Garrafeira

Used in reference to Portuguese still wines, the word garrafeira indicates a wine of especially high quality. But the word also means wine cellar or bottle cellar (from the Portuguese garrafa—bottle). In addition garrafeira is a style of Port, albeit a rare one. Rich and supple, garrafeira Ports are usually from a single outstanding year and are aged briefly in wood and then a long time—as many as twenty to forty years—in large glass bottles. After aging, the garrafeira is decanted and transferred into standard 750 milliliter bottles and sold.

The British term claret (to refer to a Bordeaux wine) comes from a medieval French name for the cabernet sauvignon grape.

Answer: False.

The British word claret comes from the French clairet, referring to a light red wine. Historically, the British used the term to distinguish Bordeaux wine from Port which of course was usually much darker in color. And in any case, the term could probably not refer to a medieval French name for cabernet sauvignon since cabernet sauvignon is not thought to have existed before the beginning of the 16th century.

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