Glossary

This glossary covers most of the wine term vocabulary in A Wine Tourist's Guide: Visiting Tasting Rooms.

ABV: Alcohol by volume

appellation: The legal geographical designation for grapes

aroma: Refers to the fragrant perception of the grapes.

attack: A wine’s first impression

balance: A combination of tannins, fruit, alcohol and acids working together. If one aspect overrides the others, the wine is not balanced.

bouquet: Refers to the fragrant perception of the wine including those aromatics picked up as a result of fermenting, maturation and aging in addition to the aromatics from the grape.

brix: Measurement to determine the sugar content. For example 21ºB is juice that has a brix measurement of 21 grams of sugar per 100 grams of juice. This measurement is used by growers as data to help determine when to harvest grapes. It is also used by winemakers to determine the potential alcohol for juice and the amount of sugar converted to alcohol.

brut: Refers to a very dry sparkling wine or Champagne

calcium carbonate: CaCO3 A winemaker will add calcium carbonate to a juice or must if it is too acidic.

carboy: A vessel often made of glass or plastic that is used to age wine. Home winemakers often will use three, five and six gallon carboys for home winemaking.

chaptaliazation: Adding sugar to wine to increase the residual sugar. This will increase the potential alcohol of the wine.

cold soak: Allowing certain grape varieties to soak in cold temperatures for a number of days prior to fermentation. Winemakers will do this in order to extract more color, aromatics, flavors and tannins.

crush: A process where gentle pressure breaks the skin of a grape and releases the contents.

demijohn: A vessel used for fermenting and aging wine. Similiar to carboy.

destem: Removing the stems from grapes

fermentation: The process where yeast converts sugar into alcohol

filter: A winemaker filters a wine to remove particles and help make the wine clearer. Often filtering is done before bottling the wine.

fining: A process whereby a substance is added to the wine to clarify the wine. The substance has particles adhere to it and then falls to the bottom of the container. The result is a clear wine without sediment.

finish: After you swallow or spit the wine, the finish is the last flavor you notice. Writers often describe the finish by using a time period such as “ short finish” or a “long finish.” After swallowing or spitting, the flavor remains for a short time or a longer time. A long finish is often associated with a quality wine.

fruit wines: a wine produced from fruit such as: apples, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and more. Some of these fruit wines are produced from 100% fruit while others use a grape wine for a base and add a fruit flavor to the base wine.

gyropalette: A large crate holding bottles of sparkling wine or Champagne. This crate turns to allow riddling to take place.

harvest: The time of year when the grapes are picked by hand or machine. In the northern hemisphere this is typically between August and November. Harvest occurs in the southern hemisphere between February and April.

lees: Dead yeast cells that build up the sediment at the bottom of a barrel or fermentation container.

maceration: A winemaking process where grape skins are combined with the juice. This gives the color to red wine and intensifies the flavor.

malolactic fermentation: A secondary fermentation whereby malic acid which is harsh is converted to lactic acid which is softer.

MOG: An acronym for “materials other than grapes.”

must: A thick mixture of skins, pulp, seeds and juice

pH: A measurement of a solutions acidity. The scale is logarithmic and the lower the measurement the higher the acid. A pH of 3.0 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 4.0. Bottled wines with a pH of 4.0 and higher are suspectable to spoilage. Many finished wines are near the pH 3.5 range. Note that the higher the sugar content of a wine the lower the pH needs to measure (lower pH means more acidic). This ensures that the wine will have a crisp finish and will not taste like syrup. Winemakers can adjust a wines pH usually by adding tartaric acid.

phylloxera: A grapevine disease caused by small aphids that destroy grapevines

pomace: The grape skins, seeds and jacks after the grape or must is pressed.

potassium metabisulfite: A substance used by winemakers to inhibit bacteria growth. It is also used in higher doses to sanitize equipment.

press: A winemaking process where the winemaker uses a wine press to extract the juice or wine from the grapes or must.

racked:Wine that has been moved from one container (barrel, stainless steel tank, carboy) to another. Winemakers rack a wine to eliminate the solid particles that have fallen to the bottom of the container during fermentation and aging. Once the wine is racked the original containers are cleaned and reused.

refractometer: Instrument used to determine the sugar level in grapes, some are small enough to take to the vineyard to analyze the sugar level. The reading is in degree brix. The winemaker can convert the brix into potential alcohol. A reading of 20 brix will create a wine around 11% alcohol. A quick way to do the math mentally is to multiply the brix by 0.55. This will give an approximate potential alcohol level.

riddling: Also know as remuage is the process of tapping and turning a bottle of sparkling wine downward increasing the angle of the bottle to 90° so that the bottle cap is pointing downward. This process will cause the lees in the bottle to settle in the bottle’s neck next to the cap. The process can take several weeks.

sommelier: Wine consultant in a restaurant

stave: The oak pieces of wood that are put together and formed to make an oak barrel

TA (Total Acidity): Is a measure of a wine’s total acidity. The range is 0.0% to 1.0%. A desirable result is 0.6% for red wines and a bit higher for white wines. As a wine’s TA nears 1.0% the wine becomes sour and too tart for most people. As the TA nears 0.0% the wine will taste flat. Wines with low TA are susceptible to spoilage.

tannins: Compounds found in grape seeds and skins that cause the mouth to pucker

terroir: The effect of the combination of soil, weather, and climate on grapes in a given area

thief: Instrument used to siphon wine from a barrel for a tasting

tierce: One-third of a barrel

toast: Similiar to how a toaster will cause bread to toast, building a fire inside of a barrel will cause the wood to toast. Just as in bread, the degree of toast is controlled.

veraison: When grapes are just beginning to show signs of turning color.

vintage: The year the grapes are harvested.

viticulture: The study of growing grapes.

weeping: In a vineyard just before budbreak, a small drop of clear liquid will form where a grape leaf is to emerge.

wine enthusiast: One who enjoys wine and is eager to learn more about it.

wine snob: One who believes he or she has a perfect palate and knows “everything” about wine

yeast (commercial): Hundreds of different yeasts are available for winemakers to choose from

yeast (natural): Yeast naturally occurs in the vineyard and some winemakers rely on naturally occurring yeast to use in fermenting their grapes.