W

watery - Describes a poor wine with even less body than one that is merely thin.

Wein - German - Wine or vine.

Weinberg - German - Vineyard.

Weinbrand - German - Brandy.

Weingut - German - A wine estate, specifically one that bottles its own wine from grapes grown on the property.

Weingut-Weinkellerei - German - Found on German wine labels, this means "wine estate-winecellar" and refers to a wine estate that grows its own grapes but also buys grapes.

Weinkellerei - German - A wine cellar. On wine labels this refers to a winery that makes wine from grapes that it buys rather than grows on it own property.

winery - A term, coined in the U.S., for a winemaking facility. Often used in reference to a property on which wine is made, including the vineyard, but may refer more specifically to the building or buildings housing the winemaking operation.

wine snob - One who possesses a supercilious air concerning wine and its appreciation, often looking with contempt on any wine that is not sufficiently expensive or prestigious.

winetasting - 1. Sampling wine in order to appraise its quality. 2. An organized sampling of a wine or wines for the purpose of appraisal. Winetastings can be structured in different ways and are the basic means by which wines are judged. Wines are carefully assessed by colour, clarity and bouquet as well as flavour. When many wines are to be sampled, tasters will frequently spit out the wine after tasting rather than swallow it in order to keep their senses sharp. See also blind tasting, horizontal tasting and vertical tasting.

wood ageing - See barrel ageing.