Wine Speak
How to pass for a wine snob.
Bunch grapes: These are generally the European varietals, so called because their fruit grows in tight bunches as opposed to the very loose bunches characteristic of native American varietals.
Fruit Wine: Technically, any fruit can be made into wine with varying success. While grapes are uniquely suited to winemaking, several Georgia wineries produce fruit wines using blueberries, blackberries, peaches and plums. For more information on these wines, please visit our Wineries and More! page.
Georgia Wine Regions:
USDA Zone 6b--northern-most wine region in Georgia. French-American hybrids such as Chambourcin and Seyval Blanc are best adapted.
USDA Zone 7a--wine region on the southern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains; French-American hybrids and European bunch grapes thrive. The Georgia Wine Highway runs through this region.
USDA Zone 7b--the Piedmont district; muscadines and selected cultivars of bunch
grapes thrive.
USDA Zone 8a--located in South Georgia, there is one muscadine winery. Carlos and Noble are the main muscadine wine-grape cultivars.
Grape Varietals Cultivated in Georgia:
European Varietals French-American Hybrids American/Muscadine Varietals
Cabernet Franc Cayuga Catawba
Cabernet Sauvignon De Chaunac Concord
Chardonnay Chambourcin Muscadine
Malbec Seyval Blanc Norton/Cynthiana
Marsanne Vidal Blanc Niagara
Merlot Scarlet
Mourvedre / Mataro
Pinot Blanc
Riesling
Roussanne
Sangiovese
Syrah / Shiraz
Tannat
Touriga Nacional
Viognier
Muscadine grapes: grapes native to Georgia and disease resistant. They are harvested as single berries as opposed to in bunches. Muscadine grapes have thick skins and large seeds. Wine made from muscadine grapes tends to be very musky and sweet, although one Georgia winery is producing dry wines based on the muscadine grape.
Pierce's disease: a lethal disease of the grapevine spread by an insect called the glassy winged sharpshooter, European varietals are especially vulnerable. Pierce's disease is prevalent in the Southeast and is also found in some areas of California, including the Napa Valley. Fortunately for Georgia, Pierce's disease is not a big issue at elevations over 1600 feet, so European grapes are being cultivated with great success in the higher elevations in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
General Wine-Speak
These are wine-related words to know for the casual taster. For an exhaustive glossary of wine and winemaking terms, please check out the glossary available at The Wine Doctor.
Acidity: Tasted on the sides of the tongue; often described as "tart" or "sour."
Bouquet/Nose: A tasting term refering to the aromas present in wine.
Brut: The driest style of Champagne; the one with the least residual sugar.
Corked: A tasting term, corking affects between 3-5% of wines stoppered with natural cork. The smell is very musty and "cellar-ish." Nobody wants to drink a corked wine.
Cru: A French term, cru denotes the name of the village in which the grapes were grown.
Fermentation: The process by which a fruit is made into wine. Simply put, sugar + yeast=alcohol + carbon dioxide.
Finish: A tasting term describing how long the flavor stays on the palette after swallowing. Generally, a "better" wine will have a longer, more complex finish.
Icewine/eiswein: wine made from grapes that are frozen on the vine and pressed while still frozen. Because the grapes are frozen, the sugars are more highly concentrated, and the resulting wine is very sweet. Because less juice comes from a frozen grape, the resulting wine is very expensive. While Germany is renowned for its eisweins, Canada makes some excellent icewines.
Lees: the sediment left over from wine making, including dead yeast cells and grape seeds/pulp. Wine can be left "on the lees" for a time to help develop a particular flavor profile, but eventually, the lees are left behind. Noone wants a chunky wine.
Late Harvest: An American winemaking term denoting grapes harvested late, and thus being more ripe and having a relatively high sugar content. 
Legs/Tears: Tasting term describing the drops of wine as they drip down the inside of the tasting glass. Generally, the more slowly they drip and the thicker they are, the sweeter the wine and the lower the alcohol content. Click on the picture for a more scientific discussion of how and why legs form.
Methode Champenoise: The method by which Champagne is made. Read all about it here.
Noble Rot: A mold, botrytis cinerea, that forms on grapes and causes the water in them to evaporate, leaving "raisinated" grapes with concentrated sugars. Famous wines made with botrytis-affected grapes include French Sauternes and German Trockenbeerenauslese.
Oak: the preferred wood for wine barrels. Wines aged in oak barrels take on "oaky" characteristics which can manifest as butter, spice or caramel notes, among others.
Oenology: the science of winemaking. An oenophile is the snobby wine term for someone who loves wine.
Phylloxera: A root louse responsible for the near decimation of the European wine industry. Read all about it here. 
Stelvin Closure: One of my favorite wine snob words, it has nothing to do directly with wine. Stelvin is the most popular brand name of screw tops for wine bottles. And doesn't it sound so much better to say your wine came with a Stelvin Closure instead of a screw cap?
Tannin: occurs naturally in grapeskins; tannins offer an astringent quality to the wine. In the right amount, tannins help to balance a wine and give it structure. Too much tannin in a wine will make your tongue feel like it is turning inside out.
Terroir: a hard to define French term meaning all the factors affecting the vines and grapes up until harvest. Terroir can include the soil composition, atmospheric conditions, amount or rainfall, other flora close to the vineyard, slope of the land, et cetera. The French want to "taste the land in their wines."
Ullage: another excellent wine snob word, ullage is the space between the level of the wine in the bottle and the top of the bottle.
Vintage: the year the grapes were grown. In order to have a vintage year on the bottle, the grapes have to have been harvested in the specified year.
Viticulture: the science and study of grapes
Viniculture: the science and study of grapes for the specific purpose of producing wine
Vitis Vinifera: the grape species from which almost all the world's fine wine grapes come.
Vitis Labrusca: the most important native grape species in The U.S. Most vitis vinifera vines are grafted onto vitis labrusca rootstock because vitis labrusca is resistant to phylloxera.
Yeast: the microorganisms responsible for fermentation. Let's hear it for the yeast!
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