Habersham Wine Dictionary

Mâcon (Mah-coN) - Large region of Burgundy generally known for its good, modest table wines.

Mâcon Villages (Mah-con Vee-lahj) - higher quality Macon wines

Madeira (Mah-DER-ah) - Portuguese island in the Atlantic off the North African coast, producing an unusual fortified wine of the same name. Very popular in the U.S. during Revolutionary War times, the Madeira trade was an important part of the young nation's economy.

Madiran (Mah-dee-raN) - Small but important Languedoc appellation producing particularly robust, ageworthy red wines.

Malbec (Mahl-bek) - Red-wine grape used as a nominal element of the Bordeaux blend, where its intense color and extract add to the wine's body; also used as primary grape in the inky red wines of Cahors and in some Argentine reds.

Malvasia (Mahl-va-SEE-ah) - Italian white-wine grape, often blended with other grapes (including the traditional Chianti), occasionally seen as a 100 percent varietal.

Mancha, la (La Mahn-cha) - Spanish region widely known for good table wine production

Manzanilla (Mahn-za-NEE-yah) - A dry style of Sherry, similar to Fino, made in a particular seaside village where the environment allegedly adds a saltwater tang to the wine.

Marc (mar) - skins and seeds left in the press after juice has been extracted

Marechal Foch (Mah-reh-shal Fosh) - French-hybrid grape used to make red wines in the Eastern U.S.

Margaux (Mahr-goe) - One of the top sub-regions of the Medoc in Bordeaux, centered on the first-growth property that shares its name.

Marsala (Mar-sahl-la) - Italian fortified wines produced in the city of the same name

Marsanne (Mahr-sahn) - Excellent white-wine grape of the Rhone, increasingly planted in California.

Mataro (Mah-TAH-roe) - Spanish name for Mourvèdre, which see.

Mavrodaphne (Mahv-roe-DAHF-nee) - Greek red-wine grape usually used in a sweet, strongly fortified dessert wine that can represent very good value.

Mead (Meed) - fermentation of honey and water

Médoc (May-dawk) - The peninsula between the Gironde River and the sea, center of the Bordeaux vineyard area. See "Haut-Médoc."

Mendoza (Men-dos-sa) - Argentinian wine-producing province

Merlot (Mare-low) - Very good red-wine grape, a key player in the Bordeaux blend, more recently grown as a varietal in its own right, especially in California and, increasingly, Washington State. Because it makes a smooth and mellow red wine, it has become an "entry" wine for new red-wine drinkers, especially those inspired by recent publicity about red wine's purported benefits for cardiovascular health. Accordingly, in recent years, for many people, "a glass of Merlot" has become all but synonymous with "a glass of red wine." Black-cherry and herbal flavors are typical.

Method Champenoise (May-tode Shahm-pen-wahs) - "champagne method" in French; describes sparkling wine-making process using secondary fermentation in the bottle

Maursault (Mere-so) - ancient wine-producing (very high quality) region in Burgundy

Minervois (Mee-nehr-vwah) - Languedoc wine region, source of inexpensive, fruity red wine.

Mise en bouteille (Meez ahn Boo-tay) - Literally, "put in bottle" in French. "Mise en bouteille au Château" has legal significance, meaning "estate bottled," wine made by, and from grapes grown on the property of, the winery.

Montagny (Maw-tan-ye) - white wine made from the Chardonnay grape in Burgundy

Montepulciano (Mahn-tay-pul-chan-no) - Italian red wine made in southern Tuscany

Morgon (Mor-gaw) - Beaujolais red wine and the village in which it is produced

Moscato (Mos-cot-toe) - Italian word for Muscat (grape variety)

Mosel, Moselle (Mo-ZELL) - Beautiful German river valley, tributary of the Rhine, source of some of the nation's best white wines made from Riesling grapes. Also in Luxembourg, where a small amount of wine is produced.

Moulin-A-Vent (Moo-lah ah Vaw) - fine Beaujolais wine

Mourvèdre (Moor-VED'rr) - Red grape commonplace in Southern France, Languedoc and the Rhone, also Spain (where it is known as Mataro) and, increasingly, California. Rich in color and extract, it often imparts earthy aromas to the wine; one common descriptor is "tree bark."

Mulled Wine - red wine with added sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, or cloves

Müller-Thurgau (MEW-lehr Toor-gow) - Relatively modern grape, perhaps a Riesling-Sylvaner cross, widely planted in Germany although it tends to make a simpler, lighter wine than Riesling. Also a mainstay of England's small vineyard industry.

Muscadelle (Mus-cah-del) - white wine grape of Bordeaux that is interplanted with Semillon or Sauvignon Blanc

Muscadet (Moos-cah-day) - A light, dry Loire white wine made from a grape of the same name (alternatively named Melon ("May-lawN"), sometimes showing a light musky or cantaloupe quality.

Muscat (Moos-caht) - Aromatic, ancient grape, considered by some to be an ancient ancestor of most other vitis vinifera grapes; makes wines, often sweet and always fruity, with a characteristic grapefruity and musky (as the name implies) aroma.

Napa - widely-known California wine district

Nebbiolo (Nay-BYOH-low) - Noble grape of Northwestern Italy's Piedmonte region, source of such powerful and ageworthy red wines as Barolo, Barbaresco and Gattinara. Typical aroma and flavor descriptors include "violets" and "tar" and intense black fruit.

Nero d'Avola - Italy's flagship indigenous grape and an important Sicilian red wine; has recently become successful worldwide; generally berry-flavored and has good aging potential

Nouveau (Noo-voe) - Literally "new" in French, most often seen in "Nouveau Beaujolais," the first wine of the new Beaujolais vintage, first sold by tradition on the third Thursday of November and best consumed before the end of that year.

Oloroso (Oh-loe-roe-soe) - Spanish, literally "fragrant." One of the two broad categories of Sherry, the other being Fino (above). Olorosos are typically dark and full-bodied, in contrast with the light Fino; most are made sweet, but dry Oloroso (like the Emilio Lustau Don Nuño) can be a revelation.

Optima (OP-tee-mah) - Modern German grape, a Sylvaner x Riesling x Müller-Thurgau cross. Primarily a blending grape but turns up occasionally as a varietal.

Orvieto (Orv-YEH-toe) - Dry white wine from the ancient town of the same name in Umbria, Italy, between Rome and Florence.

Oxidized - term used to describe a wine that has had too much contact with air and has lost (or is beginning to lose) its freshness

Paille (Pie) - French for "straw"; describes a high-alcohol white wine made from grapes that have been allowed to dry and almost become raisins

Palo Cortado (Pah-low Core-tah-doe) - lightest classification of the Oloroso Sherrys

Palomino - grape used to make Sherry

Panades (Pah-nah-des) - region in northeast Spain famous for producing fine, sweet wines such as Malvasia and Moscatel

Passé (Pah-say) - French term used to describe a wine that is past its prime for drinking

Passito (Pah-SEE-toe) - Italian wine-making process in which harvested grapes are placed in a dry room (traditionally on straw mats) to dry into raisins before being pressed. The procedure concentrates the sugars in the grape juice, and is usually used to make sweet wines, although one of the finest -- Amarone (which see) -- is usually dry.

Patras - Greek wine (usually white) grown near Athens

Pauillac (Pow-yahk) - Village of the Haut-Medoc in Bordeaux, central to perhaps the world's greatest vineyard region.

Pays (Pay-ee) - French word meaning 'country'; when applied to a wine it relates to the origin

Pedro Ximinez (Pay-dro He-may-nays) - popular Spanish grape variety that is often high in alcohol content

Penedès (Pay-nay-DEHS) - Good Spanish wine district near Barcelona. Dominated by the Torres winery.

Perequita (Pay-reh-KEE-tah) - Portuguese grape, produces hearty, robust dry reds.

Perlant (Pair-lah) - French term used to describe a wine that is very slightly sparkling

Perlwein (Pairl-vine) - German term used to describe a wine that is very slightly sparkling

Pessac (Pess-sac) - wine producing region west of Bordeaux

Pétillant (Peh-tee-yahN) - Like the Italian "frizzante," slightly sparkling, perhaps sensed merely as a prickling on the tongue without actual bubbles being visible.

Petit (Peh-tee) - French term meaning "small" that describes a wine that is low in alcohol or lacking in body

Petit Verdot (Peh-tee Vehr-doe) - Red wine grape, fine quality but a minor player in the Bordeaux blend.

Petite Sirah (Peh-teet See-rah) - California red grape, probably the same as the Durif of the Rhone. Makes an inky-dark red wine that can last forever, but typically one-dimensional in flavor, with the warm, plummy notes typical of grapes grown in a warm climate.

Phylloxera (fil-LOX-er-rah) - Plant louse that can devastate vineyards; virtually wiped out the French wine industry during the 1860s and 1870s (after being accidentally exported on vines from the U.S.), and remains a problem today in Northern California, where many vineyards are now being replanted on louse-resistant roots.

Picolit (Peek-oh-leet) - Italian white dessert wine produced from the grape of the same name

Piemonte (Pee-eh-MAWN-tay) - Also "Piedmont," literally "the foot of the mountains," Northwestern Italian wine region in the Alpine foothills, producer of some of the world's greatest red wines.

Piesport (Peas-port) - small German wine-producing region

Pinot Blanc (Pee-noe BlahN) - White wine grape, making a dry, full white wine that some liken to Chardonnay, but typically medium in body and sometimes showing melon scents.

Pinot Gris (Pee-noe Gree) and Pinot Grigio (Gree-joe) - French and Italian names, respectively, for the same grape, typically making a dry and very crisp and acidic white wine, often with a light musky aroma, well-suited to accompany seafood and fish. Common in Alsace, Northeastern Italy, and increasingly Oregon, where it takes the French name.

Pinot Meunier (Pee-noe Mehr-n'yay) - Relatively uncommon as a varietal, but frequently used in the Champagne blend.

Pinot Noir (Pee-noe Nwahr) - Classic red grape, widely acceptes as one of the world's best. Burgundy is its home, and it has proven difficult to grow and vinify well elsewhere, but California and Oregon increasingly hit the mark (albeit with usually a somewhat different style), and wine makers in many other parts of the world are still trying. At its peak, it makes wines of incredible complexity, difficult to describe (although cherries and "earthy" qualities are typical), known as much for its "velvety" texture as its flavor.

Pinotage (Pee-noe-tahj) - A cross between Pinot Noir x Cinsaut of the Rhone, grown commercially only in South Africa, where it makes a fruity, dark red wine with an odd earthy character often described as "paintbox."

Piquant - term used by tasters to describe a tart white wine that is rather spicy; fresh and attractive

Piqué (Pee-kay) - French term used to describe a wine that has begun to go sour

Polcevera (Paul-chay-veh-ra) - sweet Italian white table wine

Pomace (Pum-mess) - skins and seeds left in the press after juice has been extracted

Pomerol (Paw-mehr-ahl) - Noteworthy village on the right bank of the Dordogne, opposite the Haut-Médoc, known for its Merlot-based red wines, particularly the cultish Chateau Pétrus.

Pommard (Po-mar) - popular red Burgundy

Port - a sweet, heavily fortified wine; originated in Portugal but produced in other countries as well