Glossary

It is practice to spit out the tasted wine, as opposed to swallowing it, during professional, prolonged wine tastings.

Wine that are yet to reach their peak in maturity require storage to enable them to age. The most ideal conditions are dark, cool and not to dry cellars. Alternatively, a modern wine refrigerator will replicate these conditions.

Dry. EU wine legislation has the following regulations for dryness: up to 4 g/l residual sugar, or up to a maximum of 9 g/l if the total acidity is no more than 2 g/l below the value of the residual sugar. It is perhaps easier to remember acidity + 2 (max. 9 g/l residual sugar).

Highest category of sweet wine. A berry selection of predominantly nobly sweet, largely shrunken grapes.

Natural evaporation of wine, especially from oak barrels. The smaller the barrel, the larger or greater the evaporation of the liquid, due to the larger percentage of surface area to volume. If wine bottles are stored for a long period of time, the wine may also evaporate.

A tasting term that refers to the unbalanced or unharmonious taste of a wine, often when the acidity or tannins are too sharp or dominant.

Refers to a slightly faulty wine, where the aromas do not seem clean.

High quality wines (particularly red wines) are not often filtered, thus preserving its taste and natural colour. To support the natural stabilisation of such wines, a longer maturation in oak is often recommended.

Often a description for youthful wines that are not yet approachable, or where the individual components (alcohol, acidity, tannin and residual sugar) appear unbalanced on the palate.