Habillage
French term for the 'dressing' of a bottle, including the foil capsule or cover, labels, box and so on.
Halbtrocken
German for half dry.
Hard
Wines with heavy tannins.
Harmonious
Said of a wine where all the elements of the character blend together seamlessly.
Hectare
Metric unit used to measure land area. Equivalent to approximately 2.5 acres.
Hectolitre (hectoliter)
Metric unit used to measure wine production. A hectolitre is 100 litres, or just over 133 normal bottles. It is approximately 22 Imperial gallons or 26.4 US gallons.
Herbaceous
Said of a wine exhibiting aromas and flavours of herbs like rosemary, thyme, basil or oregano. Can be a positive trait, but must be in balance with the other characteristics.
Hock
English term for German white wines, particularly from the Rhine region.
Hogshead
A large barrel, often with a capacity of about 300 litres (66 Imperial gallons, 72 US gallons).
Hollow
Wines where the "middle" of the flavour is missing: after the first sensation of flavour nothing much happens until the finish.
Honey/honeyed
Said of wines which have sweet honey flavours.
Hot
A hot wine has a lot of alcohol.
Horizontal tasting
A wine tasting where several wines of the same type are compared - for example wines of the same vintage, or made from the same grape variety.
Hybrid
