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varietal - 4 dictionary results

va⋅ri⋅e⋅tal

[vuh-rahy-i-tl]
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, designating, or characteristic of a variety.
2. constituting a variety.
3. (in U.S. winemaking) designating a wine made entirely or chiefly from one variety of grape.
–noun
4. a varietal wine named for such a grape (distinguished from generic ).

Origin:
1865–70; variet(y) + -al 1


va⋅ri⋅e⋅tal⋅ly, adverb
va·ri·e·tal   (və-rī'ĭ-tl)   
adj.  Of, indicating, or characterizing a variety, especially a biological variety.
n.  A wine made principally from one variety of grape and carrying the name of that grape.

[From variety.]
va·ri'e·tal·ly adv.

Varietal

Va*ri"e*tal\, a. Of or pertaining to a variety; characterizing a variety; constituting a variety, in distinction from an individual or species.

Perplexed in determining what differences to consider as specific, and what as varietal. --Darwin.

varietal  (adj.)
1866, a biologists' word (first attested in Darwin), from variety. In ref. to wines, meaning "made from a single variety of grape" is first attested 1941, Amer.Eng. As a noun, in this sense, attested from 1955.
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