BAR ROSSO

A

Acerbo: Tart or green
Acescenza: Volatile wine
Aceto: Vinegar
Alcool: Alcohol
Annata: Vintage year
Appassimento: Drying grapes to concentrate sugar
Acidità: Acidity
Acido: Vinegary tasting or smelling
Acquoso: Watery
Amabile: Semi-sweet wine, often a sparkling wine
Amaro: Bitter, usually but not always a defect
Annata: Vintage
Appassiemento: Drying grapes before pressing them. This concentrates the sugar and extract.
Aperto: Open, a wine with a well-defined character
Armonioso: Harmonious, a perfectly balanced wine
Aromatico: Aromatic
Astringente: Astringent, wines with a lot of tannins
Asciutto: Totally dry
Austero: Austere, complex wines with bold fruit
Azienda agrarian: An estate producing wine from its own grapes
Azienda Agricola: An estate producing wine from its own grapes
Azienda vinicola: A producer making wines from purchased grapes
Azienda vitivinicola: An estate producing wine from its own grapes

B

Bianco: White
Bilanciato: Balanced wine with many harmonious elements
Botte: Cask or large barrel made of oak or sometimes chestnut
Botticella: Small cask
Botticella: Bottle
Brut: Dry sparkling wine

C

Cantina: Cellars or winery
Cantine Sociale: Cooperative wine producer or wine cellar
Caraffa di Decantazione: Decanter
Carato: Small barrel, usually a 225 liter barrique
Casa vinicola: Merchant bottling purchased wine
Cascina: Farmhouse or wine estate
Castello: Castle
Chiaretto: Deep rosé
Chiuso: Closed, a wine that hides its character
Classico: The historical center of a DOC or DOCG wine area
Complesso: Complex, a wine that combines many aromas or tastes
Coltivatore: Cultivator
Consorzio: Producers trade association
Corpo: Body
Cotto: Cooked, a defect usually happens because the grapes have had too much sun

D

Debole: Weak, without character

Delicato: Delicate and light
Distinto: Distinctive, elegant, and refined

Dolce: Sweet

E

Elegante: Elegant or stylish

Enologo: College educated enologist
Enoteca: Wine shop
Etichetta: Label
Ettato: Hectare, which is 2.471 acres
Ettolitro: Hectoliter, which is one hundred liters or about 133 standard bottles Fattoria
Farm or estate or a number of farms or estates

F

Fiasco: Flask, in particular an old-fashioned straw-covered Chianti bottle
Fermentazione naturale: Natural carbon dioxide in a sparkling or somewhat sparkling wine
Fiorito: Flowery or with a taste of flowers
Forte: Strong, perhaps because of high alcohol content
Fresco: Fresh
Frizzante: Frizzy, slightly sparkling
Frutta: Fruit
Fruitti di Bosco: Fruits of the forest, such as blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries
Fruttoso: Fruity taste of fruit and fresh grapes

G

Giovane: Young, immature wine not fully developed
Governo: The Tuscany practice of adding dried late harvest grapes to a fermented wine, which sparks a secondary fermentation giving additional body, color, and flavor
Gradazione alcoolica (grad. alc.): Alcoholic percentage
Grappa: A strong Italian liquor made from fermented grape skins

I

Imbottigliato: Bottled
Imbottigliato all’origine: Bottled by the producer
Imbottiliato dal produttore all’origin: Bottled by the producer at the source
Invecchiato: Aged

L

Leggero: Light, a wine with a low percentage of alcohol

Legnoso: Woody, it’s a defect when a wine tastes of wood
Liquoroso: Strong perhaps fortified
Litro: Liter

M

Madre: Literally mother, the residue in a barrel that helps ferment the new contents
Marchio: Brand name or trade mark
Marsalato: An oxidized, dark wine that tastes of cherries
Maseria: A farm or estate
Maso: A holding such as a farm or an estate
Maturo: A mature, ready to drink wine
Metodo Charmat: The sealed tank method of making sparkling wine
Methodo Classico: Fermenting a sparkling wine in the bottle, as French Champagne
Methodo Tradizionale: Fermenting a sparkling wine in the bottle, as French Champagne
Millesimato: Sparkling wine with a vintage date
Muffa: Moldy, a real problem
Muffa Nobile: Noble rot in which the Botrytis Cinera mold leads to an excellent, usually very sweet wine

N

Nero: Black
Nobile: Nobile,a balanced wine, probably from an excellent vintage
Noce: Nutty tasting

O

Ossidato: Oxidized, will be dark and perhaps taste of cherries

P

Passito: Strong, usually sweet wines made from dried grapes

Pastoso: Medium dry
Piatto: Flat or dull
Podere: A small estate which may be part of a Fattoria
Produttore: Producer
Profondo: Deep, flavorful
Proporzionato: Having a good equilibrium between aroma and alcohol

Q

Quercia: Literally oak, the wine tastes of oak, a defect in my opinion

R

Recioto: A sweet wine from the Veneto region, which resembles a Passito wine

Ricco: Rich and complex
Riserva: Reserve, a DOC or DOCG wine of better quality, perhaps because of additional aging
Robusto: Robust or full bodied
Rosato: Rosé
Rosso: Red

S

Sapore: Flavor

Scelto: Selected, in particular for certain late harvest wines as in the Alto Adige province of Trentino-Alto Adige
Secco: Dry
Solaio: The loft in which the dried grapes for a Passito wine are kept
Solfato: Sulphur, an anti-oxidant
Spesso: Thick or dense

Spessore: Thickness
Spumante: Literally foaming, a sparkling wine
Stravecchio: Very old, said of the most aged Marsalas and some spirits
Struttura: Structure, the way a wine is proportioned
Super Tuscan: The high-quality wines from Tuscany that were made in defiance of the existing wine legislation. These wines were not accorded DOC or DOCG classification but neither the winemakers nor the marketplace gave a hoot.
Superiore: A higher level wine in a given DOC or DOCG classification, for example because of additional aging or more alcohol.
Sviluppato: Literally developed, a mature, pleasant wine

T

Tannino: Tannin, a natural component of red wines, found in grape seed, skins and stems

Tappo: Corked, it’s a major defect when a wine smells of cork
Tenimento: Farm
Tenuta: Farm or wine estate
Terroir: A French term that refers to the entire winemaking environment. It is often translated as somewhereness, and may vary from vineyard to vineyard, or even within a vineyard.
Tonneau: A Bordeaux term for 900 liter barrels. In Italy the term also refers to 550 liter barrels

U

Uva: Grape

Uva passa: A dried grape, for making usually sweet wine
Uva secca: Raisin
Uvetta: Raisin

V

Vellutato: Velvety, with a smooth aroma
Vendemmia: Harvest or vintage
Vendemmia tardiva: Late harvest, a wine made from grapes picked late in the season
Verde: Green, a wine picked from unripe grapes, which is a major defect
Vigna: Vineyard
Vignaiolo: Grape grower
Vigneto: Vineyard
Vigoroso: Vigorous, wines with a forward taste
Vinacce: The grape pulp, seeds, and skin that remains after pressing. It is used to make grappa.
Vinificazione: Vinification, the making of wine
Vino: Wine
Vino da arrosto: A robust mature red wine that pairs well with roasts
Vino da tavola: Table wine
Vino Novello: New wine, bottled within the last twelve months or less
Vino Santo: Wine made from grapes dried on straw mats, in particular in Tuscany
Vite: Vine
Viticoltore: Grape grower
Viticolture: Vine cultivation
Vitigno: Grape variety
Vivace: Lively, slightly sparkling fresh wine

Z

Zuccheri Residui: Residual Sugar