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Acidity - The quality of wine that gives it its crispiness and vitality. A proper balance of acidity must be struck with the other elements of a wine, or else the wine may be said to be too sharp - having disproportionately high levels of acidity - or too flat - having disproportionately low levels of acidity.

Age/Ageing - All wine is aged from a few weeks to many decades. Barrel ageing is a lengthy process designed to impart flavors into the wine. Bottle ageing allows the wines to soften and various components within the bottle to harmonize. After a certain point the wine will reach its peak and begin to decline in quality.

Amino acids - Protein found in wine grapes that are formed by fruit esters and consumed during the fermentation process and/or autolysis. They contribute to the sense of complexity in a wine.

Appellation/AVA/DOC -

• French term, Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, (AOC), refers to a set of comprehensive regulations that specify the precise geographic area in which a given French wine can be made. AOC regulations also stipulate the types of grapes that can be used, the manner in which the vines must be grown and how the wine can be made.
• The Italian equivalent of France's AOC laws are known as DOC, Denominazione di Origine Controllata, and a slightly more strict set of regulations known as DOCG, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.
• In the U.S., the regulations governing AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) are far less strict than French or Italian appellation laws. To be labeled with a specific U.S. appellation, 75% of the wine's grapes must come from the area. California law requires 100% of the grapes to be grown in the state for a wine to be labeled "California."
• AVAs are designated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. There are now more than 130 areas that have been designated as AVAs including such well-known AVAs as the Napa Valley, Stags Leap District, Russian River Valley, Anderson Valley and so on.

Aromatic - Descriptive term for wines of markedly flowery, spicy or grapy character.

Ascorbic acid - An antioxidant used to prevent grape must from oxidizing.

Balance - Denotes harmony of wine elements that leaves no one part dominant. Acid balances the sweetness; fruit balances against oak and tannin content; alcohol is balanced against acidity and flavour. Wine not in balance may be acidic, alcoholic, flat or harsh.

Barrel Fermented - A process by which wine (usually white) is fermented in oak barrels rather than in stainless steel tanks; a richer, creamier, oaky style of wine.

Blend - The process whereby two or more grape varieties are combined after separate fermentation; common blends include Côtes du Rhône and red and white Bordeaux.

Biodynamic Farming - Biodynamic agriculture is a method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and the interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a self-nourishing system without external inputs.

Body - The impression of weight on one's palate; light, medium and full are common body qualifiers.

Bottle Shock - Also known as bottle-sickness, a temporary condition of wine characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines (usually fragile wines) are shaken in travel. After several days the condition usually disappears.

Brix - A measurement of the dissolved sucrose level in a wine.

Clarification - A winemaking process involving the fining and filtration of wine to remove suspended solids and reduce turbidity.

Corked - Wine that has an unpleasant "wet cardboard" taste/smell. It is caused by a chemical changes in the wine caused by inadequately sterilized cork stopper inserted at bottling source.

Cuvee - A specific vat of wine selected for its quality.

Decant - The process of transferring wine from a bottle to another holding vessel. The purpose is generally to aerate a young wine or to separate an older wine from any sediment.

Delicate - Any well-made wine demonstrating somewhat mild, but attractive characteristics.

Dry - Wines with zero or very low levels of residual sugar. The opposite of sweet, except in sparkling wines, where dry means sweet.

Estate - A term used on wine labels to indicate a wine that is made 100% from grapes growing in vineyards owned by the winery or in vineyards that the winery leases under long-term contract. The vineyards do not need to be contiguous, but they must be in the same appellation.

Fermentation -The conversion of sugars to alcohol by yeast.

Filtering - The process by which wine is clarified before bottling.

Filtration - The removal of unwanted particles suspended in wine or grape juice.

Fining - Part of the clarification process whereby elements are added to the wine, i.e. egg whites, in order to capture solids prior to filtration.

Finish - The total impression of a wine after you have swallowed it. A long finish is preferred.

Fortified - A wine in which brandy is introduced during fermentation; sugars and sweetness are high due to the suspended fermentation.

Free-Run Juice - The juice that will drain without pressing, from a mass of freshly crushed grapes; considered of better quality than pressed juice and used to make premium wines. Often free-run juice is prized for high quality white wines like Champagne as it does not contain the bitter 'phenolics' extracted by pressing the skins and pips.

French Oak - Oak wood from the forests of France, considered the preferred type of oak for aging most white wines.

Grape-Yield - The amount of grapes harvested in a particular year.

Hybrid - Hybrids are grapes bred from more than one vine species. Hybrids have been made to combine in the progeny some of the best characteristics of their parents.

Ice wine - Wine made from frozen grapes. The grapes are pressed while frozen and only the juice (not the frozen water) is used in the fermentation.

Intricate - A term used to describe a wine with underlying complexities of bouquet and flavor.

Maceration - The process of allowing grape juice and skins to ferment together, thereby imparting color, tannins and aromas.

Malolactic Fermentation - A secondary fermentation, often occurring in barrels, whereby harsher malic acid is converted into creamier lactic acid.

Meritage - An invented term, used by California wineries, for Bordeaux-style red and white blended wines. Combines "merit" with "heritage." If a winery produces a Meritage wine, it is frequently their most expensive table wine. Many Meritage wines feature proprietary names, such as Flora Springs "Trilogy."

Minerality - the expression of rocks and soil in the aromas
and flavors that end up in the glass.

Non-Vintage - Not a particular year in the wine business; not a specific harvest.

Oaky - A term used to describe woody aromas and flavors; butter, popcorn and toast notes are found in "oaky" wines.

Organic - Grapes grown without the aid of chemical-based fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

Organic Winemaking - A style of winemaking using organically grown grapes and a minimum amount of chemical additives such as sulfur dioxide.

Oxidation - The degradation of wine through exposure to oxygen. In some aspects oxygen plays a vital role in fermentation and through the aging process of wine. But excessive amounts of oxygen can produce wine faults.

Oxidized - A wine that is no longer fresh because it was exposed to too much air, turning it a brownish color.

pH - An indication of a wine's acidity expressed by how much hydrogen is in it.

Pruning - The annual vineyard chore of trimming back plants from the previous harvest.

Residual Sugar - The amount of natural sugar left in a wine after the alcoholic fermentation. There are basically three reasons of presence of residual sugar in wines:

• The wine was fortified with spirit to stop the fermentation thereby retaining the natural grape sugars - a technique used for some of the best dessert and 'fortified wines' of the world.
• The grapes were harvested at extremely high 'must-weight' and the yeasts could not ferment all the sugars as the alcohol level from normal fermentation reached a level where they could not survive.
• The presence of sugars which the typical wine yeast cannot break down/ferment.

Rosé - French for "pink”, and used to describe a category of refreshing wines that are pink in color but are made from red grapes. Rosés can be made in numerous ways, the most common of which is simply to draw the wine off the red grape skins before the skins have fully tinted the wine red. Rosé wines, like white wines, taste best served chilled.

Sherry - The famous fortified wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain. Sherry is made by an extremely complex method of fractional blending called the Solera System. The grape variety used is principally Palomino, though small amounts of Pedro Ximenez may also be included. Like Champagne and Port, Sherry is made in a variety of styles and at a variety of sweetness levels. From driest and lightest to sweetest and fullest, the styles of Sherry include Manzanilla, Fino, Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Oloroso, and Cream Sherry. The unique flavor of all of these styles is due in part to the fact that the wine is partially intentionally oxidized (exposed to oxygen).

Sommelier - Technically a wine steward, but one potentially with a great degree of wine knowledge as well as a diploma of sorts in wine studies.

Sulfites/Sulfates - antioxidant and anti-microbial used to preserve wines.

Tannin - Phenolic compound that give wine a bitter, dry, or puckery feeling in the mouth.

Tart - Sour, the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth. "Tart" is one descriptor for acidity. Aftertaste: The taste or flavors that linger in the mouth after the wine is tasted, spit out, or swallowed.

Tartaric Acid - One of a number of naturally occurring grape acids which contribute to the acidity of a wine. Other important acids include acetic, malic, lactic, citric and carbonic acid

Tartrates - During fermentation tartaric acid may be converted into potassium hydrogen tartrate, formed through its reaction with potassium. This compound may crystallize, when conditions are cold, to form small crystals in the wine. These are small, clear or white crystals. Some winemakers wish to prevent their formation and thus perform cold stabilization. The crystals themselves are harmless and natural so the decision is a matter of aesthetics.

Terrior - French language term for all the characteristics of the vineyard site thought to be imparted to a particular wine. It is a term that includes geographic, geological, climatic and other attributes that can affect an area of growth as small as a few square metres.

Total Acidity - Sum of fixed acidity and volatile acidity. The degree of acidity of a wine affects its stability during aging (the greater the level of acidity the more it can be aged) as well as its freshness and colour.

Trellises - A trellis is an architectural structure, usually made from interwoven pieces of wood, bamboo or metal that is often made to support climbing plants. The structures that are placed in a outdoor garden that are home to roses and other vine climbing plants such as grapes.

Vine Training - Grapevine training is a way to manipulate and achieve a canopy system whereby the plant's growth is balanced with the natural resources available to produce the desired quality and quantity of fruit. The main factors which influence how a vine is trained include canopy and 'yield' management, mechanization required and disease control, among others.

In many wine producing regions of the world, vines are trained according to local traditions matched with the geography and climate, whereas an equally large number of areas have preferred innovation over tradition to adopt the modern vine training techniques as part of their vineyard management practices. Most in the latter category use one of the wire-trained methods, like Guyot, Sylvos, Cordon de Royat and Geneva Double Curtain, to name a few.

Vintage Date - year in which the grapes for a given wine were harvested. Most wines carry a vintage date, though not all. Non-vintage sparkling wines and Champagnes, for example, are blends of grapes from different harvests.

Vintner - A person, who cultivate vines and produces wine.

Vinifera - Refers to the species of grapevine which originated in Europe and is responsible for the majority of world wine production, a reason why it is also known as the 'Common Grapevine'. Vitis Vinifera is associated with numerous advantages over the other vine species; hence these are preferred over others for quality wine production.

Viticultural Area - A well-defined region with climate, soil, elevation and physical features that set it apart from surrounding areas.

Volatile - Said of a wine with an excessive amount of volatile acidity. Wines with too much volatile acidity have an unpleasant, sharp vinegary aroma.