Vindemia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The harvesting or gathering of ripe grapes for winemaking during the autumn season ; the cluster of ripe grapes ready to be picked ; the vintage or year in which grapes are collected for producing wine
2. The process of collecting mature grapes from vineyards as a key step in wine production ; a grouping of fully grown grapes awaiting harvest ; the annual grape harvest and its resulting wine yield
3. The act of reaping or picking mature grape bunches from vines for wine preparation ; a set of ripe grapes typically gathered at once ; the seasonal grape crop connected with the winemaking timeline

Etymology: "Vindemia" comes from Latin "vindemia," formed from "vinum" (wine) and a root connected to "demere" (to take away, remove), so the literal sense is roughly "removing of the wine" or "grape-gathering." The Latin word was used for the vintage itself, the gathering of grapes at harvest time, and Roman writers used it in agricultural contexts describing the autumn picking season. English took the word in the sense of the grape harvest and its yield, and it has remained a rare, learned term, mostly found in poetic or technical writing about viticulture. Its close relative "vintage" comes through Old French "vendange" from the same Latin root, so the two words are doublets: one arrived through the learned route of direct Latin borrowing, and the other through everyday French speech.

Synonyms: grape harvest, vintage, harvest, grape picking, wine harvest