Wine glossary: twenty Italian wine words explained without the posturing

Wine has a vocabulary problem. Not because the words are difficult, but because they are used as a passport: whoever says them confidently seems to know, whoever hesitates feels out of place. Yet almost all of them describe simple, concrete things that anyone has already felt in the mouth. Here are twenty terms, stripped of their posturing and given back their meaning.

In the mouth: the sensations

Tannino (tannin). These are polyphenolic substances that come mainly from the skins, pips and stalks, and partly from the wood of the barrels. They have no real flavour as such: they produce a drying, rough sensation on the gums, the same as tea left to steep too long. That is why they are found above all in red wines, which ferment in contact with their skins.

Acidità (acidity). It is the backbone of wine, the thing that makes you salivate and keeps a sip fresh rather than cloying. A wine with little acidity feels flabby and heavy; one with too much feels sharp. The secret of many great, long-lived whites lies precisely here.

Sapidità (savouriness). A sensation reminiscent of saltiness, felt mainly along the sides of the tongue, that makes you reach for another sip. It is linked to the mineral salts dissolved in the wine. It should not be confused with acidity, even if the two often travel together.

Mineralità (minerality). Honesty is required here: it is one of the most contested terms in the wine lexicon. Some use it to evoke flint, chalk or petrol, some attribute it to the soil, and others point out that the vine does not “transfer” the taste of rocks directly into the glass. Scientific studies have found no agreed definition: by all means use it, but know that it describes an impression, not a measurement.

Corpo (body). The sensation of weight and density of the wine in the mouth, like the difference between skimmed and whole milk. It depends mainly on alcohol, extract and any residual sugar. “Full-bodied” does not automatically mean “better”: it means fuller.

Struttura (structure). This is the overall architecture: how acidity, tannin, alcohol and body support one another. A structured wine has all these elements present and in balance. A wine that is merely powerful, without balance, is not structured: it is cumbersome.

Persistenza (length). How long the sensations linger in the mouth after swallowing. It is measured, for fun or for a living, in seconds, sometimes called “caudalies”. Long, pleasant length is one of the most reliable signs of quality.

Retrolfatto (retronasal aroma). The aromas perceived retronasally, that is, when the wine is in the mouth and the scents rise back up to the nose from the inside. They often reveal notes that remained hidden on the first sniff. It is the reason tasters make that inelegant noise, drawing air in with the wine in their mouths.

Bubbles and their numbers

Perlage (the bead). The chain of bubbles rising in the glass. One looks at its finesse, quantity and persistence: small, continuous bubbles are usually the sign of a slow second fermentation. A word of caution, though: a dirty glass, or one that is too smooth, changes the show considerably.

Dosaggio, brut, extra dry (dosage). Dosage is the sugar (dissolved in wine) added to sparkling wines after disgorgement, and the residual amount determines the term on the label. The European thresholds are as follows: pas dosé or zero dosage below 3 grams per litre, extra brut between 0 and 6, brut below 12, extra dry between 12 and 17, dry between 17 and 32, demi-sec between 32 and 50, sweet above 50. And here is the paradox that baffles half of Italy at every toast: extra dry is sweeter than brut, despite a name that promises the opposite.

In the cellar: how a wine is born

Malolattica (malolactic fermentation). A second fermentation, carried out by lactic bacteria, that turns malic acid (the sour one in green apples) into softer lactic acid. Almost all reds go through it; in whites it is a stylistic choice. It is often responsible for those buttery notes that some adore and others avoid.

Sur lie. It means “on the lees”: the wine rests in contact with the spent yeasts deposited after fermentation. It gains volume, softness and aromatic complexity. Muscadet from the Loire made the phrase famous on the label.

Uvaggio (blend). A wine made from several grape varieties, vinified together or blended afterwards. It is the opposite of a single-varietal wine. Bordeaux and traditional Chianti are classic examples: the result seeks a balance that a single grape would not provide.

Vitigno autoctono (native grape). A variety originating in a particular area, or grown there for so long that it has become part of it. Italy counts several hundred of them, and they are one of its most obvious riches. Native, however, is not a synonym for good: it is a synonym for local.

The label: time and place

Millesimato (vintage). It indicates that the wine, almost always a sparkling one, comes from the grapes of a single year. Under European rules at least 85% of the grapes must have been harvested in the year stated. The point is to show the character of that season, instead of erasing it by blending several years.

Riserva. In Italy it is a term regulated by the 2016 wine law: it requires a minimum ageing of two years for reds, one for whites and three for bottle-fermented sparkling wines. Many production rules demand longer. It is a guarantee of waiting, not necessarily of superior quality.

Cru. A French word indicating a vineyard or area of particular merit, delimited and recognised. In Burgundy and Bordeaux it has precise meanings and official hierarchies; in Italy there is no single legal definition, and the concept is expressed instead through the menzioni geografiche aggiuntive, the officially recognised vineyard areas, such as those of Barolo and Barbaresco. Outside these contexts, on a label it can be more evocative than rigorous.

Sweetness: when the sugar is intended

Vendemmia tardiva (late harvest). The grapes stay on the vine beyond the normal picking time, concentrating sugars and aromas. The result is generally a sweet or medium-sweet wine. The exact rules vary from one appellation to the next.

Passito. Here the grapes are dried after picking, on racks, in fruttai (drying lofts) or hung up, losing water and concentrating everything else. The results include sweet wines such as many Vin Santo, but also powerful dry reds: Amarone is a passito that has fermented all the way through.

Abboccato (off-dry). A wine with a slight perceptible sweetness, but a long way from dessert. Under European rules it sits just above the threshold for dry, up to 12 grams of sugar per litre (18 if the acidity is high). Sweeter still is amabile, and then sweet proper.

What these words are really for

A glossary is not there to help you talk better at the table; it is there to help you drink more attentively. Each of these words is an invitation to notice something: the tannin that dries, the acidity that makes you salivate, the length that lingers. Those who use them to close a conversation have only half understood them. Those who use them to open one, asking the other person what they taste, have understood everything. And if, at the next toast, someone corrects you for choosing an extra dry “thinking it was dry”, smile: now you know they are right, but also that the name seems designed on purpose to confuse you both.

❦