T

table wine - A term used to differentiate standard wine from stronger fortified wine or sparkling wine. In some countries it is meant to designate the lowest quality level of wine produced, as in France, where it is called vin de table. The same is true of Spain's vino da mesa, Portugal's vinho de mesa and Germany's Tafelwein, but in the case of vino da tavola in Italy, many of the country's finest wines illogically appear under that heading. European Union guidelines stipulate that all wine produced must fall into one of two categories: table wine or the superior quality wine.

Tafelwein - German - Table wine. The basic official classification of wine quality under German Wine law, however, the vast majority of German wines fall into the higher Qualitätswein category. Wine simply labelled Tafelwein can be made from imported grapes or blended from imported wine, while Deutscher Tafelwein (including Landwein) must originate entirely in Germany.

Talento - Italian - A new term, instituted in 1996, for Italian méthode champenoise sparkling wines.

tank method - Another name for the Charmat method for making sparkling wine.

tannic - Describes a wine with a strongly astringent flavour due to the presence of tannins.

tannins - A group of chemical compounds that occur naturally in some fruits, such as grapes, and in tree bark and wood -- part of a larger group of substances called phenolics. They are more prevalent in red grapes than in white and are extracted mostly from the skins, seeds and stems during maceration, and also from oak barrels used for ageing wine. Tannins play an important role in helping wines age, but can impart a bitter, astringent taste to young wines.

tart - Tasting term applied to wines that are high in acid.

tartaric acid - The most plentiful acid found in grapes, this chemical is relatively rare in other fruits and is one of the keys to the suitability of grapes for winemaking. Tartaric acid is a large component of the flavour of a wine and helps to maintain its colour, however, as potassium tartrate (or cream of tartar) it can leave a deposit of crystals in wine.

tartrates, tartrate crystals - These harmless crystals, a by-product of tartaric acid, are possibly alarming to consumers who might mistake them for shards of glass. As a result, winemakers often try to control them through a stabilization process.

tastevin (taste-vin) - French - This is a kind of glass tube used to suck the wine from a barrel when broaching is impossible. A little flat cup in which you can examine the wine to drink. The taste-vin has the following characteristics: it is usually made of silver or silver plated, its shape is round, like a shallow cup, with a ringed handle and a "fingerledge". Inside, one end is composed of eight big bead-shaped indentations used for the visual evaluation of red wines; the other end has the so-called "ribbings" for the examination of the color of white wines. At the center there is a big "bubble" that is used as a level and all around there are fourteen small bead-shaped indentations that are used to air the wine more quickly. Sommeliers wear it around their neck hanging from a chain.

tawny - A style of port.

TBA - A frequently used, and forgivable, abbreviation of Trockenbeerenauslese.

tears - Also called legs these are the streaky, viscous traces that, with certain wines, will cling to the sides of a glass. Frequently mistaken as a sign of high sugar content, they are more an indication of a higher level of alcohol.

teinturier - French - Meaning literally "dyer", any of a number of grape varieties having red flesh and juice, rather than the usual white. Most red wines get their colour by extracting pigment from the skins of dark grapes, but teinturier varieties can be used to boost the colour of pale wines. Called tintorera in Spanish.

tenuta - Italian - An agricultural estate.

terroir - French - Meaning "soil", a term for the effect of the land on a wine. Without a direct English equivalent, this word specifically refers to the consistent, distinctive qualities in a wine that are not due to grape variety, specific weather fluctuations or the skills of the grower and winemaker. Soil composition and drainage, elevation and slope, exposure to sun as well as micro- and mesoclimate all contribute to terroir. It is an elusive quality, better captured by some wines than others, but it plays a large role in defining specific geographic wine regions.

thief - a pipette used for sampling wine from the top of a tank.

thin - term used in sensory evaluation referring to a wine which lacks body, alcohol or acidity.

tinto - Spanish, Portuguese - Red, when used in reference to wine.

tintorera - Spanish - Teinturier.

tirage - French - Meaning "pulling" or "drawing", this refers either to simply drawing wine from the barrel for bottling or for the process in the making of sparkling wine of adding a mixture that includes fermentable sugar and yeast -- called dosage, or liqueur de tirage -- to induce the secondary fermentation.

toast - Refers to the process of heat treating the inner surface of an oak barrel before it is used for storing wine. The amount of "toast" -- how much heat is applied and for how long -- is a factor in the amount of tannins the wine absorbs from the wood, and plays a large part in the flavour of the wine. Generally, more toast results in less pronounced tannins and produces flavours that are toasted or burnt rather than raw or green. Burgundy barrels generally have more toast than those of Bordeaux.

Tokay or Tokaji - Hungarian - A wine from the Tokaj-Hegyalja region in the north east of Hungary, the most famous being Tokay Aszú. Aszú is the Hungarian word for grapes affected by Botrytis cinerea, and it was here in the mid-17th century that the wondrous effects of this noble rot on wine were discovered. Over the next two hundred years the luxurious Tokay Aszú wines were to become favourites of European aristocracy, and the finest of them, Tokay Eszencia, was believed to possess almost magical powers of healing. Tokay Aszú is allowed to oxidize to a certain extent during its production to give it a more complex character, and it is graded for sweetness by the number of puttonyos of aszú added to a volume of basic szamorodni, or "as it grows", wine. Puttonyos are traditional containers, like hods, that hold the harvested grapes. The number of puttonyos added (usually 3 to 6) dictates the sweetness of the wine. Not all Tokays are sweet, however. Tokay Ordinarium is produced from grapes that have not been affected by botrytis, while Tokay Szamorodni is made from less than 50% botrytis-affected grapes and may or may not be sweet depending on the proportion. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the arrival of capitalism in Eastern Europe, the Tokay region is witnessing a rebirth thanks in part to foreign investment and worldwide interest in its historic wines.

tonneau - French - Originally a large wooden barrel that held an amount equal to 100 cases of bottled wine (900 litres, 237.6 US gal, 197.9 UK gal) the word is still used in the Bordeaux trade as a measure of wine volume.

topping up - The adding of wine to a barrel or other container to replace that lost to evaporation. Necessary to prevent oxidation. See ullage.

transpiration - Loss of moisture from a vine by evaporation through the leaves.

Trocken - German - Dry.

Trockenbeerenauslese - German - In the Qualitätswein mit Prädikat category of German white wines, as described by German wine law, this wine is made from the ripest grapes and so is the most rare, rich and expensive. It is made from the selected harvest (auslese) of individually picked grapes (beeren) that have been dried up (trocken) by noble rot, resulting in a wine that is richly sweet and deep gold in colour. The difficulty and risk of producing these wines, along with their exceptional quality, make them among the most expensive and highly prized wines in the world. See also Auslese and Beerenauslese.

troncais - Name of a category of French oak shipped from the Troncais region

typicity - Winetasting term used to indicate the degree to which a wine is typical of its origins -- its variety, geography, and sometimes vintage.