Glossary Terms

Franciacorta DOCG is a sparkling wine from the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It is made using the traditional method and the allowed grape varieties are Chardonnay, Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) and Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc). A non-vintage Franciacorta must spend a minimum of 18 months on lees, and a vintage wine 30 months.

Frizzante is an Italian labelling term used to indicate that a wine is lightly, or semi, sparkling. European law stipulates that a wine labelled frizzante will have between 1 and 2.5 bar pressure – which is roughly half the pressure you would see in a bottle of Champagne. So you can expect fewer, gentler bubbles in a wine labelled frizzante.

In Australia, Geographical Indications (GIs) are used to indicate the origins of the grapes used in a wine – thus, a wine cannot claim to be from Margaret River unless at least 85% of the fruit has come from Margaret River. The GIs are defined legally and Wine Australia conducts audits regularly to ensure labelling integrity.

Internationally, GI is often used as a country-neutral way of describing the geographical origin of a product – for example, Feta from Greece or Bordeaux from France.

Gran Reserva is a Spanish labelling term that indicates a wine has had a minimum amount of aging prior to release. Although this can vary from region to region, for reds it is typically a minimum of five years aging prior to release, of which at least two years must be in barrel. Whites and rosés have a slightly shorter requirement. As these are legal minima, it is not uncommon to see wines released after even more aging.

For Rioja, it is 5 years, of which at least 2 years in 225 litre oak barrels and 2 years bottle aging, whereas Priorat is 2 years in barrel followed by 3 years in bottle as a minimum.

Grand Cru Classé is a French labelling term that was introduced in 1855, at a time when Paris was hosting the Universal Exposition. Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification of the wines of Bordeaux – and the French Wine Trade Association at the time ranked the wines according to price and reputation. The classification ONLY covers the wines of Médoc and Sauternes and groups the wines into five growths (categories) – with fifth growth being the least prestigious and first growth the most prestigious. This classification has remained static ever since, with one small change in the 1970s, when Château Mouton Rothschild was promoted from second growth to first.

IGT is the third of Italy’s four levels of wine classification, coming in after the much stricter DOCG and DOC but ahead of vino da tavola. It was originally introduced in recognition of the quality of the Super Tuscans and indicates that the wine is made from grapes from a particular region (and those regions tend to be much larger than those of DOCG & DOC) and rules around production, while they vary, are much more relaxed.

The lees are the deposits of dead yeast that fall to the bottom of a vat or barrel after fermentation is complete.

Wine is often racked off the lees (transferred to another container) although some wines are aged ‘on lees’ (‘sur lie‘ in French), which adds body and flavour complexity to the wine. In sparkling wine production, especially that made by the traditional method, this lees contact within the bottle is an important part of the finished product’s flavour profile, contributing to the wine’s distinctive bready and yeasty aroma.

The Left Bank is a Bordeaux wine-making region which sits to the left (or southern-most) side of the estuary and two rivers (Dordogne and Garonne) which divide Bordeaux. In general, the wines are Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, with Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec making up the support act.

The liqueur de tirage is a blend of yeast, still wine and sugar which is added to the still base wine in the production of sparkling wines (predominantly the traditional method, but also the transfer method). The liqueur de tirage is what triggers the secondary fermentation. The amount of sugar in the liqueur de tirage determines (in part) the dryness of the finished product and the amount of carbon dioxide produced.

An area in the southern part of Bourgogne (Burgundy) which produces predominantly white wines made from Chardonnay.