The SWURL Guide to Commonly Used Wine Terms

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Wine is its own language — a vernacular peppered with foreign phrases that can often feel inaccessible and difficult to understand.

To help translate, our friends at SWURL have crafted an illuminating glossary of wine terms. With over 60 clear and concise definitions and accompanying drawings, The SWURL Guide to Commonly Used Wine Terms is an excellent, overdue tool to help make wine more approachable — one which you can fit in a stocking, stash in your bag, or share with friends alongside a glass of bubbles.

In this fun guidebook, acclaimed wine writer Eliza Dumais defines words like “earthy” and “cépage” with signature wit and clarity, alongside beautiful illustrations from the talented Cerise Zelenetz.

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About the Author

SWURL

SWURL is a digital media brand dedicated to wine culture and education. Wine is its own language — a vernacular peppered with foreign phrases that can often feel inaccessible and difficult to understand.

SWURL Guide

About Natural Wine

Great question! There are a lot of definitions for natural wine with the main term you'll hear being that it has had minimal intervention. To be more specific, our definition is that the wine must first be sustainably farmed, which typically means it was organically or biodynamically farmed.

Then, in the cellar the natural winemaking process has some differences as well! The wine is typically unfined, unfiltered, and goes through spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts. If you want to know more about what natural wine is, we have an entire guide under our reference section!

The short answer is that natural wine can taste like any other kind of conventional wine (we like to call these stealth natural wines) or it can taste quite a bit different, as production methods can vary and potentially be lighter, or in a style you've never had before (like orange, pet-nat or amphora).

The natural wine community is also more accepting of some qualities in wines that conventional would consider a flaw, like Brett, some oxidation, or volatile acidity. We would consider these in high amounts to also be a flaw, but in many cases a touch of these qualities can ultimately improve their flavor and texture and be happily accepted in a natural wine.

To find out more about what natural wine tastes like, check out our full blog and podcast on the topic here.

The short answer is, no! But many are. Glou-glou describes winesthat are easily chuggable, impossible to put the glass down, and seductively delicious! They tend to be young and fresh, designed to be drunk early with an average ABV of around 10%. Check out different styles or glou glou natural wine here on our site.