Glossary

A tasting term that refers to the unbalanced or unharmonious taste of a wine, often when the acidity or tannins are too sharp or dominant.

Refers to a slightly faulty wine, where the aromas do not seem clean.

High quality wines (particularly red wines) are not often filtered, thus preserving its taste and natural colour. To support the natural stabilisation of such wines, a longer maturation in oak is often recommended.

There are still some isolated places in Austria, where there are ungrafted vines that were not devastated by phylloxera. Inter-specific hybrids are also ungrafted vines.

Often a description for youthful wines that are not yet approachable, or where the individual components (alcohol, acidity, tannin and residual sugar) appear unbalanced on the palate.

A wine fault that is often caused by an improper malolactic fermentation. The wine displays an unpleasant aroma of milk, butter, yoghurt or cheese.

An unripe wine with a grass-like character.

Regarded as a wine fault, UTA describes slightly musty, rapidly developed and non-expressive aromas. The probable causes are usually poor vine nourishment, vine stress or too high a yield.

This is a wine-making operation used to increase the concentration of the must, whereby water and grape juice is drawn out of the must. In a vacuum, water begins to evapourate at 25 °C to 30 °C, without having any negative effect on the aromas of the finished wine. This form of concentration (reverse osmosis) has been permitted in the EU for a number of years, and is already a practice employed in Austria as an alternative to chaptalization in red wine production. Vacuum evapouration is also a process used for the production of alcohol-free wine.

An aroma usually related to oak barrel maturation.

e.g. stone fruit bouquet for Riesling, the rose petal fragrance in Traminer

There are eleven ampelography groups sigificant in the Vitis vinifera subspecies. The main differences are between early and late ripening varieties. There are also categories for indigenous and international varieties. In Austria, the following grapes varietes are classified for the production of Qualitätswein. White wine varieties: Blütenmuskateller, Bouvier, Chardonnay (Morillon), Frühroter Veltliner (Malvasier), Furmint, Goldburger, Goldmuskateller (Moscato Giallo), Grauer Burgunder (Pinot Gris, Ruländer), Grüner Veltliner (Weißgipfler), Jubiläumsrebe, Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner), Muscaris, Muskateller (Gelber Muskateller, Roter Muskateller), Muskat-Ottonel, Neuburger, Roter Veltliner, Rotgipfler, Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe (Sämling 88),Souvignier Gris, Sylvaner (Grüner Sylvaner), Traminer (Gewürztraminer, Roter Traminer), Weißer Burgunder (Weißburgunder, Pinot Blanc, Klevner), Weißer Riesling (Riesling, Rheinriesling), Welschriesling and Zierfandler (Spätrot). The red wine varieties are: Blauburger, Blauer Burgunder (Blauer Spätburgunder, Blauburgunder, Pinot Noir), Blauer Portugieser, Blauer Wildbacher, Blaufränkisch, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Ráthay, Roesler, Rosenmuskateller, St. Laurent, Syrah and Zweigelt (Blauer Zweigelt, Rotburger).

Alarge open-topped oak vessel or vat, usually used for red wine fermentation.

According to Austrian Wine Law, the indication ‘suitable for vegans’ or reference to belonging to a relevant association are permitted if no animal products (egg, milk, casein) have been used in production. The indication ‘vegan’ in connexion with the sales description or a ‘traditional’ representation (for example, ‘young vegan’) is not permitted.

A description of red wine with a soft, supple taste with harmonious tannins.

Is used to carry the acidity in an array of recipies, a natural remedy, and is enjoying a revival as an alternative to vinegar.

Refers to an aromatised wine with the bitter oil of the vermouth plant, often used as an aperitif.

There are the following types of tastings, blind tastings, vertical tastings (different vintages from one wine), commented tastings, tastings where wine are rated in a competition, a wine quiz, and so on.

The vine refers to both the scion, that is above ground (European quality variety), and the rootstock. Only the one year old vine wood can produce grapes. Older vines that give a lower yield, but guarantee a higher quality are particularly favoured.

Crossings always result in new cultivated vines.