Wine Words | A Beginner's Guide to 54 Wine Tasting Terms

Last updated 6 September 2026

A beginner's glossary

What the words actually mean

Tannin, terroir, MCC, cellar door. Every term below is one you will genuinely hear on a Cape wine farm, explained in a sentence or two with no circular definitions and no assumed knowledge.

ABV Alcohol by Volume: The percentage of alcohol in the bottle. Most table wines sit between 12% and 14.5%. South African Shiraz often pushes 14.5%, German Riesling can be as low as 8%.
Acidity The zip and freshness: The mouth-watering tingle on the sides of your tongue. High acidity makes a wine feel crisp and lively, low acidity makes it feel flabby. Cool-climate whites and red Pinots are usually high-acid.
Aroma vs Bouquet Smells from grape vs age: 'Aroma' is what comes from the grape and the winemaking — fruit, flowers, oak. 'Bouquet' is what develops with age — leather, tobacco, mushroom, dried fruit. Young wines have aromas, old wines have bouquet.

Blend Two or more grape varieties: Wine made from more than one grape. Cape Bordeaux blends mix Cabernet, Merlot, and friends. Cape White Blends often combine Chenin, Sémillon, and Sauvignon Blanc.
Body How heavy it feels in your mouth: Light-bodied wines feel like skim milk, full-bodied wines feel like cream. Has nothing to do with quality, just style. Pinot Noir is typically light, Shiraz is full.
Bordeaux Blend The classic Cape red recipe: A red blend based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and sometimes Petit Verdot and Malbec. Called a Cape Bordeaux Blend in SA. Think Vergelegen V or Rust en Vrede Estate.
Brix Sugar in the grapes: Pronounced 'bricks'. A measurement of sugar in grape juice before fermentation. Higher Brix means higher potential alcohol. You'll see this mostly on technical sheets, not in casual chat.
Brut Dry sparkling wine: On MCC and Champagne labels, 'Brut' means dry. The scale runs Extra Brut (driest), Brut, Extra Dry, Sec (slightly sweet), Demi-Sec (sweet), Doux (very sweet). Confusingly, Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut.

Cabernet Sauvignon The king of red grapes: Big, structured, age-worthy. Stellenbosch is South Africa's spiritual home for Cabernet. Expect blackcurrant, cedar, sometimes mint or eucalyptus. Almost always needs food.
Cap Classique See MCC: Same thing as MCC. South Africa's official term for traditional-method sparkling wine.
Cellar Door Where you taste at the farm: The tasting room on a wine estate. Where you sit down, taste through a selection, and (usually) pay less than restaurant prices to take bottles home.
Cellaring Aging wine on purpose: Storing wine so it improves. Most wines are made to drink young (within 5 years). Only a small percentage genuinely improves over 10+ years. If you cellar, keep bottles on their side, cool, dark, and stable.
Chardonnay The chameleon white: The world's most planted serious white grape. Can be anything from steely and mineral (Chablis-style) to rich and buttery (oaked). Hemel-en-Aarde and Elgin make South Africa's most exciting versions.
Chenin Blanc South Africa's other signature: South Africa grows more Chenin Blanc than any country in the world. Versatile grape — makes everything from crisp easy-drinkers to age-worthy oaked whites.
Cinsaut An old Cape grape, having a moment: Once one of the most-planted red grapes in South Africa, now back in fashion. Makes light, fresh, juicy reds. One of the two parents of Pinotage.
Corked A spoiled bottle: When wine smells like wet cardboard or a damp basement, it's 'corked' — contaminated by a chemical called TCA from the cork. Affects roughly 1 in 20 cork-sealed bottles. Send it back at a restaurant, no shame.
Cuvée A specific blend or batch: Pronounced 'koo-VAY'. Can mean a producer's special selection or a particular blend within their range. Often used for MCC to indicate the top-tier bottling.

Decant Pour it into a jug first: Moving a wine from its bottle into another container. Helps young reds 'open up' and softens harsh tannins, and lets you leave sediment behind in older bottles.
Dosage Sugar added to sparkling: Pronounced 'doh-SAHZH'. After MCC's second fermentation, a tiny bit of sugar is added before final corking. Determines whether the wine ends up Brut, Extra Brut, or sweeter.
Dry Not sweet: Almost all the grape sugar has been fermented into alcohol. Most wines you encounter are dry. 'Off-dry' means slightly sweet, 'semi-sweet' means noticeably sweet.

Estate Wine Grown and made on one farm: An estate wine is made from grapes grown on the same property as the cellar. Different to wines made from bought-in grapes. Often a marker of quality control.

Fermentation Sugar becomes alcohol: The magic step where yeast eats the sugar in grape juice and turns it into alcohol and CO2. Without fermentation, you've just got grape juice. Usually takes 1-3 weeks.
Finish The taste that lingers: How long the flavour stays after you swallow. A long finish is generally a sign of a well-made wine. A short finish disappears in seconds.
Fortified Wine with added spirit: Wine that's had grape spirit added, raising the alcohol to 17-22%. Port, Sherry, and South African Cape Vintage / Cape Tawny / Hanepoot Jerepigo are all fortified. Boplaas and De Krans are well-known producers.

Late Harvest Picked late for sweetness: Grapes left on the vine longer so they shrivel and concentrate their sugar. Makes naturally sweet dessert wines. 'Noble Late Harvest' takes it further with botrytis — see that entry.
Lees Dead yeast left in the wine: After fermentation, the spent yeast sinks to the bottom. Leaving wine 'on the lees' (sur lie) adds creaminess and texture. Common in Chardonnay and MCC, where it gives that bready, brioche note.
Legs The drips on the glass: Swirl your wine and watch the drips run down the inside of the glass. Slow, thick legs usually mean higher alcohol or sugar. Not a quality marker, just an observation.

Malolactic Sharp becomes creamy: A second fermentation where harsh malic acid (apple) converts to softer lactic acid (milk). Standard for almost all reds, sometimes used in Chardonnay to make it buttery. Often shortened to 'malo'.
MCC Méthode Cap Classique: South Africa's traditional-method sparkling wine, made the same way as Champagne. The bubbles come from a second fermentation in the bottle. Graham Beck and Krone are well-known producers.
Merlot The gentler red: Softer, juicier, and earlier-drinking than Cabernet. Often blended with Cab to round it out. South African Merlot can be very good but is often underrated because Cab gets all the press.
Mouthfeel How the wine feels: The texture, weight, and physical sensation of the wine in your mouth — silky, grippy, oily, watery, creamy. Different to flavour. Big tannins create a drying mouthfeel; high acid makes it feel crisp.

Natural Wine Made with minimal intervention: Wine made with no added yeast, no sulphites (or very little), no fining, no filtering. Tends to taste a bit funky and cloudy. Either you love it or you don't. The Swartland has a strong natural wine scene.
Noble Late Harvest Botrytis sweet wine: Late harvest grapes affected by a friendly mould called botrytis ('noble rot'), which concentrates the juice and adds honeyed, apricot complexity. Klein Constantia, Nederburg, and Mullineux make famous SA examples.
Nose What you smell: What the wine smells like. 'It has a nose of cherries and tobacco' just means it smells like cherries and tobacco. Half of tasting is actually smelling.

Oaked vs Unoaked Aged in barrels or not: Oaked wines spend time in wooden barrels, picking up vanilla, toast, or coconut notes. Unoaked wines (sometimes called 'naked') are aged in steel and taste fresher, more fruit-driven.
Off-Dry Slightly sweet: Not bone-dry, but not really sweet either. You'll mostly notice it in Rieslings and some Chenin Blancs. The faint sugar balances high acidity.
Old Vine Vines 35 years or older: South Africa runs an Old Vine Project certifying vineyards 35+ years old. Old vines yield less fruit but the grapes are more concentrated and complex. Look for the seal on Chenin Blanc and Cinsaut especially.
Old World vs New World European vs everywhere else: Old World wines (France, Italy, Spain) tend to be more restrained and earthy. New World wines (South Africa, Australia, USA, Chile) tend to be more fruit-forward and ripe. Big generalisation, lots of exceptions.
Orange Wine White made like red: White grapes fermented on their skins, like a red wine. The result is amber-coloured, slightly tannic, and savoury. Polarising — newer drinkers can find it strange. Testalonga in the Swartland is a notable SA producer.

Palate Taste in the mouth: The whole flavour experience inside your mouth. Wine writers split it into 'front palate' (first sip), 'mid-palate' (development), and 'back palate' (finish). When someone says a wine 'has a great palate', they mean it tastes good throughout.
Pinot Noir The heartbreak grape: Notoriously hard to grow, easy to mess up, and unforgettable when right. Thin-skinned and temperamental. In SA, the cool climates of Hemel-en-Aarde, Elgin, and Plettenberg Bay produce the best Pinots.
Pinotage South Africa's signature red: A cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, bred in Stellenbosch in 1925. Modern Pinotage ranges from juicy and light to deep and structured. The 'coffee Pinotage' style from Diemersfontein started a whole sub-genre.

Reserve The producer's best: Not a legally defined term in South Africa, so it can mean anything. Usually the producer's better, more selected, more expensive bottling. Worth tasting to see if you agree.

Sauvignon Blanc Crisp, herbaceous, refreshing: Cool climate white that tastes of grass, green pepper, gooseberry, or tropical fruit depending on where it's grown. Elim, Elgin, Constantia, and Durbanville are South Africa's go-to regions.
Shiraz The same grape as Syrah: Identical grape, just two names. New World producers (SA, Australia) usually call it Shiraz for big, ripe, spicy styles. Old World producers (Rhône, France) call it Syrah for leaner, more peppery wines.
Single Vineyard Grapes from one specific block: All the grapes came from a single, named vineyard plot. Usually a sign that the producer thinks this site makes wine distinctive enough to highlight on its own.
Sommelier The restaurant wine person: Pronounced 'so-mel-YAY'. A trained wine professional whose job is helping you choose wine to go with food. Don't be shy — they want to help, and asking for a recommendation under R400 is completely normal.
Straw Wine Sweet wine from dried grapes: Grapes picked then dried on straw mats or hung in barns for weeks. The result is intense, concentrated, honeyed dessert wine. Mullineux's Straw Wine is one of the most awarded sweet wines in the world.

Tannin The grippy, drying sensation: Compounds from grape skins, seeds, and oak that give red wine its structure. They're what makes your gums feel slightly dry after a sip of Cabernet. More tannin usually means the wine can age longer.
Terroir The sense of place in a wine: Pronounced 'tare-WAH'. The combination of soil, climate, altitude, and tradition that makes wines from one place taste different to wines from another. Why Stellenbosch Cab tastes different to Bordeaux Cab.

Varietal Made from one grape: A wine made primarily from a single grape variety. A 'Chardonnay' is a varietal wine. Different to a blend.
Vin de Constance South Africa's most famous wine: A naturally sweet Muscat dessert wine from Klein Constantia in Cape Town. Drunk by Napoleon in exile, mentioned in Jane Austen and Dickens. Lost for over a century, revived in 1986. A bucket-list wine for serious drinkers.
Vintage The year the grapes were picked: A 2021 wine was made from 2021 grapes. Vintage matters more for some wines than others — a great year can make ordinary wines special, and a bad year can humble the best estates.

Wine of Origin Officially from where it says: The 'WO' on a label (e.g., 'WO Stellenbosch') is the SA equivalent of a French AOC. Means the grapes are legally certified to come from that area.

Now go and use them

Our directory of Western Cape wine estates covers 430 farms across the Cape, with written guides to the ones worth planning a day around.