Sit tibi terra levis Iacobe. See this round-up of tributes to beloved winemaker and grape grower Jim Clendenen. News of his passing stunned a saddened and diminished wine world on Monday. I only had the opportunity to interact with him a few times but Tracie and I have always enjoyed the wines immensely. When we lived in Austin, he and I shared the same hair dresser. No joke! He had better hair than me. And he was always so warm and nice when we met him. One of the greatest wine people of our generation. Lovely man and legacy wines that shaped a legion of young wine professionals in this country.
The work of a lexicographer is as thankless as it is exhausting. Yet we glossographers soldier on.
This morning, I updated and added a couple of terms to the Italian wine terms glossary (below).
One new entry is for fioretta or film yeast/surface yeast/mycoderma. Thanks to Italian wine professional Barbara Santilli for suggesting that one.
The entries for criomacerazione or cold soak and filtro a cartone or plate filter were inspired by the challenges these terms have posed for Italian interlocutors on our weekly virtual wine dinner calls.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard an Italian call their filter a “cardboard filter” (a false friend), I’d buy all the Tavernello I could (see the new entry for vino dozzinale or plonk below).
And lastly, I owe the newly updated rendering of cordone speronato or permanent cordon to a blog post by Jamie Goode (whom I don’t know personally but whose writing I admire).
No update of the glossary would be complete without thanking the “vineyard doctor” Maurizio Gily, one of Italy’s most prolific flying vineyard managers and prodigious publisher of viticultural miscellanea. Maurizio has been instrumental in dotting some of these i’s and crossing some of these t’s.
Buona lettura. Enjoy.
| ITALIAN | ENGLISH |
| a giropoggio | vines planted across a slope (along the contour of the slope; compare with a ritocchino) |
| a ritocchino | vines planted up and down a slope (from peak to valley; compare with a giropoggio) |
| acciaio (inossidabile) | stainless-steel (vat/tank) |
| acinellatura | millerandage (shot berries, hens and chicks, or pumpkins and peas) |
| affinamento | aging |
| alberello | head-trained bush vines |
| allegagione | fruit set |
| allevamento | training |
| apice vegetativo | shoot tip |
| argilla | clay |
| arresto di fermentazione | stuck fermentation |
| assemblaggio | blend |
| azoto | nitrogen |
| barbatella | rooted cutting/bench graft |
| 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 |
| chiusura grappolo | bunch closure |
| cimatura | hedging |
| cocciniglia | mealybug |
| cordone | cordon |
| cordone speronato | permanent cordon (cordon-trained spur-pruned vines) |
| criomacerazione | cold soak |
| cru | vineyard designation/single vineyard |
| cuvée | blend |
| délestage | rack and return |
| diradamento dei grappoli | pruning/thinning grapes/dropping fruit/green harvest |
| diradamento di germogli | shoot thinning |
| diraspare/diraspatrice | de-stem/de-stemmer |
| 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) |
| drenaggio | drainage |
| esca | esca (black dead arm or black measles) |
| escursione termica | diurnal shift (temperature variation) |
| femminella | lateral shoot |
| fermentazione arrestata | stuck fermentation |
| filare | row |
| filtro a cartone | plate filter (pad filter) |
| fioretta | film yeast/surface yeast/mycoderma |
| flavescenza dorata | grapevine yellows (flavescence dorée) |
| follatura | punching down |
| forma di allevamento | training system/trellis system |
| galestro | galestro (a marl- and limestone-rich subsoil unique to Tuscany) |
| gemma | bud |
| gemma dormiente, gemma d’inverno | dormant bud |
| germogliamento | budbreak/budburst |
| giropoggio | vines planted across a slope (along the contour of the slope; compare with a ritocchino) |
| grappa | grappa |
| grappolo | cluster/bunch |
| grappolo spargolo | loosely clustered grape bunch |
| Guyot | Guyot |
| IGP | PGI (protected geographical indication) |
| IGT | IGT (typical geographical indication) |
| inerbimento | sward management of the soil |
| innesto | graft |
| interfila | inter-row |
| invaiatura | veraison |
| 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 |
| marza | scion |
| maturazione | ripening |
| monovitigno | single-grape variety (wine) |
| mosto | must |
| oidio | oidium (powdery mildew) |
| pedicello | pedicel |
| peduncolo | stem (peduncle) |
| pergola | pergola/overhead trellis system |
| peronospora | peronospora (downy mildew) |
| pied de cuve | pied de cuve (native yeast starter) |
| pigiatura | crush/crushing |
| pirodiserbatore | weed torch/weed flamer |
| pirodiserbo | weed torching |
| pollone | sucker |
| portinnesto | rootstock |
| pressa | press |
| pressare | to press |
| quercia | oak |
| rachide | rachis |
| raspo | stem |
| rimontaggio | pumping over |
| ritocchino | vines planted up and down a slope (from peak to valley, as it were; compare with a giropoggio) |
| sabbia/sabbioso | sand/sandy (sandy soil) |
| Sauvignon (Blanc) | Sauvignon Blanc |
| scacchiatura | shoot-thinning |
| scheletro | very fine gravel |
| seme | seed |
| sfogliatura | leaf plucking |
| sgemmatura | disbudding |
| siccità | drought/drought conditions |
| sistema di allevamento | training/trellis system |
| sottofila | under-row |
| sottosuolo | subsoil |
| sovescio | cover crop/green manure |
| sovramaturazione | over-ripening |
| spalliera (vigneto a spalliera) | vertical shoot positioning of the shoots (VSP) |
| spargolo (grappolo spargolo) | loosely clustered (grape bunch) |
| sperone | spur |
| spollonatura | disbudding and suckering/de-suckering |
| stralciatura | shoot-thinning |
| stress idrico | 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 |
| tessitura (del suoolo) | soil texture |
| tignola della vite | vine moth (Eupoecilia ambiguella) European berry moth |
| 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 |
| vinacciolo | seed |
| vino dozzinale | plonk |
| vite | vine |
| viticcio | tendril |
| vitigno | grape variety |
Do Bianchi 
Such an important and valuable tool. You always do a great job on this!
Monica, thanks so much for the kind words. I love what you continue to do to humanize Italian wine. Ever since you added new appellations to the Parker vintage chart and started talking to winemakers beyond Piedmont and Tuscany, you’ve done so much to raise awareness of what makes Italian wine great. Thanks for being here.
I’m nobody compared to certain other commenters on your blog, but in the humble and regular work of translating texts about wine, your list is bookmarked on my computer and has saved me many, many times. Nice to have a new translation for plonk, too, as I was trying to explain that one to colleagues just the other day!