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Richard Grant Wine - Wine production glossary Category: Food and Drink > Wine Date & country: 28/10/2013, USA Words: 301

Over cropping
The act of allowing vines to set too much fruit (usually by pruning too lightly in winter).

Parts per million
A comparative unit of small measure which is exactly as it sounds -- pounds of something per million pounds of something else, grams per million grams, etc. One red grain of sand among a million white grains is one part per million.

Oporto
Largest seaport city in northern Portugal. This is the gateway to the port wine region.

Over cropped
A vine that carries more crop than it can reasonably ripen. Vines that aren't pruned drastically enough tend to set too much crop. Wine produced from fruit of an over cropped vine is always poorer in quality than if the crop were normal size. An over cropped vine can be corrected, if it's done in time, by simply thinning the crop in late June or early July. The grower sends in a crew to cut off from 10 to 40% of the over cropped fruit while it is small and green. The remaining fruit will then develop, ripen correctly and produce better wine than it would have if the thinning had not taken place.

Open-top tanks
Wine tanks without permanent covers, used only for red wine fermentation. This is the traditional design for fermenters, but modern wineries normally use only the closed-top design. Open top tanks are more difficult to keep clean, allow loss of wine flavor during fermentation and require some type of surrounding building or roof in case of rain.

Oaky
Excessive oak flavor in a wine.

North Coast
A viticultural area in California comprising all the grape growing areas of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Solano, Lake and Marin Counties.

Nose
The odor of a wine, including aroma and bouquet.

Nouveau
Term used to describe a Beaujolais-like wine

Oak
A type of hardwood commonly used for building wine barrels. American oak has a distinctive, bourbon-like flavor but French oak flavor is much more subtle. Both types of oak barrels contribute considerable tannin and vanillin (vanilla) flavors to wines during aging.

Noble Rot
Common name for Botrytis cinerea, the famous fungus of more than a few fabulous dessert wines.

Nodes
Slight enlargements occurring at more or less regular intervals along the length of vine shoots and canes. One leaf develops at each of these nodes and a new bud forms in the axil at the node also.

Noah
The first man to plant a vineyard and make wine, according to the author of Genesis. Unfortunately, he was also the first to overdo it in the drinking department and had to pay the price for that.

No Topping Method
In the late 1960s it occurred to me that it might be better for winemakers not to top barrels every few weeks, as was then the industry practice. I wrote and talked extensively to other winemakers about avoiding aeration during barrel aging by eliminating topping altogether. The cause of all this was something that I noticed in 1967. From time to time at Beaulieu, cellar crews had noticed that when bungs were removed from barrels after long term storage, a sucking sound was often heard and air appeared to suddenly rush into the barrel at the instant of bung loosening. It was as if a vacuum had developed inside the barrels during wine aging.

Natural
Term used on the label to designate a champagne or sparkling wine that is absolutely dry.

Nevers
(nev-are) One of the types of French oak used for wine barrels. Similar to Alliers in that both come from central France and both woods are tight-grained as opposed to Limousin, which has a looser, more open grain.

Muscatel
Wine made from Muscat grapes, usually sweet and usually high in alcohol.

Must
The sloppy mess that results from crushing fresh grapes (before fermentation). Includes pulp, skins, seeds, juice and bits of stem.

Napa
Town 50 miles northeast of San Francisco; it is at the entrance to Napa Valley, one of California's prime vineyard and wine areas (and now containing well over 300 wineries).

Mosel
German wine river valley which produces excellent quality Riesling wines. This region is known for its slate soil on very steep cliffs. It is said,

Moselle
Same as Mosel, but now we

Mission
The first, and probably the worst, of California's long line of grapes that have been grown for production of table wines. Introduced by Spanish Catholic missionaries in the late 1600's. This is a tough grape, which travels well, but the wine quality is poor because of lack of flavor, color and keeping quality.

Mineral ions
Electrically charged forms of minerals, usually occurring in solution in the soil moisture and available for take-up by roots. Some examples used by grape vines are

Midi
A very large wine growing area in southwestern France, west of the mouth of the Rhone river on the Mediterranean, which supplies most of the vin ordinaire consumed by the French.

Mildew
Grapevine disease. Can be devastating but is usually controlled by dusting the vines with sulfur or spraying with organic fungicides. The two major types of mildew are Powdery mildew, which occurs in (low humidity) California and Downey mildew, which occurs in (higher humidity) Europe and other wine regions of the world.

Meritage
A blend of Bordeaux varietals bottled and marketed under the name

Merlot
(mer-l

Microclimate
The localized climate in a specific, small area as opposed to the overall climate of the larger, surrounding region. A microclimate can be very small, as to encompass a single vine, or cover a whole vineyard of several acres or more. Microclimates can be caused by slope of the land, soil type and color, fog, exposure, wind and many other factors.

Manzanilla
A Sherry-like wine from Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain, always bone dry. Warner Allen says, in his History of Wine,

Medoc
(may-doc) Red wine district within the Bordeaux region of France in which are produced many of the greatest red wines of the world.

Meristem
Region of active growth in a grapevine, made up of meristematic cells that divide to form new cells during growth.

Manhole
Large opening in the sidewall of a wine tank through which spent pomace or lees is removed after the wine is racked (drained) off. Cellar workers can enter through the manhole for tank cleaning.

Malo-lactic fermentation
A bacterial fermentation that sometimes occurs in new wines after the primary yeast fermentation. Malo-lactic, or secondary fermentation changes natural malic acid into lactic acid and CO2. From the wine taster's point of view, malic acid, which has a sharp flavor, is removed. Carbon dioxide is given off, and the much less acidic and softer tasting lactic acid appears. This smoothes the flavor of the wine. Usually a wine that has undergone malolactic fermentation is less acidic and can take on buttery and creamy overtones, as lactic acid is the type of acid found in milk.

Malic acid
A natural organic acid that occurs in ripe grapes at relatively high concentrations. It is the second most abundant organic acid in most vinifera varieties. Tartaric acid, of course, is the primary grape acid in nearly all varieties. The tartaric is not metabolized by yeast during fermentation or by most spoilage organisms that might grow in the wine. Only the malic portion of the acidity of grapes or wine is easily changed by microbes. See Malo-lactic fermentation.

Magnum
Oversize bottle, twice the size of a standard 750 ml. wine bottle.

Malbec
One of the five major red wine grape varieties of Bordeaux. Malbec produces excellent wines in Argentina but is little planted in California because of its history of sparse crops there. No one has determined why that should be true but it may be related the the rootstocks used.

Madeira
Portuguese island in the Atlantic from which come rich, sherry-like dessert wines. These are long lasting wines and it is not unusual to find Madeira wines from vintages in the late 1800s that remain in great condition today. Just as in the case of Sherries and Vin Jaune, part of the flavor of Madeira wine comes from deliberate oxidation of the wine during aging. That also explains their longevity.

Maderization
Oxidation of table wines due to improper (or too long) storage. Maderized table wines, both white and red, are recognized by their brown color, lack of fruitiness and oxidized taste. Maderization gives Madeira wines part of their desirable character, which is made more palatable by the natural sweetness; but the same character would be undesirable in normal table wines.

Liter
Standard volume of measure in the metric system (used throughout the world for wine). 1 liter = 1.054 U.S. quarts; 1 U.S. gallon = 3.785 liters.

Loire Valley
One of France's larger wine regions located along the Loire River in west-central France. Major districts within the Loire are

Maceration
The act of soaking grape solids in their juice for certain time periods prior to fermentation of the juice. Often used for Chardonnay production and for making pink wines from black, blue or red grapes. As an example, the pink color of Wrotham Pinot Sparkling Wine comes from maceration of the grapes in their own juice for a few hours to allow just enough delicate flavor and red pigment to dissolve into the juice prior to pressing the juice off the skins. After pressing, the pink juice is fermented without any skins present. If we wanted to make a red wine, we would not press at all until after the fermentation was completed (with the skins present).

Limousin
(pronounced limousine and, sometimes, limo-zan). From a winemaker's point of view, Limousin is one of the major oak forest regions of central France. Limousin is also the name of the oak wood from that forest, or even oak wood that is shipped from the town of Limoges in central France. Traditionally, Limousin is the favorite type of oak for French barrels in the new world. Its grain is less tight and more open than others, an advantage for Cognac production. The open grain allows oak flavor to become extracted out of the wood quickly, which may be a disadvantage for the more delicate Chardonnays.

Leaf axil
The acute angle between a vine shoot and a leaf stem or petiole extending from the shoot. Buds develop in these axils just above each leaf petiole.

Late Harvest
Name given to dessert or full-bodied table wines produced from overripe grapes. (Late refers to time of year, not time of day).

Labrusca
A principal species of native North American grapes. Concord is the purest example currently grown on a large scale in the eastern U.S. Concord is also grown commercially in the Midwest and, oddly, in Washington State. There is no Concord tonnage grown in California except for a few individual vines growing in the back yards of mid westerners who miss the good old days before they moved to California. I know that because I'm one of them.

Lactic acid
A natural organic acid that occurs in many foods, including milk. In wine, it exists only in trace amounts unless the wine has undergone a malo-lactic secondary fermentation.

Knights of the Vine
A wine brotherhood dedicated to the full appreciation of wine. Founded by National Grand Commander Norman Gates, Sacramento, CA.

Jug Wines
Common name given to wines sold at modest prices in 1.5-liter size or larger containers.

Kabinett
German classification for quality wines ranking just below spaetlese. Kabinett wines are relatively low in price, but sugar is never used in their production (which is an indicator of quality).

Keg
Small barrel for wine aging or storage -- usually 12 gallons in size.

Keuka
One of the glacier-created Finger Lakes in New York State's wine country. It's beautiful, especially in the spring, summer, fall or winter.

Jeroboam
Oversize wine bottle; however, the exact size is not standardized. It may be equivalent to 4, 5 or 6 standard (750 ml) bottles, depending upon the wine producer. In Champagne, France and in California, it is often 3 liters in size; in Bordeaux, 3.75 liters; in England, as much as 4.5 liters.

Jerez
Small city in southern Spain (Andalusia). This is the birthplace of Sherry (Jerez, in Spanish).

Internode
The section of a grape vine stem between two successive nodes or joints on the vine shoot or cane.

Jefferson, Thomas
No wine glossary is complete without this hero of the wine industry. Third president of the U.S., he was a wine lover extraordinaire. Grape grower and winemaker, he went to his grave puzzled that the European grape cuttings he planted did not thrive in the U.S. as they did in Europe. He tried for more than 30 years and finally settled on certain native grape varieties which could stand the harsh new world climate.

Ingredient
Any of the components of a mixture. Grape juice is an ingredient of wine but yeast is not, since yeast never remains in the finished wine. Similarly, fining agents that may be added to a wine (but do not remain in the wine) are not ingredients.

Ice wine
Wine made from frozen grapes. The grapes are pressed while frozen and only the juice (never the solids) is used in the fermentation. Ice wines are always sweet, usually light and also delicate. Ice wines are almost always served as low alcohol dessert wines.

Ice bucket
Dating back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, this is a container in which ice is placed around a bottle of white wine on the table to chill it prior to drinking. The Greeks, and later, the Romans stored ice and snow in caves and under straw at higher altitudes from cold winter months and harvested it in summer for those rich enough to pay for it.

Hybrid
In viticulture, a hybrid is a new variety resulting from crossing two other (often very different) varieties.

Hot
Taste sensation often found in high alcohol wines. Table wines with hot taste are unpleasant to drink.

Heat summation
A measure of the climate of a growing region calculated by adding the mean temperatures for each day (minus a base temperature) over a growing season. For grapes, the base temperature is 50 degrees F (10

Hectare
Unit of size for farmland in France. One hectare is approximately 2.5 acres.

Hectoliter
Common unit of measure for wines in all European wineries. One hectoliter is 100 liters, 22.03 British imperial gallons or 26.42 U.S. gallons.

Hock
Originally an English term to denote wines which came from Hockheim, Germany. Today the term describes the unusually tall bottle that is used for Riesling and similar wines. Also, hock is a slang term referring to Riesling type wines themselves.

Hard
A tasting term describing a wine that is excessively tannic, bitter or astringent and which lacks fruitiness.

Hautvillers
Small town very close to, and just north of, Epernay in the Champagne region of France. It was here, at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers, that a monk named Dom Perignon was cellermaster for nearly fifty years in the late 1600s and early 1700s. He is given credit for much of the experimentation and processes leading to the development of today

Heartwood
The innermost portion of the woody tissue (xylem) making up the trunk of woody plants, such as grape vines or trees. Heartwood is composed of dead xylem cells that serve to give wood its strength. Wow! Even after the oldest xylem cells die, they perform a necessary function for the vine! See Sapwood.

Gassy
A sensory evaluation term describing a wine that contains residual carbon dioxide left over from the fermentation. Not unpleasant in most white wines, but distinctly undesirable in reds because the CO2 can exaggerate their tendency towards bitterness.

Generic wine
Blended wine of ordinary quality, without any varietal or other special characteristics. Common term for an everyday, low price wine.

Gypsum
A white crumbly mineral used in antiquity to raise the acidity in the low acid wines grown in warm climates around the Mediterranean Sea. Today

Fume Blanc
A name that has come to be synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc table wine. The best ones are dry but there are some Fume Blancs that are sweet.

Free run juice
The juice that separates from must only by draining or very light pressing.

Fruity
Tasting term for wine that retains the fresh flavor of the grapes used in its fermentation. Sometimes older wines, or wines that have undergone too much processing, can lose their fruitiness. In fine red wines, we often look for a balance between the natural fruitiness and the barrel-aged character added by oak.

Flor
Flower. A type of yeast that is able to float on the surface of a wine while growing and fermenting. It is no accident that it floats

Flowery
A tasting term for wine with an exceptionally aromatic character reminiscent of fresh garden flowers.

Foxiness
A tasting term to describe the smell and taste of Concord grapes and wine, and the smell and taste of similar varieties of Vitis labrusca. I grew up in Iowa, eating Concord grapes and jelly for two decades. To this day, I haven't the slightest idea how anyone could accurately describe Concord, Delaware or Niagara as fox-like or foxy. But they do it, so memorize that if you expect to keep your standing as a wine cognoscente.

Flabby
A tasting term for a wine that is too low in acidity, too high in pH and difficult to drink. Many California Chardonnay table wines in the 1990s suffered from this defect, as winemakers tried to make bigger and more impressive wines. They didn't sell very well.

Flat
Tasting term. Similar to flabby, a flat wine is lacking in acidity and crispness. Flat wines are difficult to drink and enjoy even if the flavor is good. In sparkling wines flat means the wine lacks carbonation.

Flinty
A tasting term used to describe white wine having a hard, austere, dry, clean taste. An example might be a Chablis that has a bouquet reminiscent of flint struck by steel. In Chablis, the term is positive and a good descriptor for some of the finest wines.

Fino
Term found on some Sherry labels to denote the winery's lightest and driest Sherries.

Finishing
The last steps in processing a wine just before bottling, and may include bottling. Often, this includes fining, blending and filtration or centrifugation.

Finish
The last impression left in the mouth by the taste of a wine.

Fining Agent
A pure substance that may be added to wine for the purpose of removing some undesirable natural component that occurs in excess. For example, immediately after fermentation, red wines may contain excess tannin, which makes the wine too bitter or astringent. This can be removed by adding a very small amount of a protein such as egg white or gelatin. The protein attaches itself to the excess tannin and precipitates, falling to the bottom of the wine tank where it is later removed by decanting (racking).

Fining
The act of clarifying or removing undesirable components from wine. This is usually done by adding a pure material that has the property of reacting with and removing the undesired component. Common fining agents for wine are egg white, gelatin and Bentonite clay.

Fined and Filtered
Fining causes the undesirable materials in a wine to settle to the bottom of the tank, along with the fining agent. Filtration clarifies the wine by removing these solids along with suspended particulates resulting from the fermentation process. Many fine wines are made today without filtering or fining because many wine makers believe it detracts from the wine. This is an unproven point, however. So when you find residue in the bottom of your bottle it's not a spoilage problem, it just has not been filtered or fined.

Fermenters
Tanks, barrels or other containers when used for fermentations. Fermenters may be used after the fermenting season as normal storage tanks.

Ethanol (Ethyl alcohol)
The type of alcohol produced by yeast fermentation of sugar under ordinary conditions. Chemically, it is written C2H5OH. The alcohol in alcoholic beverages is always ethanol.

Estate Bottled
Label phrase (implying quality) meaning that the wine was produced and bottled at the winery from grapes owned (and farmed) by the winery owner. The term has lost importance recently because of many relaxations of the original, rigid BATF rules.

Earthy
Sensory evaluation term for wine with a taste or smell reminiscent of soil, mushrooms or mustiness.

EEC
European Economic Community (all the nations of Europe taken together as if comprising one nation).

EEC countries
All the countries making up the EEC. EEC is the world's most important wine region, both for production and consumption.

Egg white
Left over albumin obtained by discarding the yolks from eggs. Used in fining red wines after barrel aging to remove excess (usually bitter) tannin.

Early Harvest
Not what you would guess; early harvest refers to time of year, not time of day. These wines are produced from grapes that haven't achieved full maturity. They are low in alcohol, light and easy to drink despite having high natural acidity. The German equivalent is trocken or halbtroken

Dry pomace
In a red fermenter, the solids left over from draining the new wine off after fermentation.

Dry
In the wine world, dry is never the opposite of wet. Whether in a fermentation tank or in a wine glass, dry means the complete absence of sugar in the wine. That's all that it means.

Drained pomace
In a crush tank, the solids left over after the juice has been drained off. This pomace is primarily skins with a small amount of stem bits.

Douro
A major river in northern Portugal flowing westward into the Atlantic Ocean at the port of Oporto. It passes through one of the most picturesque and dramatic river valleys in the world, which is the region of Port wines.

Downy mildew
A fungal disease of grape vines, which kills the affected tissue. The disease is native to eastern North America and has spread to Europe and most other regions of the world. It does not occur in California because of the low humidity and lack of summer rains. Don't get smug, California; you have Powdery mildew. In every variety except Wrotham Pinot!

Dosage
The few ounces of wine, often sweetened, which is added to each bottle of Champagne after disgorging to make up for the liquid volume lost by disgorging.

Disgorging (Degorgement)
In processing, disgorging is the act of removing the frozen plug of ice (containing spent yeast) from a bottle of Champagne or Sparkling Wine, after riddling. Disgorging takes place on a disgorging line just prior to adding dosage and the final corking of the finished bottle of champagne. See Dosage.