Wine Bible

The book of the glass.

Grapes, regions, styles, and the words sommeliers actually use. Hear the French, Italian, and Spanish — phonetics on every entry, and a Speak button.

Vintage charts — drink, hold, or be careful

172 entries · 172 in the volume

Grape
Pinot Noir
The transparent red
Thin-skinned, early-ripening, and famously fussy — Pinot Noir is the grape of Burgundy and the benchmark for scent, silk, and site.
pee-NOH NWAR
Grape
Cabernet Sauvignon
Structure, cassis, time
The world's most planted noble red. Cabernet Sauvignon is built for aging: high tannin, black fruit, and a cedar-graphite spine.
kab-er-NAY soh-vee-NYOHN
Grape
Merlot
Plush, early, essential
Merlot is the flesh on Cabernet's bones — earlier ripening, rounder tannin, plum and chocolate rather than cassis and cedar.
mair-LOH
Grape
Syrah / Shiraz
Pepper, smoke, black fruit
Same grape, two dialects. Syrah is the Northern Rhône's peppery, savory red; Shiraz is Australia's warmer, riper take.
see-RAH
Grape
Nebbiolo
Tar, roses, and time
The grape of Barolo and Barbaresco. Pale in the glass, fierce in the mouth — high acid, high tannin, and a perfume that belies its structure.
neh-BYOH-lo
Grape
Sangiovese
Cherry, dust, and tomato leaf
Tuscany's soul. Sangiovese is savory more than sweet: red cherry, tea, leather, and a bite of acidity that loves tomato and olive oil.
san-joh-VAY-zeh
Grape
Tempranillo
Spain's red heartbeat
Early-ripening (temprano) and oak-friendly. Tempranillo is strawberry, tobacco, and leather — the grape of Rioja and Ribera del Duero.
tem-prah-NEE-yoh
Grape
Grenache / Garnacha
Sun, garrigue, and lift
A thin-skinned Mediterranean red that tastes of raspberry, white pepper, and wild herbs. It is the soul of Châteauneuf, Priorat, and Navarra.
greh-NASH
Grape
Chardonnay
The complete white
From steely Chablis to opulent Napa, Chardonnay is a chameleon: high natural acid, a neutral-to-orchard fruit core, and a talent for oak, lees, and malolactic.
shar-doh-NAY
Grape
Riesling
Acid, perfume, truth
The great white of Germany and Alsace. Riesling is never neutral: lime, petrol, blossom, slate — and acidity that lets it be dry, off-dry, or dessert-sweet without losing shape.
REES-ling
Grape
Sauvignon Blanc
Cut grass and citrus snap
Aromatic, high-acid, and instantly recognizable. Sauvignon Blanc is the grape of Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, and Marlborough.
soh-vee-NYOHN BLAHN
Grape
Chenin Blanc
Honey, quince, and steel
The Loire's shape-shifter: bone-dry Savennières, sparkling Crémant, off-dry Vouvray, and noble-rot dessert wines — all from one grape with searing acidity.
shuh-NAN BLAHN
Region
Burgundy
Two grapes, a thousand places
A narrow strip of eastern France where Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are mapped vineyard by vineyard. Burgundy is less a style than a philosophy of place.
boor-GOAN-yuh
Region
Bordeaux
The blend that trained the world
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a little Petit Verdot or Malbec — assembled by bank, soil, and vintage on the Gironde estuary.
bor-DOH
Region
Champagne
Bubbles with a backbone
The northern limit of ripening, chalk cellars, and a method of second fermentation in bottle. Champagne is a place, not a party trick.
shahm-PAH-nyuh
Region
Piedmont
Fog, nebbiolo, and the table
Northwestern Italy's Langhe hills: Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Dolcetto, and whites like Cortese and Arneis. A cuisine as much as a wine region.
pyeh-MON-teh
Region
Tuscany
Sangiovese country
Chianti Classico in the hills between Florence and Siena, Brunello to the south, coastal Bolgheri for Cabernet blends. Olive oil, steak, and dust in the glass.
tos-KAH-nah
Region
Rioja
Oak, time, and Tempranillo
Spain's most famous appellation, defined as much by aging in barrel and bottle as by its limestone, clay, and Atlantic-Mediterranean tug of war.
ree-OH-hah
Region
Mosel
Slate, steepness, light
Germany's most vertiginous Riesling region. Wines that feel like they weigh nothing and last forever.
MOH-zul
Region
Loire Valley
France's longest cellar
From Muscadet on the Atlantic to Sancerre and Pouilly in the east, with Chenin in the middle. The Loire is not one wine. It is a river of them.
LWAHR
Region
Napa Valley
Ripeness with ambition
A short valley with a long reputation. Cabernet is the headline; the mountain AVAs and cooler Carneros are the plot.
NAP-uh
Region
Willamette Valley
Pinot's American cool
Oregon's Willamette Valley is Pinot Noir country with a Burgundian temperament and a Pacific forecast: long light, cool nights, volcanic and sedimentary soils.
wil-LAM-it
Style
Sparkling wine
Pressure, yeast, and lift
Not all bubbles are Champagne. Method, grape, and place decide whether you are drinking bread and chalk, or peach and party.
SPAR-kling
Style
Orange wine
White grapes, red techniques
Skin-contact white wine: amber in the glass, tannin on the gums, tea and apricot in the nose. Ancient in Georgia, fashionable everywhere else.
OR-inj
Style
Fortified wine
Spirit, sweetness, and air
Port, Sherry, Madeira, Marsala: wines whose fermentation is altered by adding grape spirit — for sweetness, strength, and, often, immortality.
FOR-tih-fide
Style
Natural wine
A philosophy, not an appellation
Low-intervention winemaking: organic or biodynamic fruit, indigenous yeasts, little or no added sulfur, and a wide quality range from profound to feral.
NATCH-er-ul
Term
Tannin
The dry grip
Phenolic compounds from skins, seeds, stems, and oak that dry the gums and give red wine its structure — and much of its ability to age.
TAN-in
Term
Terroir
Place, in a glass
The French idea that soil, climate, aspect, and human tradition can be tasted. Not mysticism — and not a guarantee that a vineyard name makes the wine good.
tehr-WAHR
Term
Vintage
The year on the bottle
The harvest year. In marginal climates it is a plot twist; in reliable sunshine it is a footnote. Non-vintage means a blend across years.
VIN-tij
Term
Malolactic fermentation
The butter question
A bacterial conversion of sharp malic acid (green apple) into softer lactic acid (milk). It is why some Chardonnays taste buttery — and why most reds feel round.
mal-oh-LAK-tik
Term
Residual sugar
What dryness actually means
The sugar left after fermentation. Dry is not a flavor of austerity — it is a technical range, and acid can hide a surprising amount of sweetness.
reh-ZIJ-oo-ul
Term
Old World and New World
A useful cliché
Shorthand for European restraint versus riper styles from the Americas, Australia, and South Africa. True enough to start with; false enough to outgrow.
ohld wurld
Term
Cork taint (TCA)
Wet cardboard, muted fruit
A fault from trichloroanisole, usually in natural cork, that strips fruit and adds a damp, moldy cardboard smell. The wine is not dangerous. It is ruined.
kork taynt
Term
Oxidation
Air as friend and enemy
Oxygen can polish a wine in barrel or wreck it in a forgotten bottle. Knowing which you are looking at is a core somm skill.
ox-ih-DAY-shun
Term
Decanting
Air, sediment, and theatre
Pouring wine off its sediment — and into contact with oxygen. Young tannic reds often need it. Fragile old bottles need a gentler version of it.
dih-CANT-ing
Term
Legs (tears)
Pretty, not profound
The streaks that run down the glass after you swirl. They tell you about alcohol and sugar viscosity. They do not tell you if the wine is good.
legz
Grape
Cabernet Franc
Pencil shavings and red fruit
The parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a complete wine on its own: Loire Chinon and Bourgueil, Right Bank Bordeaux, and a growing New World following.
kab-er-NAY FRAHNK
Grape
Malbec
Cahors' child, Mendoza's star
Inky, plush, and violet-scented. Malbec left southwest France, found altitude in Argentina, and became the weeknight red of a continent.
mal-BEK
Grape
Gamay
Crunch, flower, and joy
The grape of Beaujolais. Thin-skinned, early, and built for carbonic maceration — or for serious cru wines that age like poor man's Burgundy.
ga-MAY
Grape
Zinfandel / Primitivo
Bramble, spice, and California sun
The same grape as Puglia's Primitivo. In California old vines it is raspberry jam, black pepper, and alcohol that needs a careful grower.
ZIN-fan-del
Grape
Mourvèdre / Monastrell
Game, tar, and late heat
A late-ripening Mediterranean red: Bandol's backbone, a GSM blender, Jumilla's dark horse. Animal, floral, and stubborn.
moor-VED
Grape
Barbera
Piedmont's high-acid weeknight
Deep color, low tannin, flashing acidity. Barbera is the Langhe's daily red — cherry and spice, pizza wine that can also be serious.
bar-BEH-rah
Grape
Aglianico
The Barolo of the south
Campania and Basilicata's great red: volcanic, tannic, high-acid, and built for the cellar. Taurasi and Aglianico del Vulture are the names to know.
ah-LYAH-nee-ko
Grape
Nero d'Avola
Sicily's dark cherry
The island's workhorse red: black cherry, Mediterranean herbs, and a range from juicy carafe wine to structured, age-worthy bottles.
NEH-ro DAH-vo-lah
Grape
Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris
The same grape, two personalities
A mutation of Pinot Noir with grey-pink skins. As Grigio it is often crisp and neutral; as Gris, especially in Alsace, it is rich, spicy, and sometimes off-dry.
PEE-noh GREE-joh
Grape
Gewürztraminer
Lychee, rose, and low acid
The most perfumed of the aromatic whites. Alsace is headquarters; the grape is easy to smell and easy to get wrong.
guh-VURTS-tra-mee-ner
Grape
Viognier
Apricot, jasmine, oil
Condrieu's grape: low acid, heady perfume, and a texture like ripe orchard fruit. Easy to over-oak and over-ripen.
vee-oh-NYAY
Grape
Albariño / Alvarinho
Atlantic snap
Rías Baixas and Vinho Verde's star white: citrus, stone fruit, and a saline finish that loves shellfish.
ahl-bah-REEN-yoh
Grape
Grüner Veltliner
White pepper and lentil
Austria's signature white. From spritzy tavern wine to monumental Wachau Smaragd — always a thread of pepper, citrus, and green things.
GROO-ner FELT-lee-ner
Grape
Assyrtiko
Volcanic steel
Santorini's gift: bone-dry, high-acid, saline whites grown in basket-trained vines on volcanic pumice. One of the great terroir grapes of the last twenty years.
ah-SEER-tee-ko
Grape
Vermentino / Rolle
Thyme, citrus, Mediterranean wind
Sardinia, Liguria, Corsica, and Provence under different names. A dry white with herbal bitterness and sea air.
ver-men-TEE-no
Grape
Sémillon
Wax, lemon, and time
Bordeaux's blending white, Sauternes' body, and Hunter Valley's miracle: a grape that looks simple young and turns to toast and lanolin with age.
seh-mee-YOHN
Grape
Muscat
Grapes that smell like grapes
A family, not one grape. Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is the noble one: orange blossom, fresh grape, and styles from bone-dry Alsace to sparkling Asti to dessert Beaumes-de-Venise.
MUS-kat
Grape
Torrontés
Argentina's perfumed white
A Muscat-crossed Argentine original. Floral as Gewürz, dry as a bone when well made, and at its best from high Salta vineyards.
tor-ron-TESS
Grape
Carmenère
Chile's lost Bordeaux
Mistaken for Merlot for a century. Carmenère is green pepper and dark fruit, and it needs a long, warm season to shed its pyrazines.
kar-men-AIR
Grape
Tannat
Madiran iron, Uruguay velvet
One of the most tannic grapes on earth. In Madiran it is a decade-long project; in Uruguay it is the national red, often softer and fruitier.
tah-NAHT
Grape
Pinotage
South Africa's own crossing
Pinot Noir × Cinsault, born in 1925. It can smell of banana, smoke, and berries — or of burnt rubber when mishandled. The new wave is much better than the joke.
PEE-no-tahzh
Grape
Godello
Galicia's quiet Chardonnay
Valdeorras and Bierzo's white: orchard fruit, fennel, and a stony finish. Fuller than Albariño, less famous, often better with food.
go-DEH-yoh
Grape
Verdejo
Rueda's citrus and fennel
The white of Rueda: grapefruit, hay, and a faint bitter twist. Spain's most useful by-the-glass white when it is not over-cropped.
ver-DEH-ho
Grape
Picpoul
Lip-sting from the lagoon
Picpoul de Pinet, from the French Mediterranean near oyster beds, is lemon, salt, and almost nothing else. That is the point.
peek-POOL
Grape
Melon de Bourgogne
The oyster grape
Muscadet's grape, grown at the Loire's Atlantic mouth. Neutral by nature, saline by place, and transformed by aging on its lees.
meh-LOHN duh boor-GOAN-yuh
Grape
Aligoté
Burgundy's other white
High-acid, lemon-and-chalk whites once reserved for kir. Serious growers now bottle Aligoté that belongs next to village Chardonnay.
ah-lee-go-TAY
Grape
Savagnin
Jura's knife
The grape of vin jaune: oxidative, curry-and-walnut, and immortal under a veil of flor. Also bottled ouillé (topped-up) as a taut, non-oxidative white.
sah-vah-NYAN
Grape
Corvina
Valpolicella's cherry
The lead grape of Valpolicella, Ripasso, and Amarone. Sour cherry, herbs, and — when dried — chocolate and raisin depth.
kor-VEE-nah
Grape
Touriga Nacional
Portugal's dark flower
The backbone of vintage Port and of serious dry Douro reds: dense color, violet perfume, and tannin that needs time or a blend.
too-REE-gah nuh-syuh-NAL
Grape
Mencía
Bierzo's cool red
Northwest Spain's answer to Cabernet Franc: red fruit, herbs, and slate. Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra are the places.
men-THEE-ah
Grape
Nerello Mascalese
Etna's Pinot
Pale, scented, high-acid reds from the slopes of an active volcano. Often compared to nebbiolo or pinot — it is neither, and that is the pleasure.
neh-REL-lo mah-ska-LAY-zeh
Grape
Xinomavro
Greece's nebbiolo
Naoussa and Amyndeo's great red: high acid, high tannin, tomato leaf, olive, and rose. Pale in the glass, long in the cellar.
ksee-NO-mav-ro
Grape
Saperavi
Georgia's teinturier
A rare red-fleshed grape: inky even as a rosé, capable of qvevri amber-red wines and of polished, age-worthy dry reds.
sah-peh-RAH-vee
Grape
Furmint
Tokaj's steel and honey
The great grape of Tokaj: searing acid that can be bone-dry volcanic white or the skeleton of aszú dessert wines.
FOOR-mint
Grape
Fiano
Campania's hazelnut white
Fiano di Avellino is smoked hazelnut, pear, and honey with real aging potential. One of Italy's great whites, still under-ordered.
FYAH-no
Grape
Blaufränkisch
Austria's peppery red
Burgenland's answer to Syrah and Cabernet Franc: black pepper, sour cherry, and a cool-climate snap. Lemberger in Germany; Kékfrankos in Hungary.
BLOW-frenk-ish
Grape
Cinsault
The blending peacemaker
Pale, perfumed, low-tannin red used in Provençal rosé, in GSM blends, and — increasingly — bottled alone as a chillable, floral red.
san-SO
Grape
Carignan / Cariñena / Mazuelo
Old vines, late ripening
Once the workhorse of the Languedoc and a Rioja blender. Old-vine Carignan from Priorat, Corbières, and Sardinia (Carignano) is inky, spicy, and serious.
kah-ree-NYAHN
Grape
Petit Verdot
Bordeaux's late spice
A seasoning grape in Médoc blends: color, violet, and tannin. In warmer climates it ripens fully and can stand alone.
puh-TEE vair-DOH
Grape
Marsanne
Rhône white weight
Hermitage blanc's body, often with Roussanne. Honeysuckle, almond, and a waxy texture that ages toward oil and spice.
mar-SAHN
Grape
Roussanne
Herbal, floral, difficult
The aromatic half of white Hermitage. Pear, herbal tea, and acidity that Marsanne lacks — and a vineyard reputation for being a pain.
roo-SAHN
Grape
Greco
Tufo's volcanic snap
Greco di Tufo: high-acid, smoky, lemon-and-mineral whites from Campania's sulfur-mining hills.
GREH-ko
Grape
Frappato
Sicilian crunch
Vittoria's pale red: strawberry, floral, low tannin. The lift in Cerasuolo di Vittoria, and a chillable red on its own.
frah-PAH-to
Grape
Dolcetto
The name is a lie
Dolcetto means 'little sweet one.' The wines are dry, dark, low-acid, and bitter-cherry — Piedmont's Tuesday red.
dole-CHET-to
Region
Rhône Valley
Syrah in the north, sun in the south
Two regions sharing a river. Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Cornas are steep Syrah; the south is Grenache country, with Châteauneuf-du-Pape as the cathedral.
ROHN
Region
Alsace
Aromatic, dry, and misunderstood
A French region with a Germanic grape set: Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Tall bottles, often dry, always about varietal perfume and geology.
al-SASS
Region
Beaujolais
Granite, Gamay, and a second act
South of Burgundy, not beneath it. Ten crus, a sea of Nouveau, and some of France's most joyful reds.
boh-zhuh-LAY
Region
Jura
Mountains, flor, and small barrels
A tiny eastern French region of Savagnin, Poulsard, Trousseau, and Chardonnay — plus vin jaune, the oxidative white that tastes like walnuts and time.
ZHU-rah
Region
Provence
Rosé as a serious wine
Pale pink is the export. Bandol, Palette, and a new wave of reds and whites are the rest of the story.
pro-VAHNSS
Region
Languedoc-Roussillon
France's laboratory
The largest vineyard in the country, once bulk, now a map of appellations and rebels: Picpoul, Corbières, Pic Saint-Loup, Fitou, and Roussillon's oxidatives.
lahng-DOK roo-see-YOHN
Region
Priorat
Llicorella and old Garnacha
Catalonia's volcanic-looking schist (it is not volcanic) and bush vines that yield little and taste of tar, blackberry, and heat — with altitude for freshness.
pree-oh-RAHT
Region
Ribera del Duero
High, harsh, Tempranillo
Castile's plateau: short seasons, cold nights, and Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) that is darker and more forceful than most Rioja.
ree-BEH-rah del DWEH-ro
Region
Rías Baixas
Granite, rain, and Albariño
Galicia's Atlantic appellation. Albariño from trellised vines over granite, often a few kilometres from the sea.
REE-ahs BAI-shass
Region
Jerez / Sherry Country
Albariza, flor, and solera
The triangle of Jerez, Sanlúcar, and El Puerto. Palomino on chalk, aged under flor or in air, and blended through soleras that can be older than the cellar rats.
heh-RETH
Region
Douro
Terraces, Port, and dry reds
Portugal's schist canyon. Vintage Port made the fame; dry Douro reds and whites are the modern story.
DOH-roo
Region
Vinho Verde
Green as in young
Northern Portugal's light, often spritzy whites (and some reds). Alvarinho, Loureiro, Trajadura — not a grape, a place, and a mood.
VEEN-yo VEHR-deh
Region
Tokaj
Aszú, dry Furmint, volcanic hills
Hungary's historic sweet-wine region, rebuilt after communism as both a dessert legend and a dry white frontier.
TOH-kye
Region
Wachau
Terraces on the Danube
Austria's most dramatic Riesling and Grüner valley, classified by ripeness as Steinfeder, Federspiel, and Smaragd.
VAH-kow
Region
Barossa Valley
Old-vine Shiraz
South Australia's warm heart: some of the oldest continuously producing Shiraz vines on earth, plus Grenache, Mataro, and a German-settler Riesling rim (Eden Valley).
bah-ROSS-ah
Region
Marlborough
Sauvignon, at volume and at height
New Zealand's most famous cellar: pungent Sauvignon Blanc that rewired the world's by-the-glass list, and a quieter Pinot and Chardonnay story.
MARL-bruh
Region
Central Otago
Pinot at the edge of the world
The world's southernmost serious wine region. Continental, mountainous, and Pinot Noir to the core.
oh-TAH-go
Region
Stellenbosch
The Cape's classic cellar
South Africa's most decorated district: Cabernet, Chenin, Syrah, and a mountain amphitheatre that keeps nights cool.
STEL-en-bosh
Region
Swartland
Old vines, new Cape
A dry-farmed, bush-vine region north of Cape Town that rewired South African wine: Chenin, Syrah, and Mediterranean blends with a whole-cluster, low-oak accent.
SWART-land
Region
Mendoza
Altitude is the climate
Argentina's wine capital, in the rain shadow of the Andes. Malbec is the headline; altitude is the plot.
men-DOH-sah
Region
Casablanca Valley
Chile's cool coast
Pacific fog and Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot — the anti-Maipo. Proof that Chile is not only warm-climate Cabernet.
kah-sah-BLAHNG-kah
Region
Sonoma
A county, not a style
West of Napa, larger, cooler at the coast, and more various: Pinot and Chardonnay in the west, Zinfandel and Cabernet inland.
suh-NO-muh
Region
Santa Barbara
East-west valleys, cold Pacific
Santa Maria and Santa Ynez open sideways to the ocean, pulling fog and wind inland. Pinot, Chardonnay, and a Rhône colony in Ballard Canyon and Los Olivos.
SAN-tuh BAR-bruh
Region
Columbia Valley
Desert vines, long light
Washington State's irrigated desert: Cabernet, Syrah, Riesling, and a growing reputation for structured, site-specific reds.
kuh-LUM-bee-uh
Region
Etna
Vines on an active volcano
Sicily's north-east slope: Nerello Mascalese, Carricante, lava-flow contrade, and wines that made the island fashionable again.
ET-nah
Region
Veneto
Prosecco, Soave, Amarone
Italy's volume engine and, in the hills, a source of serious wine: Valpolicella, Soave Classico, Prosecco Superiore, and Amarone.
VEH-neh-to
Region
Alto Adige / Südtirol
Alpine precision
Italy's German-speaking north: mountain light, cooperative excellence, and whites (and Pinot Nero) of cut and altitude.
AHL-to AH-dee-jeh
Region
Sicily
An island of many cellars
Etna is the fashion; Marsala is the history; Vittoria, Noto, and the west are the rest of a continent-sized island.
see-CHEEL-yah
Region
Santorini
Basket vines on pumice
A caldera, no phylloxera, Assyrtiko trained in coils against the wind, and whites that taste of lemon and volcano.
san-toh-REE-nee
Region
Georgia
Eight thousand years in qvevri
The probable cradle of wine. Eight thousand vintages, 500+ indigenous grapes, and buried clay amphorae that never went out of fashion.
JOR-juh
Region
English sparkling
Chalk, cool years, Champagne's shadow
The North Downs and the South Downs sit on the same chalk as Champagne. Warming vintages made traditional-method English sparkling a serious category, not a curiosity.
ING-glund
Region
Pfalz
Germany's sunny south
Riesling, but riper than the Mosel; also Spätburgunder, Pinot Blanc, and a Mediterranean vegetable garden along the Haardt.
pfahlts
Region
Campania
Volcanoes and ancient grapes
Taurasi, Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, and Falanghina — Irpinia's hills inland from Naples, plus the coastal whites of the islands.
kahm-PAH-nyah
Region
Chablis
Kimmeridgian and cold
Chardonnay at Burgundy's northern gate, on fossil limestone, usually without new oak. The word people mean when they say they want mineral white wine.
shah-BLEE
Region
Bandol
Mourvèdre and the sea
Provence's serious red (and serious rosé): Mourvèdre on terraced south-facing slopes, aged in foudre, built for the cellar.
bahn-DOLL
Region
Dão
Portugal's highland red
Granite, altitude, and Touriga Nacional with more lift than the Douro. Portugal's Burgundy, if you need a shortcut.
down
Region
Bierzo
Slate, Mencía, old vines
Northwest Spain's revival region: Mencía on steep slate, a mix of Atlantic and inland weather, and a generation of growers who treated it like Burgundy.
BYER-tho
Region
Naoussa
Xinomavro's home
Northern Greece's great red appellation. High acid, high tannin, tomato and olive — a cellar wine that sommeliers compare to Barolo and then drink as itself.
NOW-sah
Region
Hunter Valley
Semillon that waits
A humid New South Wales valley that picks Semillon lean and watches it turn to toast over a decade — plus Shiraz of a medium, savory school.
HUN-ter
Style
Rosé
Not a grape, a decision
Pink wine made by short skin contact, direct press, or blending (rare, and legal in Champagne). Color is not quality. Dryness and texture are.
ro-ZAY
Style
Dessert wine
Sweet on purpose
Late harvest, noble rot, ice, drying, or fortification — four roads to residual sugar with enough acid to stay alive.
dih-ZERT
Style
Amarone
Dried grapes, dry wine
Valpolicella grapes dried for months, then fermented dry. High alcohol, bitter chocolate, sour cherry, and a winter coat.
ah-mah-ROH-neh
Style
Pét-nat
Bottled before the end
Pétillant naturel, méthode ancestrale: wine bottled while still fermenting, so the bubbles are the rest of the primary ferment. Cloudy, lively, and only as good as the grower.
pet-NAT
Style
Vin jaune
The yellow wine
Jura Savagnin aged for years under flor in a partly empty barrel, bottled in a squat 62 cl clavelin. Walnuts, curry, and acid that will outlive you.
van ZHONE
Style
Rhône blend (GSM)
Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre
The southern recipe: Grenache for fruit and alcohol, Syrah for color and pepper, Mourvèdre for structure and game — with room for Cinsault, Counoise, and whites.
coat doo ROHN
Style
Bordeaux blend
Cabernet, Merlot, and company
The most copied red recipe on earth: Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot, with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenère in supporting roles.
bor-DOH
Style
Noble rot
Botrytis, invited in
The fungus Botrytis cinerea, in the right humid mornings and dry afternoons, shrivels grapes into honeyed, saffron-scented concentrate.
NO-bul rot
Style
Icewine / Eiswein
Picked frozen
Grapes left to freeze on the vine, pressed while still ice, so water stays behind as crystals and the syrup ferments into a piercing, sweet wine.
ICE-vine
Style
Port
Douro fruit, stopped with spirit
Fermentation halted with grape spirit so sugar remains. Ruby is fruit; Tawny is wood and nuts; Vintage is a cellar project.
POR-too
Style
Sherry
Flor, air, and the solera
The most complex fortified wine, and the most ignored. From bone-dry Manzanilla to syrupy PX, all from one corner of Andalusia.
heh-RETH
Style
Carbonic maceration
Whole berries, indoor perfume
Grapes ferment inside their own skins in a carbon-dioxide-rich tank, making wines that smell of banana, kirsch, and peony, with low tannin.
kar-BON-ik mass-er-AY-shun
Style
Appassimento
Wine from raisins, almost
Grapes dried on mats or in lofts before fermentation. The Veneto's method for Amarone and Recioto; also used in other Italian regions and beyond.
ah-pah-SEE-men-to
Style
Grower Champagne
The farmer on the label
Récoltant-manipulant: the same person grows the grapes and makes the wine. A terroir conversation that used to be reserved for Burgundy.
shahm-PAH-nyuh
Style
Qvevri wine
Buried clay, skins and all
Georgia's traditional vessel: an egg-shaped clay amphora buried in the ground. Whites fermented on skins become amber; reds become tannic and earthy.
KVEV-ree
Term
Acidity
The spine
Tartaric and malic acids (mostly) that make wine taste fresh, make it age, and make it pair with food. The difference between alive and flabby.
uh-SID-ih-tee
Term
Body
Weight in the mouth
The impression of fullness — light like skim milk, full like cream — driven by alcohol, extract, sugar, and phenolics, not by quality.
BOD-ee
Term
Minerality
A useful, slippery word
Tasting notes of wet stone, flint, chalk, and salt. You are not tasting dissolved limestone. You are tasting a cluster of effects we still argue about.
min-er-AL-ih-tee
Term
Reduction
Struck match, then fruit
A sulfur-related aroma from too little oxygen in the winemaking: matchstick, smoke, sometimes rotten egg. Often a swirl away from disappearing.
rih-DUK-shun
Term
Volatile acidity
Nail polish, vinegar, a little life
Acetic acid and ethyl acetate. A touch can lift aroma (some Burgundies, some Ports). A lot smells like a salad-dressing factory.
VOL-uh-tul
Term
Brettanomyces
Band-Aid, stable, clove
A yeast that lives in barrels and cellars. At a whisper it can add spice; at a shout it strips fruit and smells like a barnyard first-aid kit.
bret-an-oh-MY-sees
Term
Lees
The yeast after the party
Dead yeast cells that settle after fermentation. Aging on them (sur lie) adds texture, savory notes, and protection from oxygen.
leez
Term
Dosage
The last sweetness in bubbles
The sugar (usually in wine) added after disgorgement in traditional-method sparkling. It sets Brut Nature through Doux and balances screaming acid.
doh-ZAHZH
Term
Sulfites
The preservative everyone has heard of
Sulfur dioxide, used for centuries to keep wine from oxidizing and refermenting. All wine contains some; added SO₂ is the political part.
SUL-fites
Term
New oak
Vanilla, toast, and a bill
Barrels that have not held wine before. They leak tannin, vanillin, and toast into the wine. French, American, and Hungarian oak all taste different.
noo ohk
Term
Biodynamics
Organic, plus the calendar
Rudolf Steiner's agricultural philosophy applied to vines: compost preparations, lunar planting calendars, and a farm as a closed organism. Controversial, and full of excellent growers.
by-oh-dye-NAM-ik
Term
Appellation
A place with rules
A legally defined origin — AOC/AOP in France, DOCG in Italy, AVA in the US, DO in Spain — that dictates geography and often grapes, yields, and aging.
ah-pel-lah-SYOHN
Term
Grand Cru
The top of a local pyramid
In Burgundy and Alsace, a vineyard at the top of the hierarchy. In Champagne, a village. In Bordeaux, a château classification. The words do not travel.
grahn KROO
Term
Botrytis
The fungus with two faces
Botrytis cinerea is noble rot when mornings are misty and afternoons are dry, and grey rot when the rain does not stop.
bo-TRY-tis
Term
Closures
Cork, cap, and the rest
Natural cork, technical cork, Diam, screwcap, glass stopper. Each is a bet on oxygen, TCA risk, and tradition.
KLOH-zhurz
Term
Magnum
1.5 litres, slower aging
A double bottle. More wine, less oxygen per millilitre, a longer life, and a better table.
MAG-num
Term
Cellaring
Dark, still, and 12 °C
Wine storage is boring on purpose: constant cool temperature, humidity for corks, no light, no vibration, bottles on their side if corked.
SEL-er
Term
Glassware
Shape is a tool
A glass is a funnel for aroma. Bowls for perfume, chimneys for precision, and almost never a wide-mouth coupe for wine you care about.
GLASS-wair
Term
Pairing
Weight, then contrast
Match the weight of the wine to the weight of the food, then decide whether you want harmony or a useful argument (salt vs. sweet, fat vs. acid, spice vs. sugar).
PAIR-ing
Term
Flor
The yeast veil
A film of Saccharomyces yeasts that grows on wine in partly filled barrels in Jerez and the Jura, feeding on oxygen and glycerol, leaving the wine dry, saline, and protected.
flor
Term
Solera
A river of barrels
A fractional blending system: young wine refreshes older casks, year after year, so every bottle is a blend of many vintages, weighted toward the old.
so-LEH-rah
Term
Smoke taint
When the vintage smells of fire
Grapes exposed to bushfire smoke can pick up volatile phenols that smell of ashtray, smoked meat, and Band-Aid — and they often get louder after fermentation.
smohk taynt
Term
Umami
The fifth taste, at the table
Savory depth from glutamate: mushrooms, aged cheese, tomatoes, soy, cured meat. It makes wines taste rounder — or suddenly bitter, if tannin is high and acid is low.
oo-MAH-mee
Term
Clone
The same grape, different settings
A genetically identical cutting selected for a trait: tighter bunches, looser bunches, more perfume, more color, earlier ripening. Pinot Noir is a clone museum.
klohn
Term
Pyrazines
The green in the glass
Methoxypyrazines smell of bell pepper, tomato leaf, and boxwood. They are the signature of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc — and a flaw when a red did not ripen.
PEER-uh-zeens
Term
Whole-cluster
Stems in the ferment
Fermenting uncrushed bunches, stems and all. Adds perfume, pepper, a herbal snap, and a different tannin — or a green mess if the stems are not ripe.
hohl KLUS-ter
Grape
Palomino
The quiet grape of Sherry
A neutral, low-acid white that becomes interesting only when flor, air, and time get involved. The canvas, not the painting.
pah-lo-MEE-no
Grape
Lagrein
Alto Adige's dark red
A cocoa-and-violet red from the Alps: denser than Schiava, more savory than Merlot, and increasingly bottled as a serious mountain wine.
lah-GRINE
Region
Puglia
The heel, and Primitivo
Italy's sun-baked heel: Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Nero di Troia, plus a coast of interesting whites. Volume country that now bottles real character.
POOL-yah
Region
Rueda
Verdejo on the plateau
Castile's white-wine engine. Verdejo, sometimes with Sauvignon Blanc, grown high and dry, usually meant for the year.
roo-EH-dah
Region
Sardinia
Vermentino and cannonau
An island with its own grapes and a Spanish memory: Vermentino di Gallura, Cannonau (Grenache), Carignano del Sulcis, and long-lived Vernaccia di Oristano.
sar-DEN-yah
Region
Virginia
Cabernet Franc's American home
A humid, improving East Coast cellar: Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Viognier, and a few stubborn, excellent estates.
ver-JIN-yuh
Region
Uruguay
Tannat by the Atlantic
South America's small, oceanic cellar. Tannat is the flag, often softer and more coastal than Madiran, with Albariño and other Atlantic whites on the rise.
oo-roo-GWAI
Region
Madiran
Tannat's original fortress
Southwest France, where Tannat is a decade-long project and lamb is not optional.
mah-dee-RAHN
Region
Hermitage
A hill of Syrah
One granite hill above Tain-l'Hermitage. Red Hermitage is Syrah at cathedral scale; white is Marsanne (and Roussanne) that can live fifty years.
air-mee-TAHZH
Style
Ripasso
Valpolicella, twice
Fresh Valpolicella refermented on the skins left from Amarone (or Recioto). A middle weight between everyday cherry and full Amarone.
ree-PAH-so
Region
Chile
A long, thin cellar
From Atacama to Bío-Bío: Cabernet in Maipo, Carmenère in Colchagua, Sauvignon and Pinot on the coast, and old País in the south.
CHEE-leh
Region
Finger Lakes
Riesling, lakes, and winter
New York's serious cellar: deep glacial lakes that store heat, Riesling that can be dry or off-dry, and a cool-climate Cabernet Franc.
FING-ger layks

Pinot Noir

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Syrah / Shiraz

Nebbiolo

Sangiovese

Tempranillo

Grenache / Garnacha

Chardonnay

Riesling

Sauvignon Blanc

Chenin Blanc

Burgundy

Bordeaux

Champagne

Piedmont

Tuscany

Rioja

Mosel

Loire Valley

Napa Valley

Willamette Valley

Sparkling wine

Orange wine

Fortified wine

Natural wine

Tannin

Terroir

Vintage

Malolactic fermentation

Residual sugar

Old World and New World

Cork taint (TCA)

Oxidation

Decanting

Legs (tears)

Cabernet Franc

Malbec

Gamay

Zinfandel / Primitivo

Mourvèdre / Monastrell

Barbera

Aglianico

Nero d'Avola

Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris

Gewürztraminer

Viognier

Albariño / Alvarinho

Grüner Veltliner

Assyrtiko

Vermentino / Rolle

Sémillon

Muscat

Torrontés

Carmenère

Tannat

Pinotage

Godello

Verdejo

Picpoul

Melon de Bourgogne

Aligoté

Savagnin

Corvina

Touriga Nacional

Mencía

Nerello Mascalese

Xinomavro

Saperavi

Furmint

Fiano

Blaufränkisch

Cinsault

Carignan / Cariñena / Mazuelo

Petit Verdot

Marsanne

Roussanne

Greco

Frappato

Dolcetto