Italian Wine terms
Below are some commonly used terms found on Italian wine labels:
Abboccato (ah boh ka’ toe) semi-dry (slightly sweet)
Amabile (ah mah’ bee lay) semi-sweet (“gently” sweet)
Annata (ah not’ ah) — vintage year (i.e., year the grapes were harvested)
Azienda Agricola (ah zhen da’ azh ri co’ lah) — typically a farm or estate that uses its own grapes in the production of its wines.
Bianco (bee ahn’ koh) — white
Bottiglia (bo tee’ lee yah) — bottle
Bricco, Bric (bric’ coh; brick) — northern Italian dialect for “ridge” or “slope,” presumably to indicate a superior location.
Brut (broot) — a dry sparkling wine.
Cantina (can tea nuh) — another name for a winery.
Cantina Sociale (can tea nuh so shi’ al) — co-operative producer or cellar
Cascina (ka shi’nah) — farmhouse, often used for estate
Classico (clah’ see coh) — from the central (and usually oldest) zone of a production area
Dolce (dole chay’) — sweet
Fattoria (fat toh ree’ ah) — farm or estate
Frizzante (free zahn’ tae) — lightly sparkling, fizzy
Imbottiglato all’Origine (im bot tee yahl’ toe ahl oh ree’ gee nae) — estate-bottled
Liquoroso (lee kwo roh’ so) — fortified with alcohol
Passito (pah seet’ toh) — concentrated sweet dessert wine made from semi-dried grapes
Podere (poh dae’ rae) — a small estate, property
Poggio (po’ zho) — a hillock
Produttore (pro due tor’ ray) — producer
Recioto (ree cho’ toe) — made with partially-dried grapes, similar to Passito.
Riserva (ree zerv’ ah) — aged for a specified time before release
Rosato (row zah’ toe) — rose
Rosso (roh’ so) — red
Secco (sek’ coh) — dry
Spumante (spoo mahn’ tae) — sparkling sweet wine
Superiore (su pee rio’ ree) — an (unofficial) quality distinction referring to a higher alcohol level than versions of the same wine
Tenuta (tay new’ tah) — farm or estate
Vendemmia (ven dame’ me ah) — harvest or vintage
Vigna, Vigneto (veen ya’, veen yet’ toe) — vineyard
Vin Santo (vin san’ toe) — a category of sweet dessert wine made from semi-dried grapes.
Richard Marcis
October 10, 2008
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