H

habzó - Hungarian - Sparkling.

halbtrocken - German - Half dry, or semi-sweet.

half-bottle - Bottle equivalent in capacity to one-half a standard bottle (375 ml., 12.75 US fl. oz., 13.28 UK fl. oz.).

hard - Describes a wine that is overly firm with harsh tannins and/or acidity. Such wines may soften with age.

haut - French - Meaning "high", this word is frequently seen on French wine labels -- as in Haut-Poitou or Haut-Médoc -- and refers not to a qualitative difference, but to a relative geographic location, either further north or above in altitude.

herbaceous - A grassy or leafy quality present in some wines. An excess of it is a fault and may come from using underripe grapes in making the wine.

hock - A British term used collectively for German wines from the Rhine region.

hollow - Used to describe a wine that may have character in its aroma but lacks depth on the palate.

honest - Describes wine that is true in character to its variety and geography.

horizontal tasting - A type of structured winetasting involving wines of various wine producers from a single vintage. See also blind tasting and vertical tasting.

hot - Describes a wine with an excess of alcohol, sometimes due to a very hot harvest.

hybrid - Sometimes used to mean a grape crossing. Different vine varieties can be bred to create new varieties with specific qualities. Ehrenfelser is a very successful hybrid of Riesling and Sylvaner.