Ancient Roman god of wine.

Term used to define the structure of a wine.

Balance in a wine is the harmonious synthesis of its alcohol, acid, tannins and sugars, the essential components of a wine's flavor profile. When no single component is dominant and each component complements the others, a wine is considered well-balanced. Each type of wine has a different benchmark for quality balance.

A very large bottle, capable of containing the equivalent of 12 to 16 standard 750ml bottles.

France's finest appellation for Naturally Sweet Wines or Vins Doux Naturels (VDN). The primary grape variety is Grenache Noir, which must c omprise 50% of the final product. There are a few different styles, all excellent.

The famous grape of Italy's Piedmont region. Italy's most common red wine grape and now accounts for over 10% of California's plantings. Known for a deep purple hue, bright acidity, ripe berry flavors and a dry finish. Reputation not as high as Piedmonte's most prestigious grape, Nebbiolo.

A village in the Piedmont region of Italy, just south of Alba, where the Nebbiolo grape takes on its most intensely powerful expression.

A wine is barrel aged when the flavor, structure, balance and complexity are improved by spending time resting in oak casks.

Vinification technique of placing small batches of grape juice in barrels to ferment. This technique is used almost exclusively for white wines and is most successful for the Chardonnay grape which complement well the flavors imparted by the oak.

The extremely precise technique of selecting, cutting, drying and shaping oak wood into a barrel. The three-step heating process involving steam, gas, boiling water, burning oak chips in some combination is used to carefully bend the staves into the proper shape. Once the barrels are formed, the wood is toasted in varying degrees upon request of the winemaker to allow for the proper carmelization of resin. This allows for the barrels to impart the flavors associated with oak such as vanilla, coconut, and cinnamon.

Bordeaux term for an oak barrel of 225 liters. Called a "fut" in Burgundy.

Scale used to measure the total soluble compounds in the juice, indicating the approximate concentration of grape sugars. This measurement is used primarily in France and also Australia, and is comparable to the Brix and Oechsle systems obtained using a refractometer or a hydrometer.

A small village in the Rhone Valley region of Vaucluse famous for the production of its aromatic Naturally Sweet Wines or Vins Doux Naturels. It is of the Muscat family.

The small bubbles in sparkling wine and champagne which rise from the base of the glass towards the rim. Fine beading is considered an indicator of high quality.

The individual grape within a bunch. Also used to describe a category of fruity flavors found when tasting wine.

A bin is a collection of wine bottles stored horizontally in a cellar. Bin number has come to indicate a special selection within the bin.

Describes the feeling of a wine on your tongue when the acids or tannis are overdominant.

One of the four kinds of taste that we sense with our olefactory and tastebuds working in unison. The other three tastes are salty, sweet and sour. Any of the four tastes in excess is considered a fault, but too much bitterness is especially unpleasant in a wine. It can be caused by over use of oak chips or poorly toasted barrels.

Synonymous with red grapes. Some grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon look much more blue-black than red.

French for "white of whites". Term used for Champagne made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape.

French for "white of blacks". Term used for Champagne made from red grapes, specifically Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, where the grapes are pressed and the skins are immediately removed so as to impede any phenolic extraction from them. At times the resulting juice has a slight pink hue.

The winemaking practice of mixing different batches of wines. Most of the world's greatest wines are a result of masterful blending. Different batches of the same or of different varieties and vintages can be blended in order to create the most well-balanced final product. Used to correct problems of a certain variety or batch's structure, such as over dominant acidy or lack of tannins.

An organized, controlled tasting of a group of wines when the actual wines' identities are concealed from the tasters. Used to create impartiality and objectiveness.

Synonymous with rose; the name for a light pink wine made from red grapes with reduced skin contact during fermentation. White Zinfandel is the popular stereotype in the American wine portfolio.

Tasting term used to describe the sensation of weight and feel of a wine in the mouth. This is a result of the wine's viscosity and density, created by a comination of tannic extract, glycerol and alcoholic content.

Also known as Noble Rot, this is the sought after bacteria which, with the correct weather conditions, can invade healthy white grapes and cause water evaporation within the berries, concentrating the sugars and other flavors. The smell of affected grapes is often described as honey-like. It is the presence of Botrytis that creates the expensive, world famous sweet wines of Sauternes and Tokaj.

The practice of keeping newly bottled wines in storage before release to let the wines settle or in the cellar in order to permit development of more complex aroma profiles or bouquets.

Today the variety of bottle shapes is mesmerizing. The most popular shapes are the bordeaux (tall and narrow with high shoulders), burgundy (wider and shorter with sloping shoulders), the Chianti (squat onion shaped with a longer neck) and the German (very tall and narrow with almost no shoulders).

Term describing what happens to a wine just after bottling, or with delicate wines when shook, which corrects itself after a few days when the bottles are at rest.

Disagreable odor caused by excessive amounts of sulfur in a wine which can be reduced by bottle aging or simply decanting. Also known as bottle stink.

Designation on the label indicating the company which purchased finished wines and simply bottled them.

The machinated process of transferring wine from a vat, tank, barrel or cask into a bottle. Some small wineries have small machines, other wineries have fully automated multi-task bottlers capable of filling thousands of bottles an hour. Other wineries hire outside companies to bring a mobile bottling line to the winery when it is time for the product to be bottled.

The smells a wine aquires with aging, not to be confused with aroma. Since a bouquet is an assortment of dried flowers and plants, the bouquet of a wine is often a variety of flowery, earthy, grassy smells. There is no congruity in the usage of this term by wine tasters.

In the wine world, indicates the name of a defined product or line of products of a specific winery, company, negociant, or bottler. In today's market, the brand name has become a stronger marketing tool than using the region or kind of wine as a product name.

Tasting term for wines characterized by big tannins, hard, woody flavors and tends to be unrefined.

See aeration.

Tasting term describing a wine with wild berry characteristics.

Describes a wine with a clear, brilliant appearance. Also a tasting term describing a zesty, acidic wine with focused flavors.

Describes exceptionally clear, bright, luminescent wines with a flawless clarity.

A measurement of the dissolved sugars in a wine measured with a hydrometer or a refractometer. The brix measurement is taken to decide when to harvest the grape, as it is used to predict the potential alcohol percentage. It is expressed in degrees. One brix equals 18g/l of sugar.

Term describing what happens to a wine with long aging. Occurs with both red and white wines and is caused by oxidation.

French term developed in Champagne to describe a champagne or sparkling wine which is dry rather than sweet. A brut should contain under 15g/l of sugar.

Signals the end of the dormant period of the vine. The annual reappearance of shoots from the buds in the spring on the vines.

Every oak barrel has a bung hole through which wine is poured and stirred. When not in use, this hole is closed with a rubber, glass or plastic stopper called a bung.

Tasting term used to describe the butter flavor found in some wines, often associated with Chardonnay.