Glossary

Babo

Italian unit for the sugar content of the grapes (comparable to the Öchsle degrees in Germany)

balance

This describes the harmonious relationship between acids, alcohol, fruit, tannin and other natural elements in the wine.

balanced

Positive description for a wine that contains all the important components such as alcohol, extract, fruit, acid and tannin in harmonious balance.

balsamic

The aroma or bouquet of a wine reminiscent of resin and frankincense.

Balthazar

Wine bottle with 12 litres volume.

Barbera

The importance of the red Barbera grape in Piedmont and large parts of Lombardy can only be compared with the position of Sangiovese in central Italy. The Barbera is a robust vine. It is relatively hardy in winter, insensitive to spring frosts and not particularly susceptible to disease. On top of that, it reliably generates economic returns. Due to the high growth power, leaves and shoot tips have to be cut back several times in summer. The grapes do not ripen as late as those of Nebbiolo, but later than those of Dolcetto.

Over 50,000 hectares in Piedmont and almost 90,000 hectares throughout Italy are planted with Barbera. Most of the harvest is processed into simple Vino da Tavola - a rural, juicy red wine that is refreshed by the mostly strong acidity. The wide spread of the Barbera grape means that many different styles of wine are produced from it. The spectrum ranges from sparkling and still to dry and sweet fillings in various combinations. By far the most important wine is the "normal" red table wine.

Barbera wine is characterised by its intense ruby red colour and aromas often compared to wild cherries, violets or vanilla. Barbera produces wines with a low tannin content. However, the plants do not appear boring or flat because they are carried by a very strong acid. The Barbera can retain this acidity during the ripening of the grapes, even at very high ripeness levels or during a rapid ripening process in a hot climate. In combination with their fruitiness, successful Barbera wines therefore appear extremely full-bodied and rich.

Among the most famous Barbera wines are the Barbera d'Alba, the Barbera d'Asti and the Barbera del Monferrato. The Barbera d'Alba is generally regarded as the best. But the other two are hardly inferior to him, especially as the large DOC areas overlap at the edges and the producers in these areas can choose how they label their wine. It is generally agreed that the vineyards located in the immediate vicinity of Alba and some scattered villages in the vicinity of Asti produce the best Barbera wines.

Outside Piedmont, Barbera is mainly cultivated in Lombardy, especially in the Oltrepò Pavese. There excellent fruity and full-bodied wines with potential for further bottle ripening are produced. In addition to the pure Barbera wines, Bonarda and Croatina are also used here as blending partners to soften the acidity of the Barbera. In Emilia-Romagna, Barbera is responsible for the fruity and rich DOC Gutturnio di Colli Piacentini according to the same blend recipe. In southern Italy Barbera is cultivated mainly for its good acidity. In the blend it can give more vitality to some low acid red wines grown in hot climates.

Bardolino Superiore

This DOCG wine from the Veneto region is mainly produced from the Corvina Veronese (35-60%) and Rondinella (10-40%) vines. It comes from the territory of 15 municipalities, including Bardolino, the province of Verona.

The Bardolino has a ruby red colour, which tends towards garnet red with age; the taste is tart, spicy, with a delicate bitter note, occasionally accompanied by a slight hint of wood. Minimum alcoholic strength by volume: 12%. Minimum storage period: 1 year (from 1 November of the year of harvest). Bardolino, which comes from the oldest production zone, may bear the name Classico in its name. Food recommendation: Prosciutto veneto, Soppressa, Bigoli co'l'arna, turkey with pomegranate.

Barile

Italian term for barrel, barrique.

barrique

Designation for a wine barrel with a capacity of 225 litres, which consists exclusively of oak wood and the inner wall of which is provided with a barrel toasting.

Today, the term is often used as a synonym for barrique finishing: When matured in barriques (mainly red wines), the wine takes on the desired characteristic flavours of caramel, vanillin, coffee or toast - depending on the intensity of the toast of the barrel. Already after a single ageing period, a barrique barrel has released up to 85% of its aroma substances into the wine. This makes the ageing in barriques very expensive and partly leads to the use of roasted oak chips in stainless steel tanks to achieve the barrique effect.

Barrique extension

When aged in barriques (mainly red wines), the wine takes on the desired characteristic flavours of caramel, vanillin, coffee or toast - depending on the intensity of the toast of the barrel. Already after a single ageing period, a barrique barrel has released up to 85% of its aroma substances into the wine. This makes the ageing in barriques very expensive and partly leads to the use of roasted oak chips in stainless steel tanks to achieve the barrique effect.

basalt

Soil type - effusive rock rich in minerals, lime and soda. This soil produces wines with good acidity.

Basilicata

Basilicata is located in the south of Italy, between Puglia and Campania. A secluded region of almost unworldly beauty with a dramatic landscape dominated by the extinct volcano Monte Vulture. The Aglianico vine is cultivated here. This is the origin of Aglianico del Vulture, one of the most excellent and long-lasting wines in southern Italy. (superiore.de)

Capital: Potenza
Provinces: Potenza, Matera
Area under vines: 5,000 hectares
Total production/year: 14.40 million litres
of which red/roséwine: 11.80 million litres
of which white wine: 2.60 million litres
Share of wine-growing in Italy: 0.30%.

Basilico

Italian for basil.

Bellows

Skin of the grapes.

bentonite

Clay mineral for the beauty of the wine.

biancame

The name Biancame stands for a local white grape variety from Marche. From the area north of Ancona comes the light, sparkling DOC white wine Biancchello del Metauro, which is highly regarded by many tourists as a thirst quencher.

Bianco

Italian name for a white wine.

biancolella

The white grape variety is cultivated in the Italian region of Campania. There it is used in the DOC wines of Capri and Ischia as a blending partner or as the basis for a Vino da Tavola (table wine).

bicchiere

Italian name for a glass.

Bigoli

Italian thick spaghetti made from wholemeal flour.

Binaco d'Alessano

Binaco d'Alessano is a local white grape variety from Locorotondo, a small Italian wine-growing village in the south of the Apulia region. The white DOC Locorotondo is produced from the grapes blended with the Verdeca grape. This wine is considered the best white wine of Apulia because of its fine character.

bitter

This taste characteristic can be an unpleasant aspect of a badly made wine, or it can be a still undeveloped desired taste concentration, which should become richer and more delicate with increasing maturity.

bitter almond

Smell of almond kernels in wine, often associated with acetic acid and a wine defect.

Black cock

Since 1924, the black cock, historical symbol of the old Chianti military league (immortalized by Giorgio Vasari in the ceiling painting of the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence), has been the guarantee mark for every Chianti Classico bottle produced by the members of the consortium.

black earth

Soil type - "Chernozem", excellent suitability for viticulture.

blaze

Term for a spirit drink whose total alcohol originates exclusively from the distillation of the raw materials used.

Blend

It is understood as the mixing of two or more wines. These can be obtained from different grape varieties and vineyards and also from different vintages. Usually a grape variety forms the main part of a cuvée and thus determines the character of the wine.

blind tasting

A wine tasting in which the identity of the wines is only made known to the examiners after they have given their assessment.

blood alcohol concentration

The consumed alcohol goes into the but circulation. The amount of alcohol in the blood is expressed in per mille.

Blue Trollinger

The Trollinger - also called the Blue Trollinger - is considered to be a robust, vigorous and extremely productive red wine variety. It is cultivated exclusively in Württemberg and South Tyrol as well as in Trentino. In Italy, however, the Trollinger is called Vernatsch or Schiava, because in the Trentino/South Tyrol region everything has a German and an Italian name. The Trollinger appears in three varieties. The Großvernatsch or Schiava Grosso is also known as Tafeltraube Black Hamburg. The name derives from the unusually large berries of a grape variety used for wine production. The two other varieties of this variety, the Schiava Gentile - also known as Edelvernatsch - with its smaller berries and the Tschaggele with even smaller berries produce a much better wine quality.

The Trollinger is a fresh, juicy and down-to-earth red wine. A certain residual sweetness makes the harmonious drinking wines even more uncomplicated. However, predicate wines are rare. The light, simple plants are ready for drinking in the year after the harvest. They should also be consumed soon as they do not improve on the bottle. The fine floral scent of the wines is usually perceived as a delicate redcurrant shade or as a raspberry or wild cherry aroma. Light roséwines are also produced from the Trollinger.

The trollinger plays an important role especially in his region of origin South Tyrol. The Schiava vine is the most common variety there, accounting for 60 percent of the cultivated area. On Lake Caldaro (Lago di Caldaro), which includes the vineyards around the small mountain lake near Bolzano, as well as in the DOC areas of St. Magdalener (Santa Maddalena), Bozner Leiten (Colli di Bolzano) and Meraner Hüge (Meranese di Collina), almost exclusively the three Vernatsch varieties are cultivated - and here above all the higher quality noble Vernatsch.

body

The body corresponds to the substances, the extracts, that the wine contains. A full-bodied wine has a rich colour, full aroma and intense taste. It looks full and weighty on the tongue (the opposite is the case with a thin wine). The body thus determines the perceived impressions.

The more full-bodied the grapes used, the more full-bodied the wine produced from them will be. The more grapes grow on a vine, the less full-bodied the wine will be.

Bollicina

Italian name for sparkling wine.

bollicini

Italian name for the pearls in sparkling wine.

Bolognese

Italian: Minced meat sauce.

Bombino Bianco

Bombino Bianco is a white, very productive grape variety cultivated throughout southern Italy, where it is one of the most common white varieties. The late ripening grape is very productive and is exported to a large extent to Germany for blending purposes.

Bonarda

Under the name Bonarda at least two red wine vines from northern Italy are combined. The Bonarda itself is cultivated in northern Piedmont, especially in the Novara Mountains. It is used in its pure form and blended with some Nebbiolo wines.

In Lombardy, the Bonarda is in Oltrepò Pavese is the local name for the Croatina vine. All in all, the wines from the Bonarda are light, pleasant and intended for every day. They should be drunk young.

Bosco

The Bosco is a local white grape variety from the Ligurian coast, south of Genoa. With the addition of local Albarola and Vermentino, the result is a light, delicate and aromatic white wine. Only in very small quantities is a sweet straw wine, the Sciacchetrà, produced from raisined grapes.

bottle fermentation

The classic method of sparkling wine production. In Italy mostly called "Metodo Classiso".

bottling

The bottling process, Italian: imbottigliato, is the final step in the vinification process. Bottling is carried out under sterile or at least low-germ conditions. Pasteurisation is common in some plants. After corking, the process of bottle ripening begins.

bottling

bouquet

This expression should be applied to the harmony of the smells, which are clearly attributable to the ageing of the wine in the bottle. Hence "aroma" for the grape and "bouquet" for the bottle.

However, since it is not always possible to use this term in its purest form, aroma and bouquet may be considered synonyms.

brachetto

Brachetto is a rare red grape variety that is well suited for the production of dessert wines. The wine is mainly sparkling in the bottle and often has an interesting taste of sweetness and tannin.

In the south of the Langhe, Brachetto d'Acqui is produced as a light, fresh, sweet, slightly pearly and pale coloured Brachetto. The typical taste is always associated with strawberries. The Brachetto d'Acqui would have deserved much more attention than it is given due to its limited availability and the resulting low level of recognition.

Recently, this wine has been upgraded from DOC to DOCG status. Other wines produced from this variety are Brachetto d'Asti, Brachetto Moirano and Brachetto d'Alba.

Brachetto d'Acqui

A pure DOCG red wine from the Brachetto vine from the hillsides of the provinces of Asti and Alessandria, including the municipality of Acqui Terme. The Brachetto d'Acqui is offered as a sparkling and still wine.

The colour garnet red, tending to light red; in the nose a very delicate musk aroma; on the palate sweet and soft. Minimum alcohol content: 11.5% vol. Food recommendation: Red fruits, cake.

brandiness

Taste sensation in a wine when the alcohol is too pronounced or unpleasant.

Bricco

Italian term for a hill or slope.

brick-red

Color of very long aged red wines shortly before maderizing.

brief

Wine without an aftertaste that leaves a feeling of emptiness instead of an aftertaste.

Brodo

Italian for meat, fish or vegetable broth.

brown earth

Soil type - Often an excellent soil for viticulture.

bucatini

Italian, bigger, thicker spaghetti.

burro

Italian for butter.

Böckser

A wine defect that occurs when hydrogen sulphide is formed during fermentation. This creates an unpleasant smell of rotten eggs, old meat or burnt rubber. This fault can often be corrected by airing the wine, and a baker that occurs with young wines often disappears with storage.