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Wine Glossary: V

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Vendange (France)
Harvest.

Vendange tardive (France)
Delayed harvest. Wines labelled as such usually have a sweet palate.

Venencia (Spain)
The wonderful, long-handled ladle that features in so many pictures of Spanish winemakers tasting their Sherry. This allows samples of the wine to be drawn without disturbing the coating of flor.

Vertical trellis
A vine training method. More details may be found in my advice page on vine training techniques.

Vielles vignes (France)
Old vines. Producers like to put this on the label if possible as old vines give better flavours and texture.

Vigne (France)
Vine.

Vigneron (France)
Winegrower.

Vignoble (France)
Vineyard. Are you seeing a pattern emerge here?

Vin clair (France)
The base wine for Champagne, after the primary alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation but before the second fermentation. For more details see my Champagne Guide.

Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (France)
This is a classification for French wine one step above Vin de Pays, and certainly above the lowly Vin de Table. Many regions classified as VDQS are being upgraded to Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, and so it is now infrequently seen.

Vin de Pays (France)
Essentially 'country wines', there are many very good wines to be found in this category. The category lies below Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée and the rapidly disappearing Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure, but is distinctly superior to the usually awful Vin de Table.

Vin de Table (France)
The lowest category for French wine. By law such wines may not even declare grape varieties or vintage on the label - that is if they ever get as far as being bottled. These are the wines that you still see dispensed by the petrol pump appliances en vrac at lowly co-operatives.

Vin doux naturel (France)
A style of wine common in the south, vin doux naturel describes fortified wines where grape spirit has been added before completion of fermentation. This action kills the yeast, and the unfermented sugar causes the wine to be sweet. See my feature on mutage, in my Sweet Wine series, for more detailed information.

Vin gris (France)
An old term which seems to have fallen from common usage. It describes 'grey' wines - really very pale rosés.

Vintage
A seemingly innocuous term that turns out to mean many different things to different people. The 'vintage' simply refers to the year the grapes were grown. So, for instance, we might describe the year 2000 as a great vintage for Bordeaux as the weather that year was excellent, and many superlative wines were made. When it comes to Champagne, a vintage wine is one that is made from grapes all grown in the year declared on the label, whereas a non-vintage wine is a blend of wines from several years.

Vitis labrusca
The fruit of the vine Vitis labrusca itself may be used in the production of wine, but is more often used for grape jelly or similar products. An American vine species, it was once an important source of rootstock for Phylloxera-sensitive Vitis vinifera.

Vitis vinifera
This is the one. The vinifera species includes all our favourites - Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Mourvèdre, Gewurztraminer, and so on. The species from which all the world's fine wines are made - even if they have to be grafted onto other rootstock in order to survive.

Volatile acidity
Wine has acidity, which is derived from the presence of a number of different acids including acetic, malic, tartaric, lactic, citric, carbonic and so on. Excessive levels of acetic acid produce an aroma resembling acetone (nail polish remover). In small quantities its presence can help lift the nose, but in excess it is unpleasant and a fault.

Glossary pages: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ