Wine glossary: Styles

Styles terms

Sparkling

Wine with bubbles, from lightly fizzy to fully effervescent, created by trapping carbon dioxide from a second fermentation. Champagne, Prosecco and Cava are all sparkling wines.

Rosé

Pink wine made from red grapes with only brief contact between juice and skins, giving colour without heavy tannin. Usually light, fresh and easy-drinking.

Orange wine

White wine made like a red, with the juice left on the grape skins, giving an amber colour and more grip and texture. Also called skin-contact wine.

Fortified

Wine with a spirit added to raise its strength, such as Port, Sherry or Madeira. It can be dry or sweet and is often sipped in smaller measures.

Dessert wine

A sweet wine, usually served in small glasses with or as pudding. The sweetness comes from grapes with concentrated sugar, through drying, late-picking or noble rot.

Still wine

Ordinary, non-sparkling wine — the everyday reds, whites and rosés without bubbles. The term simply distinguishes them from sparkling wine.