This week’s Wine Word of the Week is tastevin. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Tastevins, or wine tasters, as they are known by collectors are wine antiques, are shallow, often dimpled, saucers used for tasting by professionals (and occasionally self-conscious amateurs). Because they were usually used in a cellar, or […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Champagne. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Champagne is a name derived from the Latin term Campania, originally used to describe the rolling open countryside just north of Rome. In the early Middle Ages, it became applied to a province in north east […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Loire. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Loire is France’s most famous river and name of one of its most varied wine regions whose wines are greatly appreciated locally and in Paris, but—with the famous exceptions of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume—are still widely underrated […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Rhone. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Rhone is one of the most important wine rivers, linking a range of vineyards as dissimilar as those of Chateauneuf-du-Pape in southern France, sparkling Seyssel, and Fendant du Valais in Switzerland. In wine circles, however, the […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Burgundy. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Burgundy, known as Bourgogne in French, is the province of eastern France famous for its great red and white wines produced mostly from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes respectively. The province includes the viticultural regions of […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Bordeaux. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Bordeaux is an important French port on the Garonne river leading to the Gironde estuary on the west coast. Bordeaux gives its name to a wine region which includes the vineyards of the Gironde département and, […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is New World. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: New World, a term much used in the wine world, initially somewhat patronizingly but with increasing admiration over the past quarter-century as the New World’s share of global exports rose from 3 to 23 percent, […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is Old World. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Old World is Europe and the rest of the Mediterranean basin such as the Near East and North Africa. The term is used solely in contrast to the New World, the Old World having little […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is custom crush facility. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Custom crush facility is an American term for a winery specializing in vinifying grapes on behalf of many different vine-growers, typically those without their own winemaking equipment. The various wines are kept separate and […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is shoot positioning. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Shoot positioning is the spring and summertime viticultural practice of placing vine shoots in the desired position to assist in trimming, leaf removal, and harvest operations, to facilitate the control of vine diseases and vine […]