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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.

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.

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.

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.

Fermentation -The conversion of sugars to alcohol by yeast.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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