Landwein (Germany & Austria)
A term to describe the German counterpart of the French vin de pays - "wine of the country." The German word connotes "wine of the land". Wine has been so integral to French culture for so long that, in fact, one is much more likely to find better vin de pays than landwein.

Lees
Sediment made up of grape pulp, dead yeast cells, pips (grape seeds), etc. that are created during the wine making process. Leaving the wine on the lees for awhile can impart additional body and flavor. Eventually the lees must be eliminated either by racking the wine or by filtration, or by a combination of the two methods.

Legs
Swirl a glass of wine, especially one that's full-bodied, and it often leaves viscous streams running down the side of the glass. These are called legs and sometimes tears, though there's nothing to cry about because the presence of legs usually indicates a rich wine.

Length
In wine parlance, length refers to how long the bouquet and flavor of a wine persist on the tongue after it has been swallowed. This lingering of flavor is usually associated with a quality wine so length is a positive. Fine wine has a lengthy aftertaste or finish.

Light
A descriptive term that can mean several things. Light can mean light-bodied (a lack of texture or weight on the tongue) or low in alcohol, or a wine that is young and fruity. Whether lightness is a positive or negative characteristic depends on personal preference and the traditional style of a wine.

Long
A lingering aftertaste, as in length. A long finish is characteristic of fine wines.

Luscious
A tasting phrase meaning the beverage is opulent, rich and smooth. Usually applied to wines that are sweet, the word is also used to describe any wine that is intensely fruity.

Macebeo (mah-cah-beh'-oh)
The most widely cultivated and most important white wine grape in the Rioja region of Spain where it is commonly called Viura. The grape gained prominence because of its high yields and has largely replaced the traditional white varietal Malvasia in this region. The white wines produced from it are generally light, floral and fairly fruity.

Maceration
This is the stage in the wine making process in which the freed juice is left in contact with the grapes' skins, stems, and seeds in order to extract color, tannins, and various flavor substances. For red wines, this process occurs during fermentation, and can last up to a month for full-bodied wines. Pure Vitis vinifera juice is light in color, regardless of the color of the grape it comes from, so this period is what allows a red wine to achieve its red color from the pigment compounds within the skins. Maceration is often avoided altogether when making white wines, with winemakers crushing and pressing their grapes as quickly as possible to immediately separate the juice from the skins. Certain white wines, such as some Sauvignon Blancs and Chardonnays, are sometimes allowed a few hours of skin contact to lend extra flavor and provide a bit of tannin, and it also can have the effect of lowering the wine's acidity. For rosé wines, the grape juice is allowed skin contact only until it has achieved its pink color, after which time maceration is halted by pressing the must. When a wine is macerated too long, it can become "over-extracted" and filled with very rough tannins and volatile acids, so proper timing is important at the maceration stage.

Macon (mah-cawn)
A large and important town in east-central France, situated to the south of the most famous slopes of Burgundy, The nearby Maconnais region of Burgundy takes its name from the town. It's known for good value, and fresh, simple whites produced mostly from the Chardonnay grape.

Macroclimate
A term used when describing the climate of a large wine-producing area - a whole region, for instance. A microclimate depicts a very small wine-growing area, as small as one vine's canopy, for instance; meanwhile a mesoclimate delineates an area in between the two, such as a hillside. Managing climates is important to growers because even slight changes in temperature, sun exposure, soil, etc. can have a major effect on the vines and grapes, and ultimately the wines produced from them.

Madeira (muh-deh'-rah)
Madeira is an island belonging to Portugal and is situated in the Atlantic Ocean about five hundred miles southwest of the European mainland. The island lends its name to one of Portugal's three most famous fortified wines (the other two are Port and Sherry), where it is produced from a variety of grapes. What makes Madeira unique is that it gains flavor from oxidization and heat: elements that would be the death knell for most wines. Madeira is baked and oxidized by the winemakers before being bottled. When wine contacts the oxygen it turns a dark brown color in a process known now as "maderization" for any wine that has oxidized. Madeira is an ancient wine with a long history in Europe, and in the 19th century it was the most commonly sold wine in America. It's also an extremely long-lived wine; a bottle of Madeira from the 19th century can still be excellent.

Maderized
When used to describe a wine, maderized means the wine has oxidized, and is displaying an amber or brown colorization and often an odor of staleness. It's definitely past its prime.

Magnum
A large bottle of wine which holds 1.5 liters, the equivalent of two normal 750ml bottles.

Malbec (mahl-bec)
A red wine grape of Bordeaux also known as Cot. It produces a tannic wine with a deep red color and is usually blended with one (perhaps more) of the four other allowed grapes in Bordeaux: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. In the Cahors region of southern Bordeaux, where the grape is the main grape used in blending, the resulting wine traditionally was known as "black wine." Today, the grape is so widely cultivated in Argentina that it is more important there than in its native France.

Manzanilla (mahn-thah-nee-yah)
A fino sherry. In Spain chamomile tea is called Manzanilla and the wine is so named because the taste of this pale, dry sherry is reminiscent of the tea.

Margaret River
Geographically, one of Australia's largest wine regions. Located in the state of Western Australia, the Margaret River area produces only 3% of the country's grapes but over 20% of their premium wines. The most heavily planted grapes include Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Semillon, and Sauvignon Blanc.