Wine Vocabulary

Essential wine vocabulary to get you around any enoteca!

Abboccato: slightly sweet
Amabile: semi-sweet
Annata: vintage year
Asciutto: dry
Barrique: 225 liter oak barrel used for aging
Bianco: white
Brut: dry sparkling wine
Dolce: sweet
Enoteca: wine store
Frizzante: effervescent, slightly bubbly
Metodo classico or Metodo Champenois: the classic champagne method of making bottle-fermented sparkling wines
Passito wine: usually sweet, made from semi-dried grapes
Produttore: producer
Riserva: riserve, a special selection of DOC or DOCG wine with longer aging requirements
Rosato: rose
Rosso: red
Secco: dry
Spumante: sparkling
Vendemmia: harvest/vintage year

-Ashley