Wine 101- An Introduction
Labeling Glossary
AOC- Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. French labeling term for place of origin. Also AOP (Protegée) AVA- American Viticultural Area Appellation- The officially designated “place” of a wine. In the New World, this tells you where the grapes were grown and not much else. In the Old World, it often has implications w/r/t/ grape varietal, ageing, vineyard yields, etc. Blend- A wine that contains more than one varietal Brut- Sparkling wine that is nearly dry (0-12 g./L. in Champagne) Brut Nature (Zero)- Sparkling wine that is completely dry Cava- Spain’s champagne-method sparkling wine Crémant- Champagne-style wines made in selected regions of France Demi-sec- “Half-dry” sparkling wine, or with a touch of sugar DO- Denominación de Origen- Spanish regional quality control DOC- Denominazione di Origine Controllata- Italian equivalent of French AOC DOCa- Denominación de Origen Calificada- highest Spanish quality designation. Only Rioja and Priorat qualify DOCG- Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita- highest Italian quality designation. Grand Cru- highest quality designation in Burgundy Grand Cru classé- five-tiered quality designation in Bordeaux IGT- Indicazione Geografica Tipica- Italian name for “regional wine” Meritage- Bordeaux-style wine, usually from CA. Oregon wine law- Requires single-varietal wines to contain 90% of that grape Premier Cru- second-highest quality designation in Burgundy Prosecco- Italian sparkling wine, made by the Charmat method Red Wine- like “proprietary wine” or “table wine,” understated labeling term in CA Red Blend- term now associated with very rich and extracted CA wines Reserve- This label term implies a higher quality than a producer’s “regular” offering, and in most cases it is true. However, this term is unregulated and therefore meaningless, legally speaking Single-vineyard- a wine whose grapes were all grown in vineyard named on label Sparkling- Wine with bubbles. All Champagnes are sparkling wines, but not all sparkling wines are Champagne- not even close Varietal- another word for “grape”