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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