Wine Terms

This wine dictionary provides definitions to some key red wine terms.

Acidity: This term relates to a sour or tart taste in a wine. Getting the right acidity in a wine is a balancing act for each wine maker. If a wine has too much acidity, it can be too sour and hard to drink. On the other hand, if there isn’t enough acidity in the wine, it can be flat and dull.

Alexander Valley: A wine region in Sonoma County, California. This wine region is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot Wines. It’s located to the north and east of Healdsburg California. There are around 40 wineries in Alexander Valley.

Blends: A wine made with more than one type of grape. Some blends are made from different red wine grapes (i.e., including cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes). Other blends are made from the same type of red wine from different vineyards (i.e., all pinot noir grapes grown in different vineyards).

Bordeaux: One of the most famous wine regions in France.

Bordeaux Blend: A famous red wine blend originally created in the Bordeaux region in France. It’s usually made from Cabernet Sauvignon wine, Merlot wine and Cabernet Franc wine.

Cabernet Franc Wine: It is a light to medium bodied wine. It usually has a fruity taste. It’s also one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon wine.

Cabernet Sauvignon Wine: One of the wine terms for the most popular red wines in the world. Cabernet Sauvignon is a medium to full bodied wine and is grown in almost every wine region in the world.

Chianti Wine: A red wine developed in the Chianti region in Italy. It’s created using Sangiovese grapes.

Decanting Wine: A technique used to separate sediment from aged red wines. It’s also used to tame wines that are too tannic.

Dessert Wines: This is one fo the wine terms that is used to describe wines with alcohol content between 14 and 24%. Dessert wines usually have some sweetness too. They typically are wines used as a dessert or those that work well served with desserts.

Dry Creek Valley: One of four wine regions located in Sonoma County, California. This wine region is famous for its Zinfandel Wine. It’s located just north or Healdsburg, California. There are around 80 wineries in Dry Creek Valley.

Dry Red Wines: This wine term refers to the amount of residual sugar in a wine. If a wine has very little residual sugar, it is a dry red wine. If it has a high amount of residual sugar, then it is a sweet red wine.

Estate Bottled Wine: A wine term used on labels in the United States to signify that the grapes for the wine are grown in that wineries vineyard.

Ice Wines: Ice wines are sweet wines. Grapes for ice wines are frozen on the vine before harvested. Canada is well known for their ice wines.

Late Harvest Wines: Late harvest wines are also sweet wines. These wines are created by leaving the grapes on the vine as late in the season as possible. By leaving them on the vines longer, the sugar is more concentrated in the grapes which create the sweetness in these wines.

Malbec Wine: A medium to full bodied red wine. It is the most popular wine in Argentina. It’s a deep colored, fruity and sometimes spicy red wine.

Merlot Wine: Another very popular red wine. It is the most purchased red wine varietal in the United States. This wine is softer and fruiter than Cabernet Sauvignon and is drinkable at an early age.

Napa Valley: This is one of the most popular wine regions in California. Located about an hour north of San Francisco, Napa Valley is well known for a variety of red wines including Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot wines. This wine region has around 300 wineries.

Old Vine Zinfandel: A wine term used to describe zinfandel wines created from vines planted many, many years ago. Zinfandel wines were some of the first wines grown in California wine county regions back in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Organic Wine: A wine created using organic wine growing and production techniques. Organic wines need to be drunk at an early age since they have no preservatives that allow them to age gracefully.

Pinot Noir Wine: Pinot Noir wine is a light to medium body wine and is fuller and softer than a Cabernet Sauvignon wine. They are challenging to grow and turn into wine, but are drinkable after only two to five years of aging.

Red Wine Clubs: There are a couple of different types of wine clubs and each type runs in a different manner. Visit the Red Wine Club Types page to learn more and get some recommendation on the best one to try out.

Resveratrol: Red wine is just one of the sources of resveratrol and the definition is complicated. I recommend you visit the site The Benefits of Resveratrol by Dan Morris to learn more. His site provides a very comprehensive overview of this subject including the benefits and current research on this topic.

Russian River Valley: Another one of the four wine regions in Sonoma County, California. It has over 80 wineries. The region is known for its Pinot Noir wines.

Sangiovese Wine: One of the most popular wines in Italy. This grape is widely grown in Italian wine regions and is the base for the well known Chianti wine.

Shiraz Wine: This type of red wine is created by the same grapes as Syrah wine. The technique to turn it into wine is different. This gives it a unique taste and density from Syrah wine. It is a much sweeter and fruitier type of red wine than Syrah. It’s one of the most grown and most popular in Australia.

Sonoma Valley: The first vines in California wine county were planted in this region. Sonoma Valley is located directly to the west of Napa Valley. There are over 40 wineries in this northern California wine region.

Sweet Red Wine: Wines with a high amount of residual sugar. Ice wines, dessert wines and late harvest red wines are just a few types of sweet red wines.

Syrah Wine: This medium to full bodied wine is typically dark and dense. It has hints of pepper, spice and some fruity flavors and can be allowed to age for a long time.

Tannin: This wine term is a chemical compound in a wine and it typically comes from the wines skins and seeds. You cannot directly taste or smell tannin, but it’s the reason you will at times feel like a wine has ‘coated’ your mouth. It’s a very important part of red wine and helps with its aging process.

Tempranillo Wine: The most popular red wine in Spain. This spicy red wine typically has hints of strawberry, cherry, spice and tobacco. It’s a medium to full bodied wine.

Varietal: One of the wine terms used to describe the main grape used in a specific wine. Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir are two different types of red wine varietals.

Zinfandel Wine: This medium to heavy bodied wine has hints of berry flavors and is another challenging wine to grow. Dry Creek Valley in northern Sonoma County in California has mastered this wine while other regions try to follow.

Return to the All About Red Wine Home Page from the Wine Terms page