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Spanish Wine Terms

Bodega

A winery or large winery building where wines are matured and stored; a wine cellar; a small wine shop.

Bodeguero

A bodega owner; winemaker

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

Sweet

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

Vineyard.

Vino Blanco

White wine.

Vino Fino de Mesa

Fine table wine.

Vino Rosado

Rose or blush wine

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.