 

Sec: despite meaning ‘dry’ in French, this term commonly relates to Champagne and sparkling wine that’s a little sweet, or ‘off-dry’. 

Secondary fermentation: winemaking involves an initial primary fermentation, where yeast converts the sugars into alcohol, followed by secondary fermentation, which can be a continuation of the initial process when the wine is moved to a different vessel, or it can happen by adding sugars, as seen in sparkling wine production.  

Sediment: the solid dregs that are sometimes at the bottom of a bottle. It’s naturally occurring during the winemaking process and fine to drink, but if you prefer your wine sediment-free, pour it through a fine sieve or muslin cloth before it hits your glass.   

Sherry: a type of fortified wine made from white wine grapes that’s originally from Spain. See ‘Fortified wine’.

Single vineyard: as it sounds, a single-vineyard wine is made from fruit that was sourced from one single vineyard site. 

Skin contact: a winemaking step where grape juice or must (see ‘Must’) is put in contact with the skins (and seeds and stems) to enhance the colour, flavour and texture. It’s an important part of red wine production, but also increasingly used for white wines. See ‘Orange wine’.   

Sommelier: they’re the legends that help match wines to your meal and ensure you never drink a bad bottle again. Highly trained and knowledgeable, you’ll often encounter sommes in fine-dining restaurants. 

Spicy: another tasting term, this one to describe aromas such as pepper, cardamom, clove, oregano, thyme, saffron and even licorice.

Standard drink: in Australia, one standard drink is defined as having 10g of alcohol, which, on average, is what our bodies can process in one hour.  

Structure: relating to mouthfeel, structure refers to the make-up of a wine in terms of how it’s felt on the palate. A wine with ‘good structure’ will have all its elements in harmony, including alcohol, acidity and tannins.      

Sulfites: naturally occurring in the winemaking process, sulfites are also commonly added to help preserve a wine, retain its freshness and protect it from certain bacteria. 

Table wine: a bit of an outdated term that came to us from Europe (vino de tavola in Italy, vin de table in France, vino de mesa in Spain) and generally refers to simple quality wines suitable for serving with food. These days, many see this term as too vague and overly simplified to aptly describe wine.

Tank method: also known as the charmat method, this is one way to make sparkling wines.  

Tannins: compounds that occur naturally in grape skins, seeds and stems. They create that grippy, dry (and sometimes mouth-puckering) texture that some wines leave in your mouth (particularly reds). Tannins are key to a wine’s structure and texture.

Terroir: a wine term (pronounced ‘teh-wah’) used to describe all the natural environment factors that impact grape growing and the final taste of a wine – like site, soil, climate and elevation. See ‘Climate’.

Texture: how a wine feels in your your mouth, from silky and creamy, to grippy, chalky and more.  

Traditional method: See ‘Méthode Traditionnelle’.

Transfer method: a slight variation on the traditional method of sparkling wine production. Instead of freezing the wine to remove its lees, it’s transferred (get it?) into a tank and sent through pressurised filters to remove the lees that way. 

Variety / varietal: the term for wine grapes – chardonnay, riesling and shiraz are all grape varieties.  

Vegetal: used to describe a wine when its smells and flavours are like those of vegetables and plants. These can include earthy notes, too. See ‘Earthy’.

Véraison: the time when grapes start to ripen and lose their green colour, becoming anywhere from golden to red to nearly black, depending on the grape variety. 

Vertical tasting: when different vintages of the same wine are lined up in a tasting to showcase the variation between the years, as well as their development. See ‘Horizontal tasting’

Vigneron: a producer who grows their own grapes. 

Viniculture: relating to the growing of grapes for wine production. 

Vinification: loosely synonymous with “winemaking”, used to describe how wine is made. 

Vintage: the year in which the grapes were picked, which almost always appears on the label.

Vintner: a wine merchant.

Viticulture: relating to the growing of grapes, but not necessarily solely for wine production. 

Weight: relating to a wine’s body, this term is often used to describe how heavy or light a wine feels in the mouth. See ‘Body’.    

Whole bunch: relates to the process of placing full bunches of grapes and their stems in a fermenter, rather than destemming the grapes, as this impacts the flavour and texture of the wine. Wines can be made from a combination of destemmed grapes and whole bunches in varying ratios.   

Wild yeast: naturally occurring yeast, as found on grapes, and in vineyards, wineries and the air. ‘Wild yeast fermentation’ is when these yeasts trigger the fermentation process, rather than through yeast that’s been added by the winemaker.   

WSET: the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, a global educator that runs courses for all levels; a fantastic way to learn more about wine, spirits and sake, too.  

Yeast: these little fellas are the microorganisms that convert grape sugars into alcohol during fermentation. In case you were wondering, the predominant wine yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) is indeed the same one that ferments beer and convinces bread dough to rise.

Yield: the amount of grapes a vineyard produces in a harvest.

Young: a wine that’s described as young may refer to a new release, or it might describe a wine that appears, smells and tastes young, despite having a little age on it.