Please click here for the updated glossary (March 21, 2019).
Above: note how the Glera bunch above is loosely clustered (spargolo in Italian). Photo taken in late August 2015 in the Monfumo vineyard of my client Bele Casel.
Today’s update of my Glossary of Italian Wine Terms includes a number of new entries (see below; complete glossary follows).
As I was working on the update, I spent some extra time on the entry for spargolo (loosely clustered).
Glera, the main grape used in Prosecco, has loosely clustered bunches. And I noted that in the English Wiki entry for Glera, grappolo spargolo is listed as one of the grape’s synonyms.
That sounded fishy to me. And after checking with multiple reference works of ampelography, I found no Italian resource that lists grappolo spargolo as an accepted ampelonym.
Luca Ferraro, my friend and client, who grows Glera for his family’s Bele Casel estate in Asolo, wrote me that Glera is sometimes locally called Prosecco spargolo. But he had never heard the name grappolo spargolo.
Unfortunately, many English-language bloggers have simply copied and pasted the erroneous information from the Wiki entry into their own posts and I discovered myriad instances where people list grappolo spargolo as a synonym.
One of the reasons why growers like Glera is that it has loosely clustered bunches, making it less susceptible to rot because moisture doesn’t accumulate as readily between the berries as it does with other grape varieties.
The bunch in the photo above comes from old-vine Glera and it’s a great example of a loosely clustered bunch.
I’m always looking for suggestions for new entries in the glossary and I’m constantly updating and tweaking my work. So if you have a correction or suggestion, please let me know in the comment section.
I hope readers find the glossary useful. Thanks for speaking Italian wine!
New entries:
| capo a frutto | fruit cane |
| cordone | cordon |
| grappolo spargolo | loosely clustered grape brunch |
| pedicello | pedicel |
| peduncolo | stem (peduncle) |
| rachide | rachis |
| raspo | stem |
| spargolo (grappolo spargolo) | loosely clustered (grape bunch) |
| sperone | spur |
| svinatura | racking (devatting, drawing off) |
Complete glossary (to date):
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
| a giropoggio | east-west row orientation |
| a ritocchino | north-south row orientation |
| acciaio [inossidabile] | stainless-steel [vat/tank] |
| affinamento | aging |
| alberello | head-trained [vines] |
| allegagione | fruit set |
| allevamento | training |
| argilla | clay |
| arresto di fermentazione | stuck fermentation |
| assemblaggio | blend |
| azoto | nitrogen |
| barbatella | grafted cutting |
| barrique | barrique [small French oak cask] |
| bâtonnage | stirring on the lees |
| biodinamica | biodynamics/biodynamic |
| biologico | organic |
| botte | traditional large cask |
| bucce | skins |
| Cabernet [Sauvignon] | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Cabernet Franc | Cabernet Franc |
| calcare/calcareo | limestone/calcareous [limestone-rich] |
| capo a frutto | fruit cane |
| cappello sommerso | submerged cap maceration |
| chioma | canopy |
| cordone | cordon |
| cordone speronato | cordon-trained spur-pruned [vines] |
| cru | vineyard designation/single vineyard |
| cuvée | blend |
| délestage | rack and return |
| deraspare/deraspatrice | de-stemm/de-stemmer |
| diradamento | pruning/thinning grapes/dropping fruit |
| diserbante termico | weed torch/weed flamer |
| DOC | DOC [designation of controlled origin] |
| DOCG | DOCG [designation of controlled and guaranteed origin] |
| DOP | PDO [Protected Designation of Origin] |
| doppio capovolto | double-arched cane [training] |
| esca | esca [alt.: black dead arm or black measles] |
| escursione termica | [diurnal] temperature variation |
| fementazione arrestata | stuck fermentation |
| femminella | lateral shoot |
| flavescenza dorata | grapevine yellows (flavescence dorée) |
| follatura | punching down |
| galestro | galestro [a marl- and limestone-rich subsoil unique to Tuscany] |
| giropoggio | east-west row orientation |
| grappa | grappa |
| grappolo | cluster/bunch |
| grappolo spargolo | loosely clustered grape brunch |
| Guyot | Guyot |
| IGP | PGI [Protected Geographical Indication] |
| IGT | IGT [typical geographical indication] |
| leccio | holm oak |
| lievito naturale | native/ambient/indigenous/wild yeast |
| lievito selezionato | cultured yeast |
| limo | silt |
| macchia mediterranea | Mediterranean maquis [shrubland] |
| maestrale (vento di maestrale) | north-westerly wind |
| malolattica | malolactic fermentation |
| marna/marne | marl |
| millerandage | millerandage [alt.: shot berries, hens and chicks, or pumpkins and peas] |
| monovitigno | single-grape variety [wine] |
| mosto | must |
| oidio | oidium [powdery mildew] |
| pedicello | pedicel |
| peduncolo | stem (peduncle) |
| peronospora | peronospora [downy mildew] |
| pied de cuve | pied de cuve [native yeast starter] |
| pigiatura | pressing |
| pirodiserbatore | weed torch/weed flamer |
| pirodiserbo | weed torching |
| portinnesto | rootstock |
| quercia | oak |
| rachide | rachis |
| raspo | stem |
| rimontaggio | pumping over |
| ritocchino | north-south row orientation |
| sabbia/sabbioso | sand/sandy [sandy soil] |
| Sauvignon [Blanc] | Sauvignon Blanc |
| scacchiatura | disbudding |
| siccità/stress idrico | hydric stress |
| sistema di allevamento | training |
| sottosuolo | subsoil |
| sovescio | cover crop/green manure |
| spargolo (grappolo spargolo) | loosely clustered (grape bunch) |
| sperone | spur |
| spollonatura | disbudding |
| stralciatura | deshooting |
| stress idrico/siccità | hydric stress |
| sulle bucce | skin contact [macerated on the skins] |
| sulle fecce nobili | lees aged [aged on its lees] |
| sur lie | lees aged [aged on its lees] |
| svinatura | racking (devatting, drawing off) |
| terreno/terreni | soil |
| tignola della vite | vine moth [Eupoecilia ambiguella] |
| tralcio | shoot/cane |
| tramoggia | hopper/feeder |
| tufo | tufaceous subsoil [porous limestone] |
| vasca | vat/tank |
| vento di maestrale | north-westerly wind |
| vigna/vigne | vine/vineyards |
| vigneto | vineyard |
| vinaccia/vinacce | pomace |
| vite | vine |
| vitigno | grape variety |
Do Bianchi 
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some extra for you
pigiatrice – crusher
feccia – lees/sediment
(anidride) carbonica – CO2
coclea – auger
thanks, Tony! I’ll add these.
Hi there! The term is actually covered here: http://www.watson.it/Glossario .Saluti! Stefano.
Thanks, Stefano. I’ve seen and used Watson’s. It’s pretty good. But there are also a lot of terms missing.
Agree. Would “sparsely berried bunch” sound awkward?
oh oh… there are many mistakes Jeremy. Rittochino and girapoggio have nothing to do with cardinal points
Maurizio, please let me explain ritocchino and girapoggio: these are not references to the compass but rather conventions of English-language wine parlance. I assure you that those are the correct translations. Re. grappolo spargolo, loose bunch doesn’t render the concept. And again, if you read vineyard management technical literature, you’ll find that the most commonly used expression (in English) for what Italians call grappolo spargolo is loosely clustered. I need to do a post on girapoggio and ritocchino. The idea behind the glossary is that it is an index of conventional translations used in common practice. I assure you that my English is actually pretty good and I read a lot of wine writing, technical and otherwise. I’ve spent a lot of time working on this. It’s not just willy nilly.
Dear friend, I apologize if I annoyed you. Your English is superb, mine is really poor, and your Italian is perfect. About grappolo spargolo I didn’t say the translation is wrong, it is perfect, I only say we use “loose bunch” in the common spoken language among viticulturists, but probably it is not good English. About rittochino and girapoggio, the terms refer to the orientation of the row along, or perpendicular, to the line of the slope. So it doesn’t matter if west-east or north-south.
Maurizio, no worries and thanks for the follow up.
Re. ritocchino etc., again, my translations are the linguistic conventions. In this case, north-south doesn’t refer to orientation with regard to actual north and south but rather the rows orientation with respect to the slope itself.
Have you ever heard the expression, “it went south”? South is a metaphor in this case, meaning it went “downhill” (another metaphor that has nothing to do with spatial relations) or “badly.” I’ll do a post on this because so many people from Italy write me about this.
Re. loose bunch. Grammatically, a “loose bunch” would be a bunch that is not attached to anything (or it could be that). That’s why loosely clustered bunch is a more exact rendering.
Thanks for being here, as always. You know how much I respect your input here. :)
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