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Wine glossary
F
Fading
Wines that are fading are drying out and losing their fruit.
Fat
Wines that are fat are usually concentrated with a lot of round textured flavors. This can be a good quality. However, as you will see, flabby wines are not good.
Fattoria
Italian term for wine farm.
Federspiel
The middle category in the ripeness classification of white wines in Austria’s Wachau Valley. Federspiel-designated wines are made from medium-ripe grapes, and have mandated alcohol levels between 11.5 and 12.5 percent.
Feinherb
Unregulated German term for wines that are off-dry. Feinherb is often used in place of the less popular designation halbtrocken, as well as for wines that are slightly sweeter than regulations dictate for halbtrockens.
Feminine
Describes wines with qualities such as smoothness, roundness, gentleness, finesse, elegance and delicacy. Usage of «feminine» is in decline in favor of these more specific terms.
Fermentation
The process by which sugar is transformed into alcohol; how grape juice interacts with yeast to become wine.
Fiasco
A fiasco is a rounded, bottom-heavy glass wine bottle partly covered with a straw basket at its base. It is traditionally used for the wines of Chianti in Tuscany, Italy.
Field Blend
Multiple grape varieties planted in the same vineyard that are usually harvested and vinified at the same time.
Fifth Growth
Term for chateau in the 1855 Classification of the Medoc that earned the fifth highest level of classification.
Fighting Varietal
This term was coined in the 1980s to describe a new category of wines, labeled as varietals but priced nearly as inexpensively as generics (e.g., «Mountain Chablis» or «Hearty Burgundy»). Glen Ellen was one of the first to sell good quality Chardonnay and Cabernet for $4 to $6 per bottle. Since then, the category has expanded; it includes varietals such as Merlot, producers from regions as far-flung as Chile, Australia and the south of France, and prices up to nearly $10 per bottle. But the concept is the same: a varietal wine of good quality at an everyday price.
Fill Level
The amount of wine in a bottle is gauged by its height in the bottle. Common descriptors are good fill, high shoulder (the wine level is even with the sloping part of the bottle just below the neck), or low shoulder. Important since fill level is an indicator of the wine’s condition and whether it has been properly stored. The air space in the bottle, called ullage, can cause harmful oxidation.
Filtration
The process by which wine is clarified before bottling. Pumping wine through a screen or pad to remove leftover grape and fermentation particles. Most wines are filtered for both clarity and stability, although some winemakers believe that flavors and complexity may also be stripped from the wine.
Fine Lees
Following fermentation, some wines are aged on their fine lees. This is also known as aging sur lie. Fine lees, which are primarily dead yeast cells are created during the fermentation process and are used to add more richness, complexity and aromatics to a wine.
Finesse
Wines with finesse are elegant.
Fining
Part of the clarification process whereby elements are added to the wine, i.e. egg whites, in order to capture solids prior to filtration.
Finish
The impression of textures and flavors lingering in the mouth after swallowing wine.
Fino
Fino is the driest classification of Sherry wines. The freshest and palest category of Sherry, finos are protected from oxygenation by a cap of flor yeast while aging in barrel.
Firm
Wines that are firm are tannic and structured.
First Growths
Term for the absolute top Bordeaux wines, as defined by the French Government in the official 1855 Classification of Bordeaux wine.
Flabby
Flabby wines are low in acidity and lie there in your mouth. They are heavy and not fun to taste.
Flat
Describes a wine that is dull in flavor and unbalanced due to insufficient acidity. Can also refer to a sparkling wine that has lost its bubbles.
Flavors
Odors perceived in the mouth.
Fleshy
Fleshy wines are full bodied concentrated and round or opulent textures.
Flight
When more than one wine is poured at the same time.
Flinty
A descriptor for extremely dry white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, whose bouquet can be reminiscent of flint struck against steel.
Floral
Red and white wines can be floral. For example Bordeaux wine from Pomerol and Bordeaux wine from Margaux often displays a floral component.
Flowering
The time of year that the initial floral blossoms form on the grape vine.
Foot trodding
Traditional method by which grapes are crushed by foot. In Portugal, the only major winegrowing country in which foot trodding is still a common method for making high-end wines, foot trodding takes place in large, open vats or troughs known as lagares.
Fortified Wine
A wine in which brandy is introduced during fermentation; sugars and sweetness are high due to the suspended fermentation.
Forward
Forward denotes a young wine that is open or accessible to tasters.
Foudre
Massive oak vats that are used most often in the Rhone Valley during the ageing process.
Fourth Growth
Term for chateau in the 1855 Classification of the Medoc that earned the fourth highest level of classification.
Four Square
A British term for a wine that is simple, classic and one dimensional.
Foxy
A term that describes the musty odor and flavor of wines made from vitis labrusca, a common North American varietal.
Free-Run Juice
The juice released by a pile of grapes as their skins split under their own weight, before they are mechanically pressed. With white wines, this initial juice is considered to be the highest quality since it has the least amount of contact with bitter elements in the pips, skins and stems.
French Oak
The traditional wood for wine barrels, which supplies vanilla, cedar and sometimes butterscotch flavors. Used for red and white wines. Much more expensive than American oak, new French oak barrels can cost twice as much as new American barrels.
French Paradox
Despite a high-fat diet, the French have low rates of coronary heart disease. An explanation may be found in scientific evidence that points to the benefits of moderate wine consumption.
Fresh
Freshness is a good quality. It comes from acidity. Wine with ample freshness have lift.
Frizzante
(«frizz-zan-tay») An Italian term for a lightly sparkling wine.
Frost
Subfreezing temperatures, which can damage or kill vines, are especially harmful in the early spring after budbreak. Heaters known as smudge pots, wind machines that keep cold air from settling in the vineyard and aspersion (using water sprinklers to form a protective barrier of ice around young vine buds) may be used when frosts are forecast. In the winter, before budbreak, a moderate frost can be a blessing; it hardens the vine’s wood and also kills spores and pests living under the bark.
Fruit Set
The time of year when the fertilized flowers morph into small grape bunches.
Fruity
A tasting term for wines that exhibit strong smells and flavors of fresh fruit.
Full-bodied
A wine high in alcohol and flavors, often described as “big”.
Fumé Blanc
A name created by Robert Mondavi to describe dry Sauvignon Blanc.
Fût de chêne
French term for oak barrel.
Futures
Futures are how the top Bordeaux chateaux sell their wine. Chateaux offer their wines for sale in June following the vintage, close to 18 months before bottling and about two years prior to delivery. In the best vintages, consumers who purchase futures, often pay less for the wines than when they are in bottle. Futures should only be bought in the very best vintages.