"What does that even mean?" A wine glossary to keep in your back pocket.
A quick guide for wine terms you hear or read often, explained simply. In order of most common, less common, and some deep-cuts.
You walk into a wine shop—inundated with colors, sights, and tasteful indie music while a staff member comes over to ask you if you need any help. You sheepishly deny, not wanting to bother them. But the more wine labels you see, the more questions start to pile up…skin contact-what? Carbonic-macerated-who? You scramble to pick up what feels most comfortable and pray for the best, hoping your friends like this one.
I’ve been working at a wine shop for a couple of months now. I repeat the same refrain to customers: “Let me know if you need any help!” I am there to help, rather, I want to help. It’s much more entertaining than sitting there tracking inventory.
There are complex terms listed out on each bottle like a standardized test as if it’s completely obvious to others what these words mean or how it relates to wine…Off-Dry, Pet-Nat, Sulfite-free, Vegan, Noble Rot, Semi-Carbonic, Biodynamic, etc.
Why do any of these things matter and what actually makes wine taste good?
Wine is evolving so fast that even if you try to remember everything, there’s new concepts or techniques that come in and out of vogue.
I created a reference guide, an evergreen wine glossary for you (and explain some misconceptions), so you can be prepared on your next wine outing, broken into three categories of terms you will hear or read: most common terms, less common terms, and deep-cuts.
Most Common:
Natural Wines, natty wines, are everywhere. The hazy wines that you either love or hate, produced without additives (sulfites) or clarification (keeps it hazy) while using organic and/or biodynamic wine-making methods.
Pétillant Naturel, “Pet-Nat”, are lightly sparkling wines. Naturally sparkling from trapped CO2 created from the fermentation process, topped with a bottle-cap, “crown-cap”. Can be produced in the style of, but not technically, a natty wine.
Skin Contact Wine is the same as “Orange Wine” or “Amber Wine”. These are the funky, tart, zany wines at every wine bar. This is when white wine is made like red wine, by fermenting white grape skins (sometimes seeds & stems), giving it the color and the tannins. Not technically au naturale, but commonly produced “naturally”.
Carbonic Maceration makes wines taste juicy, fruity, and flavorful with lower tannins (notes like bubble-gum or banana). This is a wine-making method where you place whole-clusters of uncrushed grapes in a sealed vat topped with CO2. Commonly used method for entry-level Beaujolais!
Semi-Carbonic Maceration is a similar process to above except it excludes CO2. Creating brighter and more perfumed fruitiness but not as intense as carbonic maceration. Commonly used for higher-end Beaujolais.
Biodynamic: TL;DR organic farming method. Doesn’t explicitly affect the wines, but rather how the wine is produced. Methods using natural fertilizers, composts, no-chemicals, sometimes guided by the celestial calendar (Fruit Day, Root Day, Flower Day, Leaf Day). Look out for these Biodynamic certifications below:
Sulfites DO NOT GIVE YOU HEADACHES OR AFFECT THE TASTE OF WINE. A preservative that is naturally occurring within grapes and the winemaking process. Commonly, additional sulfites are added in wines to protect against oxidation and bacteria. (Headaches are more likely caused by sweetness or dehydration).
“Off-Dry” is the middle ground between dry and sweet for still wines. Not too sweet. It ranges from Dry to Off-Dry (also considered semi-sweet) to Sweet.
“Brut” is not too sweet. Below is a sweetness level scale for sparkling wines (oddly, "Dry” is more sweet in this scale than it would be for ‘still wines’.)
Less Common:
Terroir (tear-WAH) is the total environment in which a wine is produced. The soil, the climate, the terrain. Famous example is Burgundy with clay and limestone soils which makes for ideal grape-growing conditions (better drainage and moisture retention) and the reason many say, creates great wine.
Residual Sugar “RS” is how dry/sweet a wine tastes, due to leftover sugar from grapes after fermentation. Sugar can be added or removed during or after the wine-making process.
“Corked Wine” is A BAD THING. It makes a wine smell and taste musty, moldy, cardboard-y from a contaminated cork or wood is used for winemaking.
Malolactic Fermentation or “MLF” is a GOOD bacteria converting acid. Making wine taste smoother and creamier (buttery notes) and reduces acidity to make it more balanced (Red wines typically undergo MLF and sometimes in whites, like Chard).
Piquette is something you may be seeing more often in wine shops—a low-ABV wine. Created from the second pressing of grape solids and juice (Pomace).
Oxidized wine is usually a flaw where wine is exposed to too much air that makes white wine smell like bruised apples and red wine smell like nail polish remover. Like many wine-making techniques, oxidization can be used intentionally (e.g. Sherry or many clay vessel fermented orange wines from Georgia or Slovenia).
Fortified Wine, you’ve likely already had this! Sherry, Ports, Vermouths, Madeira all are fortified. This is when alcohol (clear grape brandy) is added into wine as a stabilizer or flavor modifier.
Lees, the hazy goodness floating in your wines. This is dead yeast from the fermentation. Lees are especially tasty in “bottle-aging”, where they create the creamy brioche, pastry-like aromas in wine (technique used in Champagne). More lees aging, more buttery-notes (At some point, too much bottle-aging can be bad).
Cuveé is a blend of wines from different grape varieties or vintages. Blended to help balance the flavors of wine.
Deep-cuts:
Vegan, not all wines are technically vegan. Some winemakers use egg-whites, milk-proteins, or fish collagen to remove proteins/dead yeast from the bottles. If you’re vegan, your safest bet is to drink natural wine! Or there’s this online source you can use to check.
Noble Rot is usually bad for grape-growing but sometimes makes fantastic wines! Like the delicious Tokaji (one of my new favorites) or Sauternes. A fungus that makes grapes shrivel, which concentrates its sugars.
Noble Rot Chaptalization is an uncommon method of adding sugar into wine to create alcohol. (B/C yeast eat sugar to create alcohol). Illegal in certain US states. Used in scenarios of poor climate conditions to achieve balance.
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Are there any other terms I’m missing out on? Let me know in the comments!
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