Italian Wine Terms A-Z



A

Abboccato - slightly sweet

Acerbo - tart, tangy

Acescenza - volatile wine
Alcool - alcohol

Amabile - off dry (semi-sweet)

Amaro - bitter

Annata - vintage year

Appassimento - the practice of drying grapes before pressing, to concentrate sugar.

Asciutto - bone dry

Azienda -  a vineyard or estate that grows its grapes to be bottled under its own label

 

 

B

Bianco - white (wine)

Botte - wine Cask or Large Barrel. 

Botticella - small wine cask

Bottiglia - bottle

C

Cantina - cellar, winery

Cantina Sociale - co-operative winery

Caraffa di Decantazione - decanter
Casa Vinicola - wine house or merchant ("commerciante)" who bottle wines made by others.

Cascina - - farmhouse, wine estate
Classico - the historic name for a DOC regulated zone (such as Chianti Classico)

Consorzio - consortium of producers that sets standards and promotes wines of a certain appellation.

 

D

DOC - "Denominazione di Origine Controllata" (controlled place of origin).

DOCG - "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita" (controlled and guaranteed place name).

Dolce - sweet

E

Enoteca - Wine shop or Bar

Enologo - enologist (winemaker)

Enotecnico - winemaking technician

Ettaro - - hectare 

Ettolitro - hectolitre 

Etichetta - wine label

 

 

F

Fattoria - farm or estate.

Fiasco - the classic Chianti bottles from the 70's, covered in straw.
Frizzante/ Frizzantino - slightly sparkling. Not fully sparkling or "spumante".

Frutti di bosco - "forest fruits", referring to wine flavors such as blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.

 

 

 

G

Grappa - Italian digestive made from the pomace of grapes. Can be aromatic and flavoured
Governo - Tuscan method of drying late harvested grapes to add to the fermented wine to enrich body, color and flavour.

 

 

I

IGT - "Indicazione Geografica Tipica" (typical place name).

Imbottigliato - bottled ("all'origine" implies estate bottled)

Invecchiato - aged

 

 

L

Liquoroso - fortified wine

 

 

M

Madre - the residue from earlier vintages, left in barrels to impart flavour into new wine (such as "Vin Santo")
Marchio - brand name
Metodo Classico - champagne method, taditional method of making sparkling wine.

Millesime -  sometimes used to indicate the year of vintage.

Muffa Nobile - noble rot (Botrytis cinerea)

 

 

 

N

Nero - black

 

 

P

Passito / Passita - partially dried grapes and also the sweet unctuous wines are made from.

Podere - small farm or estate- in Tuscany.

Produttore - producer

 

 

R

Recioto - wine made from partly dried grapes in the passito style. 

Rosato - - rose wine

Rosso - red wine

 

 

 

S

Secco - dry

Semisecco - off dry, medium sweet
Solaio - refers to the loft where the grapes drying to make Passito wines are kept. 

Spumante - literally "foaming", meaning a sparkling wine

Superiore - classification term that denotes a DOC or DOCG wine that meets standards above the norm.

 

T

Tenuta - Farm or wine estate

Terroir - French term that defines the harmonic relationship between vineyard site, soil, climate and grape variety

 

 

U

Uva - grape

 

 

 

V

Vecchio - "old", used to describe some DOC wines.
Vinacce - grape skins, seeds and pulp left after the must or fermented wine has been pressed. 

Vigna/ Vigneto - vineyard

Vignaiolo/ Viticoltore - grape grower 

Vino Novello - "new" wine, meaning young wine- to be drunk within a year of bottling.

Vin Santo - "holy wine"

Vite - vine

Vitigno - vine or grape variety

Vivace - "lively", a slight sparkle in some wines

 

 

 

Z

Zuccheri Residui - residual sugar