Acidity:
The
acid content of a wine. Acid is the nervous system of the
wine and one of its most important components. It gives the
wine its tartness and liveliness. It also helps preserve a
wine as well as mitigate the sweetness of wines with
residual sugar.
Appellation:
(aa-puh-LAYshun) (Appellation d'Origine Controlee)
French system of defining the place of origin of its
best wines (and other agricultural products) and
then controlling the standards for production as
well as protecting its trademark. The U.S. version
is American Viticultural Area (AVA).
Body:
The
weight and heft of a wine in your mouth, often
determined by viscosity or thickness of a wine,
which may be caused by high sugar or alcohol
content.
Botrytis Cinerea:
(bo-TRY-tus si-NEAR-e-uh) A sometimes beneficial
mold referred to as "noble rot." It attacks grape
skins, causing the moisture to evaporate and the
grape sugars to concentrate. It also imparts a
honeyed and pleasant moldy-like smell and flavor to
the wine.
Brix:
Method of measuring sugar in grape juice and wine.
Named for the man who developed the calibrations on
the hydrometer used by American winemakers for this
purpose. Degrees Brix translates exactly to percent
of of sugar (e.g. 20 degrees Brix = 20% sugar).
Brut:
(broot) Term for driest level of sparkling wine.
Champagne Method:
The
original method (from the Champagne region in France) used
to create sparkling wine by causing a still wine to ferment
a second time in the bottle.
Clean:
A fresh-smelling and -tasting wine with no off odors or
flavors.
Closed:
Tasting term applied to a wine that is showing little or no
aromas or flavors.
Complex:
Tasting term for a wine that has many layers of
nuances of aromas and flavors. One measure of a good
wine.
Corked:
Term
for a foul smell and taste in a wine caused by a
cork contaminated by the chemical TCA
(trichloranisole). A "corked" wine may smell and
taste of mold, mushrooms, wet cardboard, or a damp
basement.
Crisp:
Tasting term for a wine with a pleasant, refreshing
amount of acidity.
Dry:
A
wine that has no discernable trace of sweetness.
Enology:
(e-NAH-luh-gee) The study of wine, specifically the
study of winemaking.
Estate Bottled:
A
wine made from grapes grown by the producer of the
wine. The wine should also have been made into wine
and bottled by the producer on the premises.
Fermentation:
Process whereby yeasts feeding on the sugar in grape
juice (must) secrete enzymes that create ethyl
alcohol, thereby turning the liquid into wine.
Filtering:
In
winemaking, a method of clarifying a wine by
mechanically pumping it through a filter of some
sort.
Fining:
In winemaking, a method of clarifying a wine by adding a
coagulant to the wine, which collects impurities as it
settles to the bottom of the cask or tank.
Finish:
The
flavor a wine leaves in your mouth after it has been
spit out or swallowed. It's experienced on the back
of the palate.
Herbaceous:
(er-BAY-shus) The smell of plants, typically grass
or hay, in certain wines including Sauvignon Blanc
and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Hectare:
(HEK-tar) The European metric equivalent of 4.5
acres.
Lees:
(leez) The debris of fermentation, including dead
yeasts, that collects in the tank or barrel.
Malolactic Fermentation:
(mah-lo-LAK-tick) Secondary fermentation whereby
bacteria convert harsh malic into lactic acid. The process softens a wine and gives it a buttery
character.
Must:
Term
applied to the juice of crushed grapes until it has
been fermented into alcohol.
Oxidized:
A
wine gone bad because of too much exposure to
oxygen.
Racking:
Most
basic way of clarifying wine after fermentation,
whereby the lees are allowed to settle and the clear
wine is transferred into a clear tank.
Residual Sugar:
Sugar remaining in a wine after fermentation.
Sparkling Wine:
Any
wine with bubbles.
Still
Wine:
A
wine that contains no bubbles
Sur
Lie:
(soo-ER
lee) French term ("on the lees") for aging a wine on
its lees, which have the potential of imparting
complexity to the aromas and flavors of a wine.
Tannin:
(TAN-in) Phenolic compound found in all plants that
comes to wine through grapes and new oak-barrels.
Affects mouth feel and texture of wine imparting a
dry, chalky sensation of sometimes bitterness.
Terroir:
(tehr-WAHR)
French term for describing the environment in which
a wine was produced and how well the wine reflects
that environment.
Varietal:
The
character of the particular grape from which the
wine was made, which shows itself in the wine's
flavor or aromas. Also, the name of the predominant
grape used to make the wine.
Vitis
vinifera:
(vi-TEASE vi-neh-FAIR-ah) the grape species
cultivated for making wine.
Back-to-top
The
grapes are either harvested by hand or with mechanical
harvesters, and sometimes powdered sulfites are
sprinkled on the grapes prior to crushing to prevent too
much reaction with the air and to suppress bacteria. The fermentation usually takes
place in open vats. Several processes may be employed to
give the wine clarity, such as fining and filtration.
Shortly after fermentation has ended, the wine is
transferred to a settling tank where filtration and other
clarification techniques may be used.
Right after
picking, white grapes are put into a crushing machine
and pressed. In the process, the skins are separated from
the juice, an important difference over the red wine
process. Some adjustments are sometimes made to the acid or
sugar levels at this stage (the addition of sugar is called
"chaptalization"). The clarified juice is then ready for
fermentation.Yeast is then added to the juice for
fermentation. Before long the white grape juice
becomes white wine. At this point, some further tinkering is
usually called for: 
A glass of red wine contains about 150 calories.
