Wine 101: Ten Essential Wine Words

Even though I wasn’t a coffee drinker, I used to work in marketing at Starbucks. One of the hardest things about the job at first wasn’t hiding my shortcomings in caffeine consumption, it was learning the lingo. For example, why weren’t good old “small,” “medium” and “large” adequate to describe the size of a cup? What the hell did we mean by “tall,” “grande” and “venti“ anyway?

Sometimes I feel the same way about wine lingo. And yet, the more time I spend in the biz, the more often I find myself slinging around insider-y wine words (and then silently panicking that I might not know what I’m talking about). So a little refresher on key wine terms will help me, and hopefully you, too. Here are the top 10 wine words we should all know, broken down into plain speak and with some tips on pronunciation.

Ten Essential Wine Words

Appellation: At its simplest, an appellation is an officially recognized geographic boundary in which grapes are grown. In the United States, the appellation is usually an AVA, which stands for American Viticultural Area, the federally recognized system for defining wine regions. In France, it’s called AOC, or Appellation d’ Origine Controlee. Finding an AOC on a wine label in France is an indication of high quality since it indicates not only that the grapes are from a certain geographical location, but that the winemaker has also complied with rules governing variables like crop yields and planting density that affect the quality of wine.

Cork taint: When you hear somebody say a wine is “corked,” they’re referring to cork taint. It means a bottle of wine has been contaminated by a cork that carries a chemical compound called trichloroanisole, or TCA. Ever wonder why the sommelier in a nice restaurant will hand you the cork? It’s to sniff out cork taint. Wines with cork taint often smell like mold or a dank basement. Happily for wine drinkers, cork taint is rare.

Estate Grown or Estate Bottled: Both terms indicate that the grapes used to make the wine were grown at the winery, not by a farmer independent of the wine company. A farmer might grow grapes and sell to multiple wineries, but owners of wineries that grow their own will tell you it gives them control and makes their wine unique since no other winemaker can access their grapes. I buy that, but I also see the opposite argument, which is that a winemaker doesn’t have the same skill set as a farmer so perhaps an independent grape farmer is better. But I digress.

The Sommelier is Your Friend

Horizontal tasting: A horizontal tasting doesn’t mean you get to lounge on the couch while sipping, as tempting as that sounds. Rather, the term refers to tasting the same types of wines (i.e.: the same varietals) from the same year, but from different winemakers. This allows you to discover the differences in winemaking styles.

Reserve: This is not a legal term, so it gets thrown around wily nily, kind of like “all natural” does in reference to prepared foods. Regardless, the word “reserve” on a label is typically an indication that the winemaker has taken their best juice and used it to make the wine.

Sommelier: Say it with me, “sohm” (rhymes with dome), “lee” (rhymes with bee), “ay”, (rhymes with may). This is the person at a restaurant who is responsible for the wine. In most cases, they have studied and passed some sort of certification regarding wine education, pairing and serving,  but don’t make the mistake of being intimidated by the sommelier. They put together the wine list and their job is to help you find a wine that will pair nicely with your meal and budget. By the way, if you want to learn more about the world of the sommelier and the elite Master Sommeliers, check out the fab documentary Somm.

Know Your Varietal from Your Vintage

Terroir (rhymes with bear-wah): This French term indicates the environment in which the grapes are grown. That means not only the soil, but also the climate, sunlight and water. Terroir is what gives the grapes, and ultimately the wine, a sense of place.

Varietal: This is a fancy word that refers to the type of grape used in making the wine. For example, when you open a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, the varietal is Cabernet Sauvignon. If you hear someone refer to a “single varietal bottle,” that means that 100 percent of the juice came from one type of grape.

Vertical Tasting: This is when you taste the same type of wine, ideally from the same winery, from different years (see this post for an example). A vertical tasting allows you to taste the differences in the vintages, which are usually caused by weather.

Vintage: The year listed on the label refers to the year in which the grapes were harvested—the wine’s vintage. So if you are drinking a 2014 Cabernet, for example, the grapes were picked in 2014.

Cheers, You’re Fluent!

Easy, right? Once you (and I) gain command of these wine words, I’m sure we’ll project greater confidence—and we might even know what we’re talking about. Leave a comment if you have any vocab questions, and I’ll hunt down the definition. Cheers!