The world of wine has a vocabulary all its own — and while some terms sound intimidating, most of them describe simple, tangible things that you can taste or observe in the glass. Building a working knowledge of these terms helps you read wine labels with confidence, follow tasting notes, understand wine lists and communicate clearly about what you like and what you are looking for.
Core Tasting and Production Terms
Tannin is the drying, sometimes gripping sensation in red wines — it comes from grape skins, seeds and oak, and acts as a natural preservative that allows wines to age. A wine with firm tannins needs time; one with soft tannins drinks well young. Acidity gives a wine its freshness and appetite-whetting character — high acidity makes your mouth water, low acidity makes a wine feel flat. Terroir is the French concept that bundles together soil type, subsoil, slope, aspect, drainage, micro-climate and human tradition into a single idea: the specific sense of place that a wine expresses. A wine with good minerality shows a stony, chalky or saline quality that is difficult to pin down but immediately recognisable — Chablis, Sancerre and Alsace Riesling are classic examples. Appellation (or AOC — Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) designates a legally defined growing area with rules on grape varieties, yields, alcohol levels and winemaking methods.
Label and Classification Terms
Cuvée means a specific blend, batch or sélection — a prestige cuvée is a producer's top wine. Premier Cru (First Growth in Bordeaux, First Growth vineyard in Burgundy) indicates a quality tier above village wine but below Grand Cru. Grand Cru is the highest classification in Burgundy, Alsace and Saint-Emilion. Vieilles Vignes means old vines — generally 40 years or older — which typically produce lower yields and more concentrated fruit. Millésime simply means vintage — the year the grapes were harvested. Decanting means pouring wine into a separate vessel to separate it from sediment and/or allow it to breathe. These terms, once learned, unlock the full information on every label in our shop.
