Vintaging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The practice of obtaining grapes for winemaking encompasses the selection and harvesting, alongside the fermentation process and subsequent aging techniques involved in wine production
2. The process of gathering grapes for winemaking involves not only their selection and harvesting, but also includes the fermentation and aging methods used in wine creation
3. A method associated with wine production that integrates the picking of grapes, the fermentation phase, and the aging processes in the overall crafting of wine

Etymology: "Vintaging" is simply the present participle and gerund of "vintage," so its story is really the story of the verb's root. That root goes back to Latin "vindēmia," meaning a gathering of grapes, and the word is built from "vīnum" (wine) and "dēmō" (take off or away, remove). Put together, the original sense is close to "taking the wine," that is, taking the grapes from the vine. The Latin term passed into Old French as "vendange" (and earlier "vendenge" and "vendage"), then came into Middle English as "vendage" and "vyndage." The French form survives in modern French as "vendange," which still means the grape harvest. English, by contrast, eventually narrowed "vintage" to the harvest of a particular year and the wine made from it, while the verb "to vintage" kept the sense of gathering the grapes themselves.

Synonyms: aging, maturing, refining, cultivating, developing