C1 · 53 words

Wine and tasting

From the vineyard to the glass, and how to describe what you taste.

Most of this list is the working language of a tasting, but one entry leaves the cellar altogether: alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen. German says it of a reform, a product or a programme that turns out to be the old thing repackaged, and English says it almost word for word, with one difference. English puts its old wine in new bottles; German keeps the container of the Gospel parable about new wine and old wineskins. Der Schlauch is nowadays a garden hose or a bicycle inner tube, and the older sense of a wineskin lives on mainly in this phrase. A learner who reaches for Flaschen has not made a grammar mistake, but the idiom breaks and every German listener hears it. It is used as a verdict, usually with sein: Das Konzept ist alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen.

The words

Verb (4)

verschneidento blend (wines)VerbC1

Der Winzer verschneidet den Merlot mit etwas Cabernet.The grower blends the Merlot with a little Cabernet.

Irregular: verschnitt, hat verschnitten.

verkostento taste (in order to judge)VerbC1

Die Jury verkostet jeden Wein zweimal, einmal am Morgen und einmal am Nachmittag.The panel tastes every wine twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

Regular. Unlike kosten, it never means to cost.

schwenkento swirl (a glass)VerbC1

Wer das Glas schwenkt, bringt Luft an den Wein und den Duft in die Nase.Swirling the glass lets air at the wine and lifts the aroma to your nose.

Also to wave (a flag) and to toss (in butter).

ausschenkento serve, to pour (drinks)VerbC1

Der Riesling wird auch offen ausgeschenkt.The Riesling is also available by the glass.

Separable. Offen ausschenken: to sell by the glass.

This list belongs to Food, drink and where it comes from — 22 lists and 850 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Practise this list

Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 53 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.