30 glossary terms

Glossary knowledge is useful only if the words connect to real choices. You should be able to define these thirty terms plainly. Acid: the mouthwatering snap in wine. Tannin: drying grip, mostly in reds. Body: weight in the mouth. Sweetness: noticeable sugar. Dry: not sweet. Finish: how long the wine remains after swallowing or spitting. Alcohol: the strength that can feel warm. Oak: barrel influence that may show toast, spice, vanilla, cedar, or roundness. Fruit: the impression of grape-derived flavor, not sugar by itself. Savory: flavors that lean herbal, earthy, meaty, or mineral rather than fruity. Vintage: harvest year. Nonvintage: blended across years, common in many sparkling wines. Producer: who made or bottled the wine. Region: where grapes were grown. Appellation: a protected place name with rules. Varietal: a wine named for a grape. Blend: a wine made from more than one grape, vineyard lot, or component. Terroir: the relationship between place, farming, climate, and wine character. Old World: shorthand for historic European wine regions. New World: shorthand for many later-developing wine regions outside Europe. Fermentation: yeast turning sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Lees: spent yeast cells that can add texture. Malolactic conversion: a process that can soften acid and add creamy impressions. Extraction: how color, tannin, and flavor come from skins. Decant: move wine to another vessel for air or sediment. Corked: affected by cork taint, often damp-cardboard smelling. Oxidative: shaped by oxygen exposure, sometimes intentional, sometimes a flaw. Sparkling: wine with bubbles. Fortified: wine strengthened with grape spirit. Residual sugar: sugar left after fermentation. Do not recite these as jargon. Use them to explain what is in the glass.