Glossary

Dried wine grapes (raisins), the colloquial term for the dried grapes used for Trockenbeerenauslese.

Red wine is made from black grape varieties, having spent a prolonged time in contact with the skins during maceration and fermentation, to increase colour intensity and tannin.

During a wine tasting or wine competition, a reference wine is tasted beforehand to calibrate the tasters’ palates.

The term ‘Reserve’ may only be used for Qualitätswein (quality wine) with a minimum alcohol level of 13%.

Refers to the remaining sugar content of the grapes or must that has not been fermented into alcohol, and is the result of a natural or deliberate arrest of the fermentation.

An old variety, that probably originates from a wild vine that has mutated and developed. Regarded as the ‘King of White Wines’, the variety produces wines of outstanding quality in the winegrowing regions around the Danube, with fruity stone fruit aroma, vibrant acidity and mineral spice. Well-aged Riesling wines display tertiary aromas (of petrol) and are capable of keeping at their best for many decades.

A colloquial term for an unrelated wine substituted in a blind tasting, and is typically the odd one out.

A wine that offers a certain fullness, without loss of zest or spice, and often associated with yellow (ripe) fruit.

A description with many meanings, and related to a number of areas. In viticulture, we know of the ripeness of wood and grapes, and we talk of the ripening stages, such as the full ripeness or physiological ripeness, over-ripeness and also the premature ripening.

In vinification, we talk of maturity of a wine before bottling, or bottle maturity and the maturity of a wine. For sommelieres, drinking maturity is an important factor.