Glossary of professional wine terms in Spanish and English
If you visit Spain regularly to buy wines or visit suppliers, then we’re sure you’ve encountered some Spanish wine speak on your travels that has left you baffled. So what does a winemaker mean, when they talk about balsamic notes in their wines? How do you ask for an invoice or a pallet? To help, we’ve compiled a glossary of Spanish wine terms.
Professional buying/marketing terms
| a quote | un presupuesto |
| an invoice | una factura |
| cardboard cases | cajas de cartón |
| Bordeaux/Burgundy bottle | Botella bordelesa/borgoña |
| screwcap | tapón de rosca |
| cork | corcho |
| delivery included/excluded | portes incluidos/excluidos |
| Including/excluding sales tax/VAT-exempt | Con/sin IVA/exento de IVA |
| collection times | Horario de recogida |
| label | etiqueta |
| case | caja |
| capsule | cápsula |
| Gold/silver foiling | stamping de oro/plata |
| Debossing/embossing | Golpe en seco/relieve |
| Muselet (wire cage over Cava cork) | Morrión |
| Mesh (as found on Gran Reserva) | Malla |
Visiting a winery
Two words you frequently hear at visits that can leave non-Spanish speakers a little confused: “elaborate” (they mean produce or make) and cementerio– not where they put visitors who get a bit over enthusiastic in the tasting room, but the cellar when bottles are laid down to rest for a long time.
| Make/produce | Elaborar |
| Winery owner/winemaker | Bodeguero/Enólogo |
| Vineyards | Viñedos |
| Winery | Bodega |
| Production facilities | Zona de elaboración |
| Barrel cellar | Nave de barricas |
| Stainless steel/concrete tanks/vats | Tanques/cubas de acero inoxidable/de cimento |
| Sorting table | Mesa de selección |
| French/American oak barrels | Barricas de roble francés/americano |
| Winemaker | Enólogo |
| Winemaking | Elaboración de vino |
| Must | Mosto |
| Yeast | Levadura |
| Stems | Raspón |
| Skins | Pieles/hollejo |
| Sorting table | Mesa de selección |
| Destemmer | Despalilladora |
| Basket/pneumatic press | Prensa vertical/neumática |
| Malolactic Fermentation (MLF) | Fermentación Maloláctica (FML) |
| Fine/gross lees | Lías (finas/gruesas) |
| Pumping over | Remontado |
| Punching down | Bazuqueo |
| Racking | Trasiego |
Out in the vineyards
| Vineyard | Viñedo/viña |
| A vine | Una cepa de vid |
| Pruning/ to prune | La poda/podar |
| Vine training | Conducción de la vid |
| Head training | Conducción en cabeza |
| Cordon training | Conducción en cordón |
| Spur pruning | Poda en pulgar |
| Replacement cane pruning | Poda en vara |
| Bush vines | Vides en vaso |
| Wire-trained vines | Vides en espaldera |
| Plough | Arar |
| Fertilize | Abonar |
| Row of vines | Hilera |
| Shoot | Pámpano |
| Cane (1 year old or more) | Vara |
| Cane (less than one year old) | Sarmiento |
| Bud | Yema |
| Budburst | Brotación |
| Flowering | Floración |
| Fruit-set | Cuajado |
| Véraison | Envero |
| Ripening | Maduración |
| Pick/harvest | Cosechar/vendimiar |
Tasting wine
Here is where things can get really tricky. I’m sure you’ve seen some back label texts that have been run through Google Translate rather than past a professional translator, and the stuff that comes out can be amusing albeit nonsensical!
When talking about the visual description of a wine rather than a clothing item rarely seen this century, capa alta should not be translated as “high cape”. What the writer is really talking about is the depth of pigmentation in the wine, what is sometimes referred to using the French word robe, but more often simply with the adjective “deep”, so “Rojo rubí de capa alta” would be “deep ruby red.”
Wine-speak is not easy to understand at the best of times so throw in some dodgy translation and its incomprehensible! So if you ever see these words on a back label you know what to expect.
| Swirl | Airear |
| Sniff | Oler |
| Sip | Catar |
| Swallow | Tragar |
| Spit | Escupir |
| Appearance | Aspecto |
| Clear | Limpio |
| Hazy | Turbio |
| Pale/deep intensity | De capa baja/alta |
| Ruby/Garnet/Tawny | Rubí/Granate/Teja |
| Rim | Ribete |
| Legs/tears | Lágrimas |
| Nose | Nariz |
| Intense | Intenso |
| Aromatic | Aromático |
| Citrus/Red/Black/Tropical/Stone fruits | Fruta cítrica/roja/negra/tropical/ de hueso |
| Notes of spice/oak/toast/vanilla/liquorice | Notas especiadas/de roble/tostadas/vainilla/regaliz |
| Grassy notes of nettle/fennel | Notas herbáceos de ortiga/hinojo |
| Resinous notes | Notas balsámicas |
| Palate | Paladar |
| Dry/off-dry | Seco/Casi seco |
| Medium sweet/sweet | Semi-dulce/dulce |
| Light/medium/Full-bodied | De cuerpo ligero/medio/de mucho cuerpo |
| Fresh/acidic | Fresco/de mucha acidez |
| Ripe/silky/velvety/harsh tannins | Taninos maduros/sedosos/aterciopelados/agresivos |
| Long/short finish | Final largo/corto |
| Complex/simple | Complejo/simple |
| Balanced | Equilibrado |
This glossary was compiled by our collaborator Anna Harris-Noble, who, as well as working behind the scenes at Long Wines on marketing activities, is a professional wine translator.