Guide to wine terminology: an easy-to-understand glossary of wine terms for retail staffs and their customers.

Too often, the definition of basic wine terms is given in a book or magazine article in language that's so technical the average reader (for whom it is written) gets lost.

The following glossary is intended to get right to the point, without using terms that are obscure, requiring a dictionary. Retailers can use this. if needed, for handy reference when dealing with wine customers, or they can make it available for consumers to peruse themselves.

Acetic: Applied to the smell of vinegar in a wine that's gone bad. Not all wine becomes acetic, but when it does it actually can be used for cooking, in dishes that call for vinegar.

Acid: A tart substance that is in all wine, between .5% and 1%.

Alcoholic fermentation: The process by which yeast turns sugar into carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol. In most fermentations, the CO2 is allowed to evaporate, but in Methode Champenoise fermentations used to make Champagne and other sparkling wines, the CO2 is captured under pressure and becomes the bubbles in the bottle.

American oak: Refers to the kind of oak (quercus alba, grown in the United States) used to make barrels used in the aging of whisky and some wines. Usually imparts a more assertive oak component, similar to resin, to a wine. French oak is believed by some to make a wine with finer, more delicate flavors. Amontillado: A style of mild, usually slightly sweet sherry.

Asti Spumante: Slightly sparkling Italian wine made from Muscat grapes, usually relatively sweet and aimed at desserts.

Astringent: The austere, drying, occasionally bitter taste felt in the mouth, usually from tannin in red wine, and occasionally in white wine.

Balance: A harmony between all the elements in a wine.

Barbaresco: A dry, tart red wine made entirely of Nebbiolo grapes from the district of the same name in Piedmont, in northwestern Italy.

Barbera: A red wine grape from Piedmont in Italy that makes a tart wine, usually higher in acidity than in tannins.

Barolo: A dry, tart red wine made entirely of Nebbiolo grapes from the district of the same name in Piedmont, in northwestern Italy. Bigger and richer than Barbaresco, usually longer-lived, and more often pricier.

Barrel: A 58-gallon vessel made of wood and used for the aging of wines. A puncheon is a barrel of a …