Wine Glossary

Aerate/ Aeration- The aeration process begins as soon as the wine is exposed to out side air. Younger wines in particular tend to need a bit more air to open them up. This process can be accelerated by using a decanter, and if you don’t have one then just swirl the wine in the glass as much as possible.

Alcohol- During the fermentation the natural sugars from the grapes mixes with the yeast and creates ethyl alcohol. In other words suger+yeast+fermintion=DRUNK

Alsace- A world renowned region of France. Located in the east of France, the region is known for producing some of the best Rieslings, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris.

Blanc de Blancs- Is champagne made up of only dry Chardonnay grapes.

Blanc de Noirs- This is champagne made only with red grapes.

Blend- Basically it means that there is more then one type of grape in the wine. Most of the time, they’re mixed after being fermented separately.

Blush- Also known as a “Rose”, the fermentation process starts off as a red wine but the skins are quickly removed just after a few days, this is why they tend to look a bit rosy or pink.

Bodega- Spanish for winery, wine cellar, wine storage, or pretty much anything that has to do with wine, so it seems.

Bordeaux- One of the most famous wine producing regions in the world. Nestled in southwestern France it’s know for the “original six” Cab.Sav, Cab.Franc, Melot, Carmenere, Malbec, Petit Verdot.

Bouquet- Every thing that you can smell and identify .

Brut- How the French describe extremely dry champagnes.

Cava- Sparkling wine that’s produced in northern Spain.

Chablis- A small growing region southeast of Paris that’s widely recognized for it white wines.

Champagne- The world renowned region of France that produces its famous sparkling wines.

Chianti- A famous blend out of Tuscany. Made up mostly of Sangiovese, its one of the worlds most recognized blends.

Claret- A liter red wine that’s made up of only Bordeaux grapes.

Color- Tells you about the age, style, condition, and quality of the wine. The lighter the color the lighter the taste in most cases. As wine ages it changes color. Reds tend to get a bit faded, where as whites tend to become darker.

Decant, Decanting – Decanting can be used to separate sediment from the wine but is most commonly used to allow the wine to breathe which brings out sents and flavors.

Legs - Once the person swirls the wine around in the glass, the wine coats the inside of the glass, and as it’s running down, it leaves what looks like legs. Basically, the more legs you have, the lighter the wine. If you have big legs that are further apart, it would indicate a fuller bodied wine with more alcohol content.

Nose – what you smell… when dealing with young wines, you might only catch one or two scents, where as an aged, or more mature wine, you would catch more complex scents.

Ribera del Duero – One of the top wine region of Spain. Using tempernillo based red wines. Arguably number one against Rioja as good wines are concerned.

Rioja – recognized world wide as Spain’s number one wine producing region. Predominately using tempernillo grapes to produce its famous rioja, creonza, reserva, and gran reservas.

Rose – A light pink or rose colored wine. During fermentation, the skins are left in for about a week to two weeks, and then they are removed. It doesn’t make it a full red, but it still leaves some of the tannins.

Varietal – If a bottle has more than seventy five percent of a certain grape, it can then use the Varietal, which is the name of the grape.

Vintage – The year that the grape was harvested and made into wine.