Wine Types and Terms
Wine Terms - Sour to Vintner
SOUR: Disagreeably
acid, usually with vinegar (acetic acid). A sour wine is a spoiled wine. Never call
a dry, astringent, or tart wine "sour."
TABLE or DINNER WINE: The right name for all still wines with not over 14% alcohol
content by volume. Most dinner (or table) wines are dry, but some, like Sweet Sauterne,
are actually semi-sweet, while some wines of the dessert or appetizer class, like
Sherry, are nearly dry. The class includes the wines sometimes referred to as "light
wines", "dry wines," or "natural wines."
TART: Possessing,
agreeable acidity; in wine, tartness reflects the content of agreeable fruit acids.
TAWNY: Brownish
colored. Term applied to Ports which have a brownish or golden tinge instead of
the ruby, resulting from the casting of pigment during long aging, filtering or
fining, or from the use of grapes not heavy in color.
VARIETAL: The
variety of grape from which the wine is made.
VIN BLANC: White wine.
VIN ROSÉ: Rose
wine.
VIN ROUGE: Red wine.
VINTAGE: The
gathering of grapes and their fermentation into wine; also the crop of grapes or
wine of one season.
VINTNER: One
who makes wine.
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