Spanish Wine Terms
Bodega
A winery or large winery building where wines are matured and stored; a wine cellar; a small wine shop.
Bodeguero
Cava
Sparkling wine made by the methode champenoise technique as in Champagne; a winery which makes sparkling wines.
Consejo Regulador
The regulatory agency which governs each denominacion de origen and promotes the wines of that region.
Cosecha
Vintage; harvest. Cosecha 1992, etc.
Crianza, Vino de
Wine aged in accordance with the regulations set by the consejo regulador (regulatory council) for each denominacion de origen.
Denominacion de Origen (DO)
Denomination of Origin. Guarantee of origin.
Dulce
Elaborado por
Produced, matured by.
Embotellado por
Bottled by
Flor – (flower)
Yeast which grows on the surface of fine sherries.
Jerez
Sherry. Jerez de la Frontera, the main town of the Sherry district.
Reserva & Gran Reserva
Reserve wines. Can only carry this designation if certain aging requirements are met.
Seco
Dry. (Blanco Seco = Dry White)
Solera System
A complicated network of barrels used to make Sherry, Montilla, Condados, and other fortified wines.
Uva
Grape.
Vendimia
The whole process of bringing in the grapes to be made into wine. The vintage.
Vino de calidad (Quality wine)
Must come from a DO or DE. Only wine made from the free-run or lightly pressed juice of ripe healthy grapes, which has undergone a temperature controlled fermentation, qualifies.
Vino de cosecha, or vendimia
Wines of a particular vintage year. In special cases, if the purpose is to improve the quality of the wine, a maximum of 15% of wine of a previous year may be added.
Vina, Vinedo
Vino Blanco
White wine.
Vino Fino de Mesa
Vino Rosado
Vino Tinto
Red wine.
Vino Generoso
Special aged dry or sweet wines of higher alcoholic strength than table wines. From the Latin term for excellence. Sherries are vinos generosos.