Acidity:

Fixed acidity: It is determined by the acids which are found in the grape (malic, tartaric, citric) and which emerge in the fermentation (lactic, succinic). They furnish the wine with bouquet and life, for they contribute to preserving it.

Total acidity: It is the sum of the fixed and volatile acidity.

Volatile acidity: It refers to the acidity caused by the acetic acid, produced when the bacteria in the wine come into contact with oxygen. A small amount is inevitable and may even be interesting. Above that amount, the wine becomes sour and turns into vinegar.

After taste: Persistence or reminder of the flavour left on the palate by the last sip of wine. Syn. Aftertaste.

Ageing: A term which is reserved for the quality wines which are covered by the Certificate of Origin. This word corresponds to wines which have been aged in the barrel and bottle for at least two calendar years.

Alcoholic: A wine in which we can clearly note its alcoholic content from the bouquet or nose and palate, over the rest of the components

Astringent: When the wine seems to stick to the tongue and palate, leaving them tart and rough, due to their high tannin content. It often denotes an immature wine, which would be tempered with time. Syn. Tannic.

Bitter: This term refers to a wine which is more acidic that normal, without it having gone bad. The next stage would be acre, that is sour or bitter.

Bouquet: A set of sensations transmitted by the aromas of the wine, usually after a good ageing.

Cheap wine: Ordinary, low quality wine.

Colour: It tells us the age, maturity and other characteristics of the wine. With age, the wines change colour.

Complex: A wine which offers a broad range of sensations, harmony and balance.

Cork Disease: The unpleasant flavour produced when the wine comes in contact with a cork in bad condition. This is caused by parasites found in the cork trees.

Coupage: When the wine is obtained by mixing wines of different vintages in the elaboration process.

Decanting: The operation of transferring an old wine from the bottle to another recipient in order to eliminate the solid deposits.

Decanting: The process of transferring the wine from one recipient to another. In this way, the sediment is deposited at the bottom and it also allows for the aeration of the wine.

Decrepit: An unbalanced wine due to its age.

Dregs: Solid residuals in suspension in the elaborated wines.

Dregs or Sediments: Remains left by the wine in the vat or barrel after its first fermentation. As a defect, it can give an undesirable flavour to the wine.

Dry: Wine that lacks any sweet note, as all the sugar in the grape has been completely transformed during the fermentation process.

Dull: Insipid, low in acidity, even a little cloudy, with little lustre.

Elegant: A good, exquisite wine which proves to be harmonious, balanced and without any marked predominance of certain nuances over others. In other words, a fine, quality wine.

Envinar: It consists of drinking a sip of already familiar wine, in order to prepare one's mouth and mucous membranes.

Exquisite: When the wine stands out as harmonious and exquisite, due to its perfume or flavour.

Fatty: Wine containing a lot of glycerine.

Flat: A lack of suitable acidity, with little contrast on the palate.

Fleeting in the mouth: It is said of the wine which might have a good bouquet and taste, but then falls short of the mark in the end, and disappears quickly.

Fleshy or full: When the wine has good body and leaves a sense of fullness in the mouth.

Forthright: A well-constituted wine, with normal flavour and bouquet.

Freshness: The characteristic sense of smell and taste of the young wine with a fixed acidity and a fruity, flowery bouquet.

Fruity: This is the characteristic of some of the young wines, the whites in particular, although it occurs with the reds, too, when they remind us of fresh fruit.

Generous and Full-bodied: Of a high alcoholic content (between 14 and 23 proof) in general, although not necessarily rich in sugar (Jerez- Sherry).

Glycerine: Tri-hydrous alcohol which produces the sugar during the fermentation process and which endows the wine with a special smoothness.

Grape skins: Grape skins, in which the pigments are found that give colour to red and rosé wines.

Green: The wine resulting from using unripe grapes or ones which have not even undergone the malolactic fermentation, and so its acidity is quite evident.

Harsh: A more commonplace wine which is acidic and astringent (too much tannin).

Hollow: This term refers to a wine with a marked colour and little flavour (generally red wine).

Legs of the wine (Drops which are formed): Traces or marks in the form of drops which are left inside the glass after the wine is shaken. This occurs in wines rich in alcohol and glycerine.

Maderised: An overly mature wine, which has spent too much time in contact with the oak barrel in which it has aged. Its colour grows more intense and its bouquet turns. It is similar to the effects produced by oxidation and contact with the air. It is the most common defect found in many white wines, although it can also happen to the reds.

Medium dry: When the wine features a certain touch of sweetness without it really being a sweet wine.

Mildew: Plasmopora viticola. A fungi found in the grapevine during the winter and which is reproduced in spring, due to humidity and temperature conditions.

Mould: A defect in the flavour, which appears when the wine has been kept in unsanitary tanks and when bunches of grapes containing mould have been used.

Must: The juice of the grape before the fermentation process is initiated.

Oak: Wood used for the manufacture of the barrels in which the wine matures for some time. Depending upon whether it is old or young, the oak transmits different characteristics to the wine (more tannins the more recent it is; more oxidation the older is).

Odium: The Ascomycete fungus which lives as a parasite on the leaves of the vine and produces the ash disease.

Oenologist: gr. "oinos" vino, "logia" ciencia. A person who studies the science of wines.

Oenophile: A wine connoisseur.

Over-aged: A wine which has aged too much. Decrepit.

Oxidised: Wine which due to contact with the air or due to the passage of time loses its freshness, changes its colour and begins to maderise.

Pasteur, Louis: A French chemist, biologist and bacteriologist (1822-1895). A Member of the French Academy of Science and Medicine. He discovered the organisms and yeasts which are so important to the wine-making process.

Poly-phenols: A group of substances which include the colouring materials and the tannins of the wine, and which undergo certain modifications, due to oxidation during the ageing process.

Prolonged: When the flavour of the wine remains in the mouth, as a positive note.

Quality of a wine: It is an abstract concept. "Quality in wines is much easier to recognise than to define"-Amerine-.

Robust: Wine with body, with a high alcoholic content and even with a high tannin content.

Rough: Antonym of Redondo or Round.

Sour or Bad: Wine which begins to turn to vinegar, due to an increase in the acetic acid content. (See volatile acidity).

Spices: The flavour and bouquet of certain wines, which are similar to certain spices such as vanilla, anisette, etc.

Stabilisation: The processing of the wine in order to give it greater purity and improve its state of conservation.

Tannic acid: v. Astringent.

Tannin: An organic substance coming from the grape skins and from the oak during its ageing in the barrels, and which is added to the wine in its elaboration and ageing process, giving it specific characteristics: roughness or tartness first; later on, a velvety-like consistency. It usually makes up, together with the colouring materials, the deposits or dregs, which appear in certain cases and require decanting. The tannin gives character to the wine and allows for its conservation.

Tempered: A wine set in the place where it will be served, so that its temperature will be equivalent to the room temperature.

Thick or Coarse: A thick or rough wine with a lot of colour.

Thin: A wine with little structure and little personality, a low alcoholic content, little extract and a low total acidity.

Unripe: A wine with insufficient acidity, due usually to the use of overripe grapes.

Velvety: Smooth, sweet and oily, it caresses the palate.

Well-rounded: A mature wine with a good and harmonious balance. It is just right.

Wine growing ecology: The science which studies the relations existing between the grapevines and the environmental factors.

Young: One year-old wine, which should be consumed immediately.