From grape to glass, winemaking is a multi-step process. If you are a lover of wine you likely have the basics down, like harvesting, crushing, pressing and bottling. However, there is so much more that happens in-between the basics.

Additional terminology that winemakers use in their vocabulary:

AVA: American Viticulture Area. An AVA is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
Brix: scale used to measure the sugar level in unfermented grapes.
Cap: grape solids such as pits, skins and stems that rise to the top of the tank during the fermentation process.
Cold Stabilization: cooling of a wine to remove excess unstable potassium bitartrate, forming tartrate crystals or wine diamonds.
Decanting: transferring wine from the original bottle to a glass vessel. The purpose of this process is to aerate a young wine or separate any sediments from older wine.
Devatting: separating the juice from leftover solids.
Disgorgement: removal of frozen sediment from the bottle that remains after the second fermentation in sparkling wine-making.
Enophile: person who enjoys wine.
Hybrid: genetic crossing of two or more grape varietals.
Legs: droplets of wine that stream down the inside of a wine glass after swirling.
Magnum: large format bottle of wine that is twice the size of a regular 750 ml bottle and contains approximately 10 glasses of wine.
Pressing: process of extracting juice from grapes.
Pruning: annual trimming of grapevines from the previous years’ harvest.
Sommelier: formally trained and educated wine professional who specializes in all aspects of wine services, pairings and storage.

We hope you try out some of these terms during your next excursion in Missouri wine country. For more wine terminology, check out Wine Words and Terms and 21 Wine Tasting Terms You’ll Want to Know.