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Topics in Wine
S –
sur lie
French term meaning "on the lees", customarily applied to white wines whose principal deviation from everyday white winemaking techniques was some form of lees contact.
V –
Volnay
Attractive small village in the Côte de Beaune district of Burgundy's Côte d'Or producing elegant red wines from Pinot Noir. The wines of Volnay were celebratet under the ancien régime for their delicacy.
R –
Rhône
One of the most important wine rivers, linking a range of vineyards as dissimilar as those of Châteauneuf-du Pape in southern France, sparkling Seyssel, and Fendant du Valais in Switzerland.
H –
hillside vineyards
Even in Ancient Rome it was said Bacchus amat colles, or Bacchus loves the hills, suggesting that hillside vineyards have long been regarded as a source of high-quality wine.
L –
left bank
An expression for that part of the Bordeaux wine region that is on the left bank of the river Garonne. It includes, travelling down river, Graves, Sauternes, Barsac, Pessac-Léognan, Médoc and all the appellations of the Médoc.
H –
harvest
Both the process of picking ripe grapes from the vine and transferring them to the winery, and ist occasionally festive, if frenetic, duration.
H –
Haut-Médoc
The higher, southern part of the Médoc district of Bordeaux which includes the world-famous communes of Margaux, Pauillac, St-Estèphe and St-Julien, as well as the less glamorous ones of Listrac and Moulis.
R –
rancio
Imprecise tasting term used in many languages for a distinctive style of wine, often fortified wine or vin doux naturel, achieved by deliberately maderizing the wine by exposing it to oxygen and/or heat.
L –
lees stirring
Or bâtonnage, as it is called in French, is the once fashionable winemaking operation of mixing up the lees in a barrel, cask, tank or vat with the wine resting on them. It is an optional addition to the process of lees contact and is often employed, particularly for whites which have undergone barrel fermentation. Usually done with a stick. Stirring up the lees in the barrel also effects oak flavour.
A –
Ausbruch
German-language equivalent of the Hungarian Aszu, traditionally designating sweet wines made from botrytized grapes.
T –
tuffeau
A common rock type in the central Loire. Tuffeau blanc is calcareous but provides much better drainage than most limestones.
B –
Bordeaux mixture
Bouillie bordelaise in French, once much-used mixture of lime, copper sulfate, and water first recorded in 1885 by Alexis Millardet, as an effect control of downy mildew.
Z –
zinc
Essential element for healthy vine growth. A deficiency of zinc affects the plant's ability to synthesize the hormones auxins, deficiency in which results in a failure of the shoots to grow normally.
C –
Charmat
The name of a bulk sparkling winemaking process which involves provoking a second fermentation in a pressure tank. Also called tank method.
A –
AC or AOC
Stands for Appellation d'Origine Contrôllée, France's famous denomination for ist best wines, sometimes known as Appellation Contrôlée.
G –
grafting
The connection of two pieces of living plant tissue so that they unite and grow as one plant, has been a particularly important element in growing vines since the end of the 19th century.
R –
residual sugar
Occasionally RS, the total quantity of sugars remaining unfermented in the finished wine. This may include both fermentable sugars, mainly glucose and fructose, which have for some reason remained unconverted to alcohol during fermentation, and small amounts of those few sugars which are not readily fermented by typical wine yeast.
L –
lees contact
Increasingly popular and currently fashionable winemaking practice known to the Ancient Romans whereby newly fermented wine is deliberately left in contact with the lees. This period of lees contact may take place in any container, from a bottle to a large tank or vat-although a small oak barrel is the most common location for lees contact.
V –
Vendange Tardive
Means literally "late harvest" and in France is restricted to Alsace, where strict regulations cover ist production, even if too many producers are meeting only the bare minima.
A –
assemblage
French word for the important operation in the production of fine wines of deciding which lots will be assembled to make the final blend. It plays a crucial role in sparkling winemaking when some cuvées may be assembled from several hunderd different components.
D –
B –
bunch rots
Occur in vines all over the world and can be caused by many species of funghi including yeasts and bacteria.
M –
É –
Échezeaux
Grand Cru of the village of Flagey-Échezeaux in Burgundy's Côte de Nuits, producing red wines from Pinot Noir grapes.
T –
terra rossa
Red-brown loam or clay directly over well-drained limestone found typically in regions with a mediterranean climate. Such soils are found in southern Europe, North Africa and parts of Australia.
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