Wine Glossary

How to speak “wine”.

ABV

Alcohol by volume. Wine is typically at 11.5-15 per cent.

Blanc de blancs

White wine made only from white wine grapes, especially in Champagne.

Flying winemaker

A winemaker who travels between the northern and southern hemispheres to make wine twice in a year.

Natural

Winemaking philosophy that believes in no or minimal use of mechanical, chemical and filtration techniques.

Orange wine

White wine made with some “skin contact” (grape skins are left to ferment with the juice to alter the character of the wine), resulting in more tannin and deeper flavours. (Note: It’s not the colour of the grapes that gives wine its respective red and white qualities.)

Pet-net

Petillant naturel wines in which carbonation occurs naturally in the bottle from secondary fermentation. It’s an older style of sparkling which is less fizzy than champagne.

Terroir-ist

A cheeky name for someone who espouses the idea of terroir – that all environmental factors affect a crop’s phenotype, including farming practices and a crop’s specific growth habitat.