Basic Wine Terms

[thomaz george]

Acetic Acid

All wines contain acetic acid, the main component in vinegar, but usually the concentration is imperceptibly small—from 0.03 percent to 0.06 percent. Overexposure to oxygen during winemaking or bottle-aging can increase the concentration of acetic acid; once it reaches 0.07 percent, a sweet-sour vinegary smell and taste are detectable and the wine can be called acetic. At higher levels (over 0.1 percent), the vinegary character dominates the wine and is considered a flaw.

Acids

Present in all grapes and an essential component of wine, acidity imparts a crisp, refreshing character to wine, contributes structure, prolongs the aftertaste and acts as a preservative, allowing wine to mature.

Aeration

This process of encouraging the wine to absorb oxygen is also called breathing. Simply pulling the cork out of a bottle does not allow for sufficient since air contact; decanting or even swirling the wine in a glass are preferred methods. The goal is to allow the wine to open up and develop, releasing its aromas into the air. Ten to thirty minutes aeration can help open tight young red wines that are meant to age. Some wines can also develop off-odors or a bottle stink that blows off with a few minutes of aeration. Since older (15+ years) red wines are more delicate and can lose their fruit during aeration, aeration is not recommended; the wines can evolve quite quickly in the glass.

Alcohol

Ethyl alcohol is produced during fermentation. Alcohol adds body and a perception of sweetness to wine.

American Oak

Oak grown in American forests is increasingly popular as an alternative to French oak for making barrels thanks to its relatively low cost (American oak barrels are about half the price of French oak barrels). In contrast with French oak, American oak can have more pronounced vanilla, dill and cedar notes; it is used primarily for aging more intensely flavored wines such as Cabernet, Merlot and Zinfandel.

Appellation

Defines the area where a wine's grapes were grown, such as Bordeaux, Chianti, Alexander Valley or Russian River Valley. Wines are frequently named after the appellation especially in Old World regions. Regulations vary widely from country to country and sometimes from appellation to appellation.

Appellation D'Origine Contrôlée (AOC or AC)

The French system of appellations, begun in the 1930s, is considered the wine world's prototype. To carry an appellation in this system, a wine must follow rules regulating the area in which the grapes are grown, varieties used, ripeness at harvest, alcoholic strength, vineyard yields, irrigation and various techniques used in grapegrowing and winemaking.

Balthazar

An oversized bottle, which holds the equivalent of 12 to 16 standard bottles.

Barrel Fermented

Denotes wine that has been fermented in small casks (usually 55-gallon oak barrels) instead of larger tanks. At the cost of additional labor, barrel fermentation may increase body and add complexity, texture and flavor. The process is used mainly for white wines.

Blanc de Blancs

"White of whites," meaning a white wine made from white grapes, most often used to describe sparkling wines made from Chardonnay.

Blanc de Noirs

"White of blacks," white wine made from the black grapes, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunieur. To avoid extracting color from the skins, the juice is quickly pressed from the grapes and fermented without skin contact. The wines can have a pale pink hue and has some of the red berry fruit and fuller body normally associated with red wines.

Botrytis Cinerea

"Noble rot" is the common name for Botrytis cinerea, a beneficial mold that grows on ripe white wine grapes in the vineyard under specific climatic conditions. The mold dehydrates the grapes, leaving them shriveled and raisin-like and concentrates the sugars and flavors. Wines made from these berries have a rich, complex, honeyed character and are often high in residual sugar. Botrytis contributes the unique, concentrated flavors in such wines as BA and TBA Riesling from Germany, Sauternes from Bordeaux, Aszu from Hungary's Tokay district and an assortment of late-harvest wines from other regions.

Bottle Sickness

Also known as bottle stink due to the unpleasant odor sometimes caused by sulfur. Usually blows off with decanting.

Bottled By

Means the wine could have been purchased ready-made and simply bottled by the brand owner, or made under contract by another winery. When the label reads "produced and bottled by" or "made and bottled by" it means the winery produced the wine from start to finish.

Brut

Designates a relatively dry Champagne or sparkling wine, brut is the driest wine made by many producers. The scale, from driest to sweetest is: Extra Brut, Brut, Extra-Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux.

Cask Number

A term sometimes used to designate special wines, as in Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, but often applied to ordinary wines to identify a separate lot or brand. Synonymous with bin number.

Chapitalization

The addition of sugar or concentrated grape must to grape juice before fermentation is complete. The goal is to boost the meager sugar levels found under-ripe grapes and the alcohol levels in the subsequent wines. Chaptalization is not uncommon in northern European countries, where cold climates may keep grapes from ripening completely, but it is forbidden in southern Europe (including southern France and all of Italy) and California.

Charmat

Bulk production method for sparkling wine in which the wines undergo secondary fermentation in large stainless steel tanks and are later bottled under pressure. Also known as the "bulk process."

Cold Stabilization

A clarification technique that can prevent the formation of crystals in wine bottles. Prior to bottling, the wine's temperature is lowered to approximately 30ºF for two weeks, causing the tartrates and other solids to precipitate out of solution. The wine is then easily racked off—separated from—the solids.

Crush

Harvest season when the grapes are picked and brought into the winery to be pressed; fermentation is usually started after crushing the berries.

Cuvee

A blend or special lot of wine.

Decant

A technique, which removes sediment from wine before drinking. After allowing the sediment to settle by standing the bottle upright for the day, the wine is poured slowly and carefully into another container leaving the sediment in the original bottle.

Demi-Sec

A term describing sweetness in Champagne. It can be misleading; although demi-sec literally means "half-dry", demi-sec sparkling wines are usually slightly sweet to medium sweet. The scale, from driest to sweetest, is: Extra Brut, Brut, Extra-Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux.

Enology

The science and study of and winemaking. Also spelled oenology.

Estate-Bottled

Originally used to describe wines made entirely by the producer from vineyards owned by the winery and contiguous to the winery "estate." Today it indicates that the winery controls the grapes—through vineyard ownership or a long-term lease to purchase the grapes—and makes the wine from crushing to bottling.

Extra-Dry

A common sparkling wine term not to be taken literally; most wines labeled extra-dry are slightly sweet. The scale, from driest to sweetest, is: Extra-Brut, Brut, Extra-Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux.

Fermentation

The process in which yeast metabolizes grapes sugars, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide and transforming grape juice into wine.

Filtering

Pumping wine through a screen or pad to remove leftover grape and fermentation particles. Most wines are filtered for both clarity and stability, although many winemakers believe that some flavors and complexity are also stripped from the wine.

Fining

A technique for removing suspended particulates that can make wine hazy or add undesirable aromas. A fining agent such as bentonite (powdered clay) or egg whites is added to the top of a tank or barrel full of wine. As the fining agent travels down through the wine, it combines with the suspended particulates. Once the sediment has settled at the bottom of the container, it is easy to rack off the wine.

Fortified

Indicates wine whose alcohol content has been increased by the addition of brandy or neutral spirits. Port and sherry are two examples.

French Oak

The traditional wood for wine barrels is oak grown in French forests. The barrels impart vanilla, cedar and sometimes butterscotch flavors. Pricey compared to barrels made from American oak; French oak costs upwards of $600 per barrel vs. $250 for American.

Grown, Produced and Bottled

On U.S. labels, means the winery handled all aspects of wine growing, making and bottling.

Half-Bottle

Holds 375 milliliters or 12.5 ounces; equivalent to three small glasses of wine.

Imperial

A large format bottle holding six liters; the equivalent of eight standard 750ml bottles. The Bordelaise equivalent of Burgundy's Methuselah.

Jéroboam

The Bordelaise use this term for large format bottles holding 4.5 liters or the equivalent of six bottles. In Burgundy and Champagne, the Jéroboam is the same size as Bordeaux's double magnum and holds 3 liters or four bottles of wine.

Late Harvest

On U.S. labels, indicates that a wine was made from grapes picked later and at a higher sugar level (Brix) than normal. Usually associated with botrytized and other sweet wines.

Lees

Sediment composed of expired yeast cells and grape solids that settles at the bottom of a barrel or tank during and after fermentation. White wine is often aged "on its lees" to gain additional complexity.

Maceration

Used primarily in making red wine, the process of steeping grape skins and solids in wine after fermentation, when alcohol acts as a solvent to extract color, tannin and aroma from the skins (aided by heat, alcohol, the amount of skin contact and time). Cold maceration, (steeping when the must is not heated) takes place before fermentation.

Made and Bottled By

On U.S. labels, indicates only that the winery crushed, fermented and bottled a minimum of 10 percent of the wine in the bottle.

Magnum

A large format bottle that holds 1.5 liters.

Meritage

California vintners invented this term for their Bordeaux-style red and white blended wines. The grapes approved to use this term are the classic Bordeaux varieties: for reds, they are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec; for whites, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

Méthode Champenoise (Méthode Traditionelle)

The traditional method for making high-quality sparkling wine in which the secondary fermentation, which creates the bubbles, occurs inside the bottle. Required in Champagne.

Methuselah

An extra-large bottle holding 6 liters; the equivalent of eight standard bottles. The Burgundian equivalent of Bordeaux's Impériale.

Must

The unfermented juice of grapes before it is converted into wine.

Nebuchadnezzar

A giant wine bottle holding 15 liters; the equivalent of 20 standard (750ml) bottles.

Négociant (Négociant-Éleveur)

French wine merchants who buy grapes, must or wine and bottle the final product under their own label. The term éleveur indicates that the négociant oversees the wine at least from right after fermentation all the way to bottling. Most commonly found in Burgundy where individual vineyard holdings are small and the négociant offers significant economies of scale. Two well-known examples are Joseph Drouhin and Louis Jadot.

Nonvintage

Blended from more than one year's grapes. Many Champagnes and sparkling wines are nonvintage; this allows the vintner to keep a house style from year to year. Most Sherry and Port is also nonvintage.

Nouveau

Light, fruity red wine bottled and sold as soon as possible after fermentation, meant to be drunk up quickly. Applies mostly to Beaujolais.

Phylloxera

Tiny root lice that attack vitis vinifera roots, eventually killing the vine. The disease was widespread in both Europe and California during the late 19th century, and returned to California in the 1980s.

Private Reserve

This description, along with Reserve, once stood for the best wines a winery produced, but because it lacks a legal definition many wineries use it or a spin-off (such as Proprietor's Reserve) for rather ordinary wines. Depending upon the producer, it may still signify excellent quality.

Produced and Bottled by

Indicates that the winery crushed, fermented and bottled at least 75 percent of the wine in the bottle.

Rehoboam

Large format bottle equivalent to 4.5 liters; equivalent to six regular bottles. The Burgundian equivalent of the Bordelaise Jéroboam.

Salamanazar

A large format bottle holding 9 liters, the equivalent of 12 regular (750ml) bottles.

Tannin

Wine component—found mostly in red wines—derived primarily from grape skins, seeds and stems, but also from oak barrels. Tannin acts as a natural preservative that helps wine age and develop. Excessive, unbalanced tannin can taste bitter and leaves the same drying, furry sensation in the mouth as very strong tea. Common tannin descriptors include smooth, velvety, mouth-drying and rough.

Tartaric Acid

The principal acid in grapes and wine; contributes to taste and stabilizes color. Unlike malic acid, tartaric acid does not decline as grapes ripen. Tartaric acid can precipitate out of solution in bottled wine to form harmless tartrate crystals resembling shards of glass.

Tartrates

Harmless crystals resembling shards of glass that may form during fermentation or bottle aging (often on the cork) as tartaric acid naturally present in wine precipitates out of solution. Components of tartaric acid, including potassium bitartrate and cream of tartar, they are less soluble in alcoholic solutions than in grape juice and solidify at cooler temperatures (such as those found in a refrigerator); can be avoided in finished wines through decanting. Cold stabilization and careful pouring can prevent transferring the crystals from the bottle into the glass.

Viniculture

The science or study of making wine. Contrast with viticulture.

Vintage

Indicates the year in which the grapes were grown. For vintage dated wines made in the United States, 95 percent of a wine must come from grapes that were grown and picked in the stated calendar year. In the southern hemisphere where the grapes may grow in the year preceeding a February through March harvest, the vintage date refers to the year of harvest. Also refers to the time of year in which the harvest takes place.

Vintner

Literally a wine merchant, but generally used to mean wine producer or winery proprietor.

Viticulture

The science or study of wine grapes. Contrast with viniculture.

Yeast

Micro-organisms that convert sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide in the process known as fermentation. The predominant wine yeast, saccharomyces cerevisiae, is the same micro-organism that ferments beer and makes bread dough rise. Three categories of yeasts are common, including cultured, natural and wild.