Acetic acid	A volatile acid that features, in all wines, in tiny quantities - in excess it can turn wine into vinegar.
Acidity	A balancing component of all wines which gives freshness. Tartaric acid is the most common and is naturally produced.
Adega	A Portuguese winery.
Almude	A Portuguese measure used in port - the amount a woman can carry on her head (25 liters).
Astringency	Caused by the natural tannins occurring in grape skins, pips and stalks it can be detected by the slight puckering in the mouth.
Bastardo	A red grape variety used in port production. It used to be used in Madeira. Shakespeare’s reference to “Brown Bastard” was probably to such wines.
Benefício	The regulation by which the quantity of port production is limited by regulating the amount of brandy (q.v.) a producer can buy.
Body	A tasting term referring to the ‘weight’ of the wine on the mouth. Young ports are often described as full bodied.
Bouquet	The overall smell of a wine; a mixture of many complex aromas.
Brandy	An essential ingredient in port, it is added in the ratio of 1 part of brandy to 4 parts of grape juice. A clear liquid at 77% alcohol by volume it is known locally as aguardente.
Canada	A Portuguese measure used in port - the amount a man should drink everyday (2 liters)
Capsule	The closure on the top of the bottle protecting the cork. The lead foil previously used has been superseded by tin or aluminium.
Casa	The Portuguese word for house; may also refer to a firm.
Colheita	The harvest or vintage. Used to describe old tawny ports from a single year - a popular style with Portuguese port producers.
Cork	Bark of the ‘Cork Oak’, cut to shape and used as a stopper in the bottle. Vintage port corks are larger than others and bear the name of the shipper/producer and the year of the wine. Wood aged ports use stopper corks, shorter and normally topped with plastic.
Corked	A term used to describe a wine that has become oxidised through the failure of the cork. The condition can be recognized by a musty smell.
Crusted	An unfiltered port bottled after three years aging and matured in Oporto for at least 3 years. Rarely found these days.
Demarcated region(The)	The port wine district, defined by law.
Douro	The principal river flowing through the port wine region which, historically, provided the only access to the vineyards.
Evaporation	The natural effect of heat on wine. In port production losses via evaporation amount to 3% of stocks annually. Evaporation is essential to the production of old tawny ports.
Fining	The process of clarifying wines prior to bottling.
Finish	The taste that lingers in the mouth after swallowing.
Flabby	A tasting term that describes wines that lack acidity and therefore balance.
Garrafeira	The Portuguese word for a vintage port cellar, also used for ‘Reserve’ Portuguese table wine.
Imperial	A large bottle used for vintage port, containing six liters.
Lagar	A large stone tank in which port grapes are trodden.
Late Bottled Vintage	A style of port introduced by Taylor Fladgate in 1970, made from a single good vintage and bottled between four to six years after the harvest. Fined (q.v.) before bottling, it should not need decanting.
Must	Unfermented grape juice and skins.
Nose	The smell of a wine.
Oenology	The study of the science of wine.
Oporto	The town at the mouth of the river Douro from which port derives its name. In Portuguese the town is Porto, the O being added to distinguish it from the word for a harbor. Port wines were, therefore, wines from Porto. Over time ‘Port wines’ has become ‘Port wine’ and is now in common usage as port. In America, port from Portugal is known as ‘Porto’.
Oxidation	The effect of oxygen on wine, usually detrimental.
Port	A fortified wine from the Douro in Northern Portugal.
Quinta	The Portuguese name for a farm, vineyard or estate. Wines from a single estate are known as ‘Single Quinta Ports’.
Racking	The drawing off of wine from its lees to clean the cask or vat.
Residual sugar	The tasting term for the sugar that has not converted into alcohol. All red ports have high residual sugar.
Tawny	A style of port that is made by maturing port in small oak barrels, known as pipes, for 10,20,30 or 40 years. The color of the wine is absorbed by the wood, lightening the wine from deep red to a rich tawny hue. The high ratio of the surface area of the wood to the volume of wine allows for a high level of evaporation which concentrates the wine and produces the rich raisiny, nutty flavors. Tawnies are blended wines and the age indicates an average age.
Tinta	A portuguese word that prefixes others in describing grape varieties - Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca, Tinta Cão.
Ullage	The name given to the air that occupies that space between the top of the wine and the bottom of the cork.
Vat	A large oak container for storing wine. Vats vary in size from 2,000 liters up to 50,000. They are used in port production to mature the fruitier styles of port such as Late Bottled Vintage, Vintage Character and Ruby Ports.
Vila Nova de Gaia	Lying across the River Douro from the town of Oporto Gaia is where the port lodges are situated. Traditionally all port is matured in Gaia.
Vindima	The portuguese word for the grape harvest, which occurs in late September or early October, and is usually called ‘the vintage’ in English.
Vintage	This is the style of port that matures in bottle. It is the very peak of port production and represents only 1.5% of the volume of port made in years when a vintage is declared - usually only three times a decade.
Yeast	An essential ingredient in wine production. Natural yeasts do not themselves create the fermentation but secrete enzymes that do - the process being to turn the sugar in the grape into alcohol. Yeasts normally die once the alcoholic strength on the wine rises above 14% of alcohol by volume - thus with port the addition of the grape brandy when only half the sugar has been converted, kills the yeasts allowing the natural sugars to remain. For this reason port is sweet.
ZZZZZZ	The annotation used in cartoons to indicate that someone is sleeping - something that can happen after too many glasses of port.