English Glossary of Viticulture.pdf

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GLOSSARY Acid Acid -- think of lemon juice or orange juice is one of a few elemental components in grapes and ultimately in wine Generally speaking growers and winemakers are looking for balance in what they taste enough acid to make flavors vivid but not so much puckering is the only recourse Like tannins acids help give wines structure The level of acid is also an indication of ripeness As grapes approach ripeness the amount of acid in them drops as the sugar in them rises winemakers want to pick when the two are in balance and while lab work will usually tell them when theyre close its ultimately a matter of experience and preference Acidity The quality of wine that gives it its crispiness and vitality A proper balance of acidity must be struck with the other elements of a wine or else the wine may be said to be too sharp - having disproportionately high levels of acidity - or too flat - having disproportionately low levels of acidity Acre A unit of land area It was originally thought to be that area that a yoke of oxen could plow in one day It is roughly equal to 43560 square feet (2087 feet square) or 4096 square meters (64 meters square) Acrid A tasting term for a wine with overly pronounced acidity this is often apparent in cheap red wines Aftertaste A tasting term for the taste left on the palate after wine has been swallowed Finish is a synonym Aging barrel A barrel often made of oak used to age wine or distilled spirits Alcohol Generally refers to ethanol a chemical compound found in alcoholic beverages It is also commonly used to refer to alcoholic beverages in general Altar wine The wine used by the Catholic Church in celebrations of the Eucharist Alternative wine closures Various substitutes used in the wine industry for sealing wine bottles in place of traditional cork closures American Hybrid A hybrid cultivar (either intra or interspecific) which was created in America in a direct effort to improve wine quality by minimizing the tendency of the American cultivars to produce grapes which yielded a distinctive foxiness to the resulting wine These cultivars are the result of the intentional genetic combination of two or more other cultivars (initially at least one of which was a native American cultivar) in an effort to squelch the foxiness of any American parentage Later American hybrids (many of which were attempts to hybridize existing hybrids [both American amp FrenchAmerican]) were to focus on cultivar viability in extreme conditions (such as very short growing seasons amp very cold climates) and at the same time maximize wine quality An example of an early first generation American hybrid is TV Munsons Champanel (v


champinni X concord) while an example of a later American hybrid (which utilized other hybrids in parentage) is Cayuga White (release by Univ Cornell [Geneva] in 1947 as a cross of Schuyler X Seyval Blanc) Ampelography The Science of identifying grape varieties by detailed description of the appearance of the vine especially its leaves(shape amp texture) clusters (size amp configuration) amp berries (color amp size) Amphora A type of ceramic vase used for transporting and storing wine in ancient times Angels share The portion of a wine in an aging barrel that is lost to evaporation Anthocyanin Phenolic pigments that give red wine its colour The natural phenolic (qv) glycoside compounds found in the skins of red wine grapes which most strongly influence a red wines color These are the compounds which produce reds amp blues of fruits and flowers AOC Abbreviation for Appellation dOrigine Controcircleacutee (English Appellation of controlled origin) as specified under French law The AOC laws specify and delimit the geography from which a particular wine (or other food product) may originate and methods by which it may be made The regulations are administered by the Institut National des Appellations dOrigine (INAO) AP number Abbreviation for Amtliche Pruumlfnummer the official testing number displayed on a German wine label that shows that the wine was tasted and passed government quality control standards Appellation A geographical based term to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown Aroma The smell of a wine The term is generally applied to younger wines while the term Bouquet is reserved for more aged wines ATF Abbreviation for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms a United States government agency which is primarily responsible for the regulation of wines sold and produced in the United States Ausbruch German term originally referring to the aszuacute production method of mixing grapes affected by noble rot with a fermenting base wine Today a Praumldikat in Austria intermediate between Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese Auslese German for select harvest a Praumldikat in Germany and Austria Balanced Pruning Pruning a vine based on its growth in terms of the amount of one year old wood it produced the previous growing season A method of determining the fruiting capacity of a vine this season by weighing the wood removed at pruning time after the past season Common balanced pruning


formulas include Vitis Vinifera - 20 buds for the first lb of prunings + another 20 budsfor each additional Lbs of prunings up to a max of 60 buds FrenchAmerican hybrids - 20 buds (for the first pound) + another 10 buds additional lbs of prunings up to a max of 50 buds Native American varieties -30 buds (for the first pound) + another 10 buds additional lbs of prunings up to a max of 60 buds Base (Basal) Shoot A shoot arising from a bud located at the base of a cane Black Rot A fungal disease of the vine usually found only in the eastern US Barrels Balance The harmonious relationship of the components of wine - acids fruit tannins alcohol etc - resulting in a well proportioned or well balanced wine Barrel A hollow cylindrical container traditionally made of wood staves used for fermenting and aging wine Sometimes called a cask Barrique The French name for a 225 litre Bordeaux style barrel (Bordeaux hogshead) Will yield 24 cases of 12 bottles each[1] Baumeacute A measure of the sugar concentration in the juice or wine Beer A fermented malt beverage critical to the winemaking process especially after a late night crush Beerenauslese A German term meaning approximately harvest of selected berries A Praumldikat in Germany and Austria Beeswing A light sediment chiefly mucilage found in Port Behind How can a crop be behind schedule and who cares if it is The issue is at the heart of why 99 was such a cliffhanger of a year in Northern Oregons Willamette Valley and it boils down to this - every region has a certain window of time during the year when its warm enough for seasonal crops to grow In the Willamette Valley where Life in Vine takes place its about 75 months and it doesnt change much from year to year- unless some stage in its development is delayed every grape variety requires a certain amount of time to grow and produce ripe fruit and this is also fairly constant For Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley its about 75 months from budbreak to harvest So crunching the numbers with Einstein-like speed we see that 75 months of growing season minus the 75 months it takes to ripen Pinot Noir doesnt leave a lot to work with So if some milestone in the vines year is delayed -- budbreak is late because its too cold it takes the vines longer to flower because its raining and so on -- then the time it takes for a vine to go from budbreak to ripeness takes more time than will fit in the growing season In that case growers can watch powerless as winter storms bear down on their not-quite-ripe fruit knowing that there might not be enough warmth left in the year to get them the ripeness they need


This misalignment of growing season and grape ripening -- where the grapes are behind -- is essentially what drives the story of Life in Vine Bentonite A type of clay used in wine clarification Berthomeau Report Commissioned by French Ministry of Agriculture to better position the wine industry for the future Biodynamic wine Wines produced by the principles of biodynamic agriculture Blanc de Blancs A white wine usually sparkling made exclusively from white grapes often Chardonnay Blanc de Noirs A white wine usually sparkling made from red grapes Blatina A red wine grape of Bosnia and Herzegovina Blending The mixing of two or more different parcels of wine together by winemakers to produce a consistent finished wine that is ready for bottling Laws generally dictate what wines can be blended together and what is subsequently printed on the wine label Blind tasting Tasting and evaluating wine without knowing what it is Bloom Sometime in the late spring the vines will offer up spindly little pod clusters Ultimately these will bloom into flowers each of which in turn will turn into a grape if growers are lucky Growers refer to the whole process as bloom In Life in Vine Westreys David Autrey says that despite how late the flowering occurred in 1999 Abbey Ridge Vineyard bloomed very quickly and very evenly Bodega A Spanish wine cellar Also refers to a seller of alcoholic beverage Body A tasting term describing the weight and fullness of a wine that can be sensed A wine may be light- medium- or full-bodied A less specific term than texture wines rich in concentration extract alcohol tannin and glycerol may be described as full-bodied Botrytis (Bunch Rot) A fungus which can either affect grapes benevolently (as in the Noble Rot [qv] responsible for great sweet wines) or more commonly simply spoiling them with mould depending on conditions Botrytis cinerea See Noble rot


Bottle A bottle is a small container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a mouth Modern wine bottles are nearly always made of glass because it is nonporous strong and aesthetically pleasing Bottle shock Also known as bottle-sickness a temporary condition of wine characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines (usually fragile wines) are shaken in travel After several days the condition usually disappears Bottle variation The degree to which bottled wine of the same style and vintage can vary Bouquet A tasting term for the complex aromas of an aged wine The term is generally not applied to young wines Box wine Wine packaged in a bag usually made of flexible plastic and protected by a box usually made of cardboard The bag is sealed by a simple plastic tap Brandy See Burnt wine Brettanomyces A wine spoilage yeast that produces taints in wine commonly described as barnyard or band-aids Bright Describes a wine that has high clarity very low levels of suspended solids Brix A measurement of the dissolved sucrose level in a wine A scale used to indicate soluble solids content It is basically the percentage of sugar in a solution Brix = grams of sugar per 100 grams of liquid at 68F Brix Degrees If you only hear it and dont read it brix is one of the oddest terms winemakers use Bricks of what But brix is really a measure of the amount of sugar in juice Since the process of fermentation takes the sugar in juice and turns it into alcohol brix also tells winemakers how alcoholic a wine will be Brut A French term for a very dry champagne or sparkling wine Drier than extra dry Bud This little fellow is the smallest unit of currency on a vine and the beginning of a years worth of growth See budbreak and in another sense see beer The compound eye in the axil of a leaf located at a node Bud position Its done a little differently everywhere but in general when growers prune their vines they cut away everything but a few good-looking canes and lay them down on a trellis wire These select canes are often very long so they need to be trimmed and one way growers determine where to


cut is to count the number of nodes or bud positions on a cane These are like knuckles on a hand and its from these periodic lumps along a cane that shoots will grow If you leave too few you get less fruit if you leave too many you get a sun-blocking forest of leaves and the vine has to divide its energy between more clusters producing poorer fruit Budbreak Sometime in the early spring after the sap begins to flow through the trunk and canes of a vine (usually when the average ground temperature hits 50 degrees or so) nondescript bumps on the canes will begin to swell and buds will emerge Soon theyll break open and shoots will begin to well shoot upward From a bunch of spindly sticks to shoots it all happens pretty fast so Eyries David Lett is right when he says in Life in Vine theres a lot of magic in there Bung A stopper used to seal a bottle or barrel Commonly used term for corks Burnt wine Another name for Brandy a liquor made from distilled wine It is often the source of additional alcohol in fortified wines Butt An old English unit of wine casks equivalent to about 477 litres (126 US gallons105 imperial gallons) Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon is a variety of red grape mainly used for wine production and is along with Chardonnay one of the most widely-planted of the worlds noble grape varieties California cult wines Certain California wines for which consumers and others pay higher prices than those of Bordeauxs First Growths (Premiers Crus) Callus Parenchyma tissue that grows over a wound or graft and protects it from drying or injury This material also forms at the base amp nodes of cuttings being prepared for planting In this case the callus represents the primordial roots of the cutting Calyptra The petals of a grape flower Cane A cane is like the limb of a vine Pruners take a cane sprouting from the trunk of a vine and lay it down on a trellis wire They count the number of bud positions and trim the cane accordingly and from these bud positions shoots will emerge and thicken to canes themselves reaching for the sky and ultimately setting 1-3 clusters of grapes After harvest growers will choose one of these canes (now called a fruiting cane) cut away the rest and lay it down on the wire to begin the process again Cane Training A form of training the vine whereby the fruiting wood (qv) is pruned to long (4 nodes or longer) canes Cannon (Propane) As harvest approaches visitors to vineyards may think theyre entering a war zone but its really just propane cannons going off The idea is to scare the bejeesus out of birds who might


otherwise be tempted to stop in vineyards for a snack as they migrate north Unfortunately this trick doesnt always work Ive seen birds become so acclimatized to the cannon that theyll perch on the weapon itself hopping a few inches in the air as it goes off before settling down again Canopy The parts of the grape vine above ground in particular the shoots and leaves Canopy management A range of viticultural techniques applied in vineyards to manipulate the vine canopy This is performed for vine shape limiting direct sunlight and disease control in order to create an optimal growing environment Viticultural techniques designed to manipulate the canopy to achieve a specific end usually optimizing the quantity of grapes and quality of wine Cap Once fermentation begins in red wines yeasts produce heat and CO2 as they convert sugar to alcohol This gas rises to the top pushing grape skins to the top of the fermenter and this thick layer is called a cap To keep the ferment from getting too hot and to extract the right amount of color and tannin from the grape skins this cap must be broken (punched down) at least twice a day In Life in Vine Westreys David Autrey does this with a large metal plunger but as you see from his efforts its pretty hard work Wines made in larger fermenters can produce caps so thick and hard that they need hydraulic plungers to break the cap -- some can get so thick you can almost walk on them Incidentally not everyone punches down some winemaker simply pump wine from the bottom of the fermenter and pour it over the cap Thats pretty tricky but its nothing compared to the traditional method of breaking the cap practiced in some wineries around the world to this day use your body as a human swizzle stick If you like wine it doesnt get any better than immersing yourself in what is essentially a hot tub of it Capsule The plastic or foil that covers the cork and part of the neck of a wine bottle Carbon dioxide A clear gas which is the byproduct of fermentation As yeasts work their way through the must gobbling up sugar they produce both alcohol and carbon dioxide Since CO2 is heavier then air it tends to well up in the top of an actively fermenting fermenter so winemakers must be careful their wineries are well aerated Carbonic maceration A winemaking practice of fermenting whole grapes that have not been crushed Cellaring To age wine for the purpose of improvement or storage Cellaring may occur in any area which is cool (12-15degC) dark free from drastic temperature change and free from vibrations Bottled wines are typically cellared on their sides Chai A wine shed or other storage place above ground used for storing casks common in Bordeaux Usually different types of wine are kept in separate sheds The person in charge of vinification and ageing of all wine made at an estate or the chais of a neacutegociant is titled a Maicirctre de Chai The New World counterpart to the chai may be called the barrel hall Champagne flute A piece of stemware having a long stem with a tall narrow bowl on top


Chaptalization A winemaking process where sugar is added to the must to increase the alcohol content in the fermented wine This is often done when grapes have not ripened adequately Chardonnay A type of wine one of the noble white varietals Charmat process The Charmat or bulk process is a method where sparkling wines receive their secondary fermentation in large tanks rather than individual bottles as seen in Meacutethode champenoise Chacircteau Generally a winery in Bordeaux although the term is sometimes used for wineries in other parts of the world such as the Barossa Valley Chianti Italys most famous wine derived from the sangiovese grape Claret British name for Bordeaux wine Is also a semi-generic term for a red wine in similar style to that of Bordeaux Clarification A winemaking process involving the fining and filtration of wine to remove suspended solids and reduce turbidity Cleanskin In Australia wine bottled without a commercial label usually sold cheaply in bulk quantities Clone An example of a variety replicated using a cutting from a specific mother vine which is selected as a result of some particular attribute(s) Hence the new vine will be genetic identical to the parent Due to the targeted nature of the clonal reproduction the offspring vines will carry a specific designation identifying them as clones Within certain cultivars (such as Pinot Noir) clonal variation tends to be very important Cold Duck A mixture of red and white sparkling wine that has a high sugar content Cold stabilization A winemaking process where wine is chilled to near freezing temperatures for several weeks to encourage the precipitation of tartrate crystals Cordon An extension of the grapevine trunk usually horizontally oriented and trained along the trellis wires Cordons are considered permanent (or perennial) wood Cork A wine bottle stopper made from the thick outer bark of the cork oak tree Corked A tasting term for a wine that has cork taint Corkscrew


A tool comprising a pointed metallic helix attached to a handle for drawing Corks from bottles Cork taint A type of wine fault describing undesirable aromas and flavours in wine often attributed to mould growth on chlorine bleached corks Coulure Deficient fruit set which may substantially reduce the size of the current years crop Just after flowering an excessive proportion of the nascent berries fall off often because of unsettled cold wet weather or inadequate thinning of unfertilized berry clusters Cross A cultivar which is the result of a crossing of two or more cultivars within the same species (may be intentional or unintentional) Country wine See Fruit wine Crackling Semi-sparkling wine slightly effervescent Also called frizzante Creacutemant French sparkling wine not made in Champagne region Crown Gall A bacteria disease of the vine (usually facilitated by freeze injury to the vines tissue) Crush This term is used specifically to describe the de-stemming process (see crusher) but its also used generally to indicate the entirety of grape processing from the time they enter the winery to the time theyre safely in barrel Winemakers often try to get unsuspecting friends and associates to work a crush but while its hard sticky work the atmosphere is always festive And it tends to produce future winemakers Crusher When grapes come into a winery winemakers usually (though not always) want to separate the berries from the stems since stems left attached can impart a green woody flavor to the finished wine Depending on the kind of grape variety theyre fermenting they may also want those berries broken open a little so yeasts can get right to work on the juice In days of yore winemakers accomplished this potentially tedious chore by simply dumping the grape clusters into a vat and walking on them fishing out stems as their winemaking style (and the amount of wine they drank during this especially festive time of the year) dictated Thus the purple feet winemakers are famous for having even if virtually none of them do anymore That work is more efficiently done by a crusher which doesnt actually crush the grapes but (depending on how expensive a model you have) gently sucks them off the stems and breaks the berries just enough to let in the reveling yeasts Crust Sediment generally potassium bitartrate that adheres to the inside of a wine bottle Cult wines Wines for which committed buyers will pay large sums of money because of their desirability and rarity Curtain


A portion of the canopy composed of the current seasons shoot growth It is normally oriented downward for Native American amp Hybrid cultivars amp upward for vitis vinifera Cuvaison The French term for the period of time during alcoholic fermentation when the wine is in contact with the solid matter such as skin pips stalks in order to extract colour flavour and tannin See also maceration Cuve A large vat used for fermentation Cuveacutee A wine blended from several vats or batches or from a selected vat Also used in Champagne to denote the juice from the first pressing of a batch of grapes Decanting The process of pouring wine from its bottle into a decanter to separate the sediment from the wine Deacutegorgement The disgorging or removal of sediment from bottles that results from secondary fermentation Demi-sec Moderately sweet to medium sweet sparkling wines Dessert wine Varies by region In the UK a very sweet low alcohol wine In the US by law any wine containing over 15 alcohol Devatting The process of separating red must from pomace which can happen before or after fermentation Diurnal temperature variation The degree of temperature variation that occurs in a wine region from daytime to night DO 1 The abbreviation for Denominacioacuten de Origen or place name This is Spains designation for wines whose name origin of grapes grape varieties and other important factors are regulated by law 2 The abbreviation for dissolved oxygen the degree of oxygen saturation in a wine which strongly affects oxidation of the wine and its ageing properties DOC The abbreviation for Denominazione di Origine Controllata or controlled place name This is Italys designation for wine whose name origin of grapes grape varieties and other important factors are regulated by law It is also the abbreviation for Portugals highest wine category which has the same meaning in that country DOCG The abbreviation for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita or controlled and guaranteed place name which is the category for the highest-ranking wine in Italy Dormancy


That stage when the plant is not actively growing For grapevines it is usually characterized by average air temperatures below 50F Vines need a minimum of about 60 days of dormancy (see life cycle) Doux The French word for sweet Usually refers to the sweetest category of sparkling wines Drawing off See Devatting Drip dickey A wine accessory that slips over the neck of a wine bottle and absorbs any drips that may run down the bottle after pouring - preventing stains to table cloths counter tops or other surfaces Dry Wines with zero or very low levels of residual sugar The opposite of sweet except in sparkling wines where dry means sweet Eiswein German for ice wine a dessert wine made from frozen grapes Enology American English spelling of oenology the study of wine En Tirage French for in pulling refers to the period of time in which bottled sparkling wine is rested in contact with lees generated during secondary fermentation Part of the Meacutethode Champenoise process Estate winery A United States winery license allowing farms to produce and sell wine on-site sometimes known as a Farm winery Extract Everything in a wine except for water sugar alcohol and acidity the term refers to the solid compounds such as tannins High levels of extract results in more colour and body which may be increased by prolonging the wines contact with the skins during cuvaison Extra dry A champagne or sparkling wine with a small amount of residual sugar (slightly sweet) Not as dry as Brut Farm winery A United States winery license allowing farms to produce and sell wine on-site Fault An unpleasant characateristic of wine resulting from a flaw with the winemaking process or storage conditions Fermenter The vessel in which fermentation occurs Like you couldnt have guessed that but you may not have known that fermenters come in all shapes and sizes from towering stainless steel cylinders to 5-foot-tall plastic boxes to concrete vats to food-grade garbage cans


Fiasco The straw-covered flask historically associated with Chianti Fighting varietal A term that originated in California during the mid 1980s to refer to any inexpensive cork-finished varietal wine in a 15 liter bottle Fining A clarification process where flocculants such as bentonite or egg white are added to the wine to remove suspended solids Finish A tasting term for the lingering aftertaste after a wine has been swallowed Flabby Tasting term used to indicate a wine lacking in structure often marked by low acidity Flagon A glass bottle that holds two litres of (usually inexpensive) table wine Flor The yeast responsible for the character of dry Sherries Flower When I was first told I was in a flowering vineyard I thought I must be missing something I looked everywhere but I couldnt find any of the lush big-petaled flowers I was sure a wine-producing vine must surely have When the grower pointed out the actual flowers I thought he was joking It is true that if your sweetheart is mad at you a bouquet of grape flowers probably wont do the trick -- theyre small spindly and attached like lint to green cocktail-weenie-like cores But its from each one of these tiny flowers that a grape will grow if pollinated successfully so theyre critical to the grape growing process Thats a pretty big if by the way Wind rain or cold weather can deter flowers from pollinating and that can set crops behind schedule if not severely limit them Its the part of the year in which growers feel the most powerless all they can do is watch and pray for warmth and calm Fortified wine Wine to which alcohol has been added generally to increase the concentration to a high enough level to prevent fermentation Foxy A tasting term for the musty odor and flavor of wines made from Vitis labrusca grapes native to North America The distinctive taste of the grapes and wine of some Native American cultivars especially Vitis labrusca and some of its hybrids Think of grape Kool-Aid) Methyl anthranilate is the (often) offending compound Free Run When a red wine is finished fermenting it must be separated from the grape skins its been soaking in A wine press does this pretty well but a press will also tend to squeeze out more tannins from the skins than a wine can handle Thats why winemakers often let the juice drain from the fermenter first this free run wine will generally make a more balanced fruitier wine


though winemakers may add some of the subsequent press run to the blend to give it some tannic backbone Juice obtained from grapes that have not been pressed FrenchAmerican Hybrid An interspecific cultivar which was created in Europe as a result of the phylloxera devastation of the late 19th Century in an effort to create a high-quality pest resistant cold hardy direct producing (able to survive on its own roots) wine grape These cultivars are the result of the intentional genetic combination of two or more other cultivars (at least one of which is a classic vitis vinifera wine cultivar amp at least one of which is a native American cultivar) in an effort to promote the most desirable characteristics of each parent cultivar The desirable characteristics of the vitis vinifera parent(s) being the high yield production of high quality wine grapes and the desirable characteristics of the native American parent(s) including phylloxera amp nematode resistance insect fungus amp virus resistance early ripening amp cold hardiness Frizzante See crackling Fruit The main component of the wine usually grape but other fruits are also used to make wine such as pear plum etc Often mentioned when the fruit isnt grown in the same site as the winery such as the wine is produced here on-site but the fruit is purchased from a vineyard upstate Fruit flavors When winemakers say they taste banana or raspberry -- or old socks for that matter -- theyre not saying that those things have actually been squeezed into grapes or wines As grapes ripen and as they become wine their chemical composition changes and some of these chemical compounds are remarkably similar to those of other non-grape flavors Theyre so similar in fact that they trigger an association in the person tasting In the case of old socks this is not always a good thing Fruit wine A fermented alcoholic beverage made from non-grape fruit juice which may or may not include the addition of sugar or honey Fruit wines are always called something wines (eg plum wine) since the word wine alone is often legally defined as a beverage made only from grapes Fruiting Wood The vines one year old wood This wood will produce the current seasons crop One year old wood is about the thickness of a pencil amp the buds on this wood will grow into fruit bearing shoots throughout the upcoming growing season Fruiting wood is usually pruned to either short spurs (1 to 3 nodes) or long ( 4+ nodes) canes Fruiting Zone A horizontal band running down the row of vines wherein all of the fruit clusters can be found Many grape growers will often aim to create a tight or narrow fruiting zone so that certain vineyard operations (such as leaf removal around the clusters amp harvesting) can be simplified Fruiting Cane Gewuumlrztraminer Gewuumlrztraminer is a white wine grape variety from the wine producing region of Alsace in France Globalization of wine


Refers to the increasingly international nature of the wine industry including vineyard management practices winemaking techniques wine styles and wine marketing Grafting Broadly inserting a section of one plant into another so that they unite and grow as one plant In a viticultural context usually grafting a European fruiting vine (or scion) on to a native or hybrid rootstock often chosen for its resistance to phylloxera Grape juice The free-run or pressed juice from grapes Unfermented grape juice is known as must Grenache A red wine grape of the Rhone Valley of France and elsewhere (especially Spain) In the southern Rhone Grenache replaces Syrah as the most important grape (Syrah being more important in the north) Green harvest The harvesting of green (unripe) grapes in an attempt to increase the yield of quality grapes Growing Season For grapevines the growing season is defined as the number of days between Spring and Fall which have with a mean average temperature of 50F+ [10C+]) Grow Tube A hollow cylindrically shaped man-made tube (usually made of plastic) which is sometimes placed over vines in an effort to enhance the growth environment of the vine Hard A tasting term for a wine that contains too much tannin and is therefore unpleasant Hard wines often take a long time to mature Heat Summation Units (Hsu) The heat summation units for any given growing site is calculated by totaling the number of day degrees above 50F (10C) for the entire growing season For example a day during the growing season with an average temperature of 62F contributes 12 HSU to the site Viticulture is generally restricted to sites with a HSU rating of about 1500 - 5000 with 2500 - 3000 being about optimum For more information Hectare A metric measure that equals 10000 msup2 (2471 acres) Hock Term for Rhine wines usually used in England Hogshead A wine barrel that holds approximately 239 litres (63 gallons) Hybrid A cultivar bred from members of different species A cultivar which was created by the intentional genetic combination of two or more other cultivars (either intra or interspecific) in an effort to promote the most desirable characteristics of each parent cultivar Ice wine


Wine made from frozen grapes Written and trademarked as a single word - Icewine - in Canada Called Eiswein in German IGT Abbreviation for Indicazione Geografica Tipica the lowest-ranking of the three categories of Italian wine regulated by Italian law Insect Pests The major insect pests of the grapevine are The grape berry moth the Japanese beetle the grape flea beetle the European red mite the grape phylloxera (qv) the grape root borer amp the blue-green sharpshooter (as a vector for Pierces disease [qv]) Internode The portion of the cane or shoot between nodes Jeroboam A large bottle holding three litres the equivalent of four regular wine bottles Jug wine American term for inexpensive table wine (French Vin de table) Kabinett A wine designation in Germany (where it is a Praumldikat) and Austria Kosher wineWine that is produced under the supervision of a rabbi so as to be ritually pure or clean Although commonly sweet it need not be so Late harvest wine Also known as late picked wine made from grapes that have been left on the vine longer than usual Usually an indicator for a very sweet or dessert wine Leaf The primary source of green on the grapevine Along with tendrils amp clusters the leaf is grown on the shoot and it is the vines primary engine of photosynthesis Although the grapes get some of their sugar from the carbohydrates stored in the perennial wood of the vine during the earliest stages of ripening the vast majority of sugar production is performed by the vines leaves during the middle and later stages of ripening Also used in viticulture to refer to the age of a vine as in a vine in its third leaf is three years old Lees Wine sediment that occurs during and after fermentation and consists of dead yeast grape seeds and other solids Wine is separated from the lees by racking Legs The tracks of liquid that cling to the sides of a glass after the contents have been swirled Often said to be related to the alcohol or glycerol content of a wine Also called tears Life Cycle The annual cycle of the vine It includes -Dormancy - The period of rest for the vine -Activation The vine waking from dormancy Its buds begin to swell This occurs in Spring at the approximate time that the air temperatures reaches 51F (11C) -Bud Swell - buds become engorged amp shed their scaled sheaths -Bud Break - buds begin to show green Young green shoots begin to grow from the buds


-Debourrement (Fr) - The period between bud break amp the appearance of the first inflorescence Characterized by shoot growth of approximately 10 (25 cm) -Pre-Bloom - During this period all of the shoots inflorescences are formed amp the shoot continues to grow (to about 14 [36cm]) -Bloom - Occurring at about the time that the air temperature reaches 68F (20C) the many tiny individual blossoms on the inflorescences loose their caps amp begin to self fertilize During this period the inflorescences take on a very characteristic Chia Pet appearance The period of bloom usually takes about 14-21 days (depending on weather) -Berry (Fruit) Set [Nouaison in Fr] - The ovaries of the blossoms on each inflorescence which have properly self-fertilized become small hard berries The inflorescences are thusly transformed into grape clusters -Shatter - Unfertilized berries fall from the new clusters Usually occurs about 7 - 10 days after bloom -First Cover - The vegetative growth which follows berry set -Veacuteraison - The beginning of the ripening of the berries Characterized by a softening of the fruit amp color change (to either translucent or red) -Aoutement (Fr - augusting) - The slowing of the vegetative burst started during first cover The shoots stop growing amp begin to look woody In many cultivars the leaves amp shoots change color -Harvest - Being suitable for the production of wine the clusters are harvested -Hardening off - The vine sheds it leaves hardens its shoots further amp prepares for its winter rest -De-activation - The vine re-enters dormancy Lightstruck A tasting term for a wine that has had long exposure to Ultraviolet light causing wet cardboard type aroma and flavour Liqueur de tirage French term for a liquid containing saccharose and yeast used to effect the second fermentation in sparkling wine production Liqueur dexpedition French term for shipping liquid used to top up and possibly sweeten sparkling wine after disgorging Usually a solution of saccharose in base wine Look A tasting term for the casual sensory evaluation of a wine Maceration The contact of grape skins with the must during fermentation extracting phenolic compounds including tannins anthocyanins and aroma See also cuvaison Madeirized A wine showing Madeira-like flavour generally evidence of oxidation Sometimes used to describe white wine that has been kept long past its prime Magnum A bottle holding 15 litres the equivalent of two regular wine bottles Malolactic fermentation Also known as malo or MLF a secondary fermentation in wines by lactic acid bacteria during which tart tasting malic acid is converted to softer tasting lactic acid Marc


French for fruit skins See pomace Marginal climate When Eyries David Lett says that Oregon and Frances Burgundy region are marginal climates hes talking about how tricky it is to get fruit ripe in these areas These areas are far enough north (or in the case of New Zealand in the southern hemisphere south) that fruit barely has enough time to get ripe before winter cools things down and stops the show Some winemakers -- especially Lett who planted the first Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris vines in the Willamette Valley more than 30 years ago on the principle -- believe this makes for better more complex wines It also makes for a wilder ride as Life in Vine shows Master of Wine A qualification (not an academic degree) conferred by The Institute of Masters of Wine which is located in the United Kingdom May wine A light German wine flavored with sweet woodruff in addition to strawberries or other fruit Mead A wine-like alcoholic beverage made of fermented honey and water rather than grape juice Merlot Merlot is a variety of wine grape used to create a popular red wine Meacutethode Champenoise Process whereby sparkling wines receive a second fermentation in the same bottle that will be sold to a retail buyer Compare with Charmat or bulk fermented Methuselah A large bottle holding six litres the equivalent of eight regular wine bottles Microoxygenation The controlled exposure of wine to small amounts of oxygen in the attempt to reduce the length of time required for maturation Midpalate A tasting term for the feel and taste of a wine when held in the mouth Millerandage A French term referring to a viticultural problem in which grape bunches contain berries of greatly differing size and levels of maturity Caused by cool weather during flowering Abnormal amp uneven fruit set in which bunches contain berries of very different sizes because of poor fertilization often caused by unfavorable weather or improper thinning of unfertilized clusters Mis en bouteille au chacircteau French for bottled at the winery usually in Bordeaux Mud See Lees Mulled wine Wine that is spiced heated and served as a punch


Muscadine A native American species of grape indigenous to the south Atlantic region of the US With the scientific classification Vitis rotundifolia the muscadine grapes have a very unique intense fruity aroma and are so genetically different from the other vitis species that they can only be crossed with the former through the use of very modern sophisticated genetic technology Botanists have given this unique group their own sub-genus (Muscadinia) unique from the true grapes (sub-genus Euvitis) Common varieties of Muscadines used for wine making include Red Burgaw Eden Hunt James Mish amp Thomas White Scuppernong Topsail amp Willard Must After winemakers crush their grapes but before they have actual wine they have must Its into the must that theyll pitch their yeast to start fermentation A term in use for at least a thousand years its origin is unclear Unfermented grape juice including pips (seeds) skins and stalks Must weight The level of fermentable sugars in the must and the resultant alcohol content if all the sugar was converted to ethanol Mycorrhizal Fungi A type of fungus which is often applied to the roots of a vine at planting The mycorrhizae forms a mutually beneficial relationship with the plants roots As such it acts as an extension of the root system increasing the roots ability to absorb nutrients and water Some research indicates that the co-dependent symbiotic relationship between the fungi and the vine helps the vine to survive stress absorb more water and nutrients and increase its resistance to soilborne diseases Native American Variety A cultivar belonging to the many amp diverse vitis species indigenous to the North American continent (the most extensive amp common are vitis labrusca vitis riparia amp vitis rupestris)The most common Native American varieties used in winemaking include White Niagara Pink Delaware (usually made as a white) Red Concord Catawba Norton (Cynthiana) Steuben Nebuchadnezzar A large bottle holding 15 litres the equivalent of 20 regular wine bottles Neacutegociant French for trader A wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name New World wine Wines produced outside of the traditional wine growing areas of Europe and North Africa Noble rot Another name for the Botrytis cinerea mould that can pierce grape skins causing dehydration The resulting grapes produce a highly prized sweet wine generally dessert wine The benevolent form of botrytis (qv) Usually caused by an early morning high humidity fog or dew allowing for primary infection which is followed by a windy warm morning Node The thickened portion of a shoot or cane where the leaf and its compound bud are attached


Nose A tasting term for the aroma or bouquet of a wine Nuggins A highly technical wine term used by a winemaker in Life in Vine to describe a part of his naked body Perhaps youll have to buy a copy of the documentary to find out which part Oak (Barrel) Much but by no means all wine is stored and aged in oak barrels Lightly charred on the inside they may impart a toasty vanillin smell to the wine and help it mature Winemaking usage often includes on oak as in we put the Pinot Noir on oak for 10 months If winemakers put too much oak on usage can further be modified to so much oak its like sucking a 2x4 Oak chips Small pieces of oak wood used in place of oak barrels in fermenting andor ageing wine Oechsle Oumlchsle or degrees Oechsle A measure of must weight Oenology The science of wine and winemaking Oenophile A wine aficionado or connoisseur Off-dry A wine that has the barest hint of sweetness a slightly sweet wine in which the residual sugar is barely perceptible Old vine Wine produced from vines that are notably old Old World wine Wines produced inside of the traditional wine growing areas of Europe and North Africa Perennial Wood The permanent wood of a grapevine It is the older woodier thicker wood of the trunk amp cordons of the vine pH For many pH is the Rosetta Stone of winemaking It measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in grapes wines or soils which is to say their active acidity In juice or wine a low pH indicates that the acids are still high and the liquid will taste tart while a high pH means theyre low and the liquid will taste flat In Life in Vine when Cameron Winerys John Paul says his pH is 314 and nyaaaah hes saying that its still a little lower than the ideal of somewhere between 32 and 34 An acronym for potential hydrogen a measure of acidity The lower the pH the higher the acidityHowever pH is actually a shorthand for its mathematical approximation in chemistry a small p is used in place of writing minus log10 and the H here represents [H+] the concentration of hydrogen ions Phenolics A varied group of compounds found mainly in skins stems and seeds in the case of grapes They include anthocyanin tannins and many flavor compounds Precipitated they form an important


part of wines sediment and play a considerable role in wine ageing Phenolics are known to have beneficial effects on human health Red wines are much higher in phenolics than white which is why red wine is better at protecting against heart disease Phomopsis Cane amp Leaf Spot A fungal disease of the vine Photosynthesis The formation of carbohydrates (sugars [mainly glucose amp fructose]) in the vine (mostly stored in the fruit) from water and carbon dioxide by the action of sunlight on the chlorophyll in the vine (produced mostly in the leaves) Phylloxera Fatal vine pest which destroys the soft vine roots of vitis vinifera cultivars The only remedy is to replant on phylloxera-resistant rootstocks The roots of most Native American amp hybrid vines are immune to the effects of the pest Phylloxera will generally not inhabit soils which are 80+ sand In all other soil textures vinifera cultivars should be grafted onto phylloxera resistant rootstocks Phylloxera Palate A tasting term for the feel and taste of a wine in the mouth Powdery Mildew A fungal disease of the vine The major grape pest in California Primordial Shoots The buds which develop on this years fruiting wood They will give rise to the fruiting shoots for next vintage Phylloxera A microscopic underground insect that kills grape vines by attacking their roots Picking Window The picking window is the time between when the grapes are ripe enough to use and when winter rain or birds yank the ripe fruit away Depending on where grapes are grown it might be large enough to walk through or small enough to fit only a piece of paper scrawled with a prayer In Life in Vine winemakers are worried that because the grapes are behind schedule their picking window may not even open Pierces Disease A bacterial infection of the vine that is spread by an insect called the blue-green sharpshooter What is now called Pierces Disease was known as Anaheims Disease in the 1880s when it wiped out thousands of acres of vineyards in Southern California In very warm climates such a Florida Pierces Disease has rendered commercial vineyard development all but impossible The name Pierce refers to Newton B Pierce Californias first professionally trained plant pathologist who was the first to attempt to isolat the cause of the disease Pinot Noir Pee-no nwar is a kind of grape or variety There are literally thousands of grape varieties in the world but the most commonly known in the US are Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Chardonnay Pinot Noir is the grape used to make red wines in Frances famous Burgundy region but it is also planted in other cooler climates around the world like coastal California New Zealand and most famously (after Life in Vine) Oregon Pip Grape seeds


Pipe A cask holding two hogsheads or 126 US gallons of wine Plonk British English slang for an inexpensive bottle of wine The term is thought to originate from the French word for white wine blanc Pomace The skins stalks and pips (seeds) that remain after making wine Also called marc Port A sweet fortified wine which is produced from grapes grown and processed in the Douro region of Portugal This wine is fortified with the addition of distilled grape spirits in order to boost the alcohol content and stop fermentation thus preserving some of the natural grape sugars Several imitations are made throughout the world Porto The legal name for a true Port wines sold in the United States since imitation ports may be labeled as a port there Potassium sorbate A wine stabilizer and preservative Praumldikat A wine designation for high quality used in Germany and Austria based on grape ripeness and must weight There are several Praumldikate ranging from Kabinett (Spaumltlese in Austria) to Trockenbeerenauslese Praumldikatswein The highest class of wine in the German wine classification formerly called Qualitaumltswein mit Praumldikat These wines always display a specific Praumldikat on their label Press After stomping grapes with your feet (which is rarely done these days and then only for show) pressing wine may be the practice most famously associated with making wine Its a way of squeezing everything you can out of a grape and after its finished the remains can feel nearly bone dry Pressing happens at different stages in the winemaking process depending on whether white or red wine is being made In many ways its a matter of how long you want the juice in contact with the skins of a grape Since white winemakers want a light clear wine they crush the grapes and send the goo directly into the press for squeezing Only then do they add yeast and get fermentation going Red winemakers like those featured in Life in Vine however want the color and tannin that prolonged skin contact provides so their crushed grapes go into a fermenter where yeast is added to start fermentation Only when fermentation is over is the wine pressed Proof Refers to the alcohol content of a beverage In the United States proof represents twice the alcohol content as a percentage of volume Thus a 100 proof beverage is 50 alcohol by volume and a 150 proof beverage is 75 alcohol In the Imperial system proof (or 100 proof) equals 5706 ethanol by volume or 4824 by weight Absolute or pure ethanol is 7525 over proof or 17525 proof Pruning


Pruning can be a cold wet and unglamorous activity which is nevertheless critical to a good harvest Pruning essentially cuts away enough of the vine so its energy can be focused on ripening fruit efficiently In general growers cut away most of the canes left over from the previous years activity leaving a few which will in turn produce shoots which grow into canes which produce fruit As Eyries David Lett says in Life in Vine pruning sets the stage for harvest Aside from weed control the single most important operation of the vineyard year in terms of wine quality Simply put Pruning is the removal of portions of the vine for the purpose of maintaining its size amp productivity The size and productivity is maintained by ensuring that the vine retains a proper number of fruiting buds During either fall or winter the wood of the vine is cut back leaving a specific number of buds (usually from 20 to 40) on one year old wood (canes or spurs) which will produce the crop for the next vintage Although many other factors come into play low-yielding vines in general tend to produce more concentrated wine Punch down During fermentation carbon dioxide pushes grape skins to the top of the fermenter forming a cap Left undisturbed it becomes a kind of blanket and temperatures can get disastrously high underneath and all kinds of unpleasant microbial activity can result changing the taste of the wine for the worse So usually twice a day at least winemakers must punch down the cap to ensure a healthy fermentation which also extracts more color and tannin from the skins as a bonus Depending on the size of the fermenter the cap can be so thick and solid that you can literally stand on it but no matter what size punching down is hard work Many winemakers have hydraulic gizmos to help them or they use pumps to pump over juice from underneath the cap over its top In Life in Vine Westreys David Autrey does it the old fashioned way Puncheon A wine barrel that holds approximately 84 US gallons (318 litres) Punt The indentation found in the base of a wine bottle Punt depth is often thought to be related to wine quality with better quality wines having a deeper punt QbA German acronym for Qualitaumltswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete QmP German acronym for Qualitaumltswein mit Praumldikat QPR An acronym for Quality-Price Ratio Qualitaumltswein A designation of better quality German wines When used in isolation on a wine label it refers to Qualitaumltswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete Qualitaumltswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) A designation of better quality German wines from recognized viticultural areas It formally represents the second-highest level of German wine Qualitaumltswein mit Praumldikat (QmP) A former designation of the best quality German wines since 2007 shortened to Praumldikatswein Quality-Price Ratio (QPR) A designation for rating wine based on the ratio of its quality and its price The higher quality and less expensive price a wine has the better the ratio


Racking The process of drawing wine off the sediment such as lees after fermentation and moving it into another vessel Rain If youre used to rain saving the farm the idea that it can be bad for an agricultural crop may sound a little strange It is true that rain is important to vines especially over the winter and early spring when the water soaks into the ground and ideally is stored for use through at least some of the dry summer months But once harvest draws near rain is a predator At best rain brings with it cooler weather and that can slow the ripening process pushing harvest closer and closer to cooler weather when the grapes will simply stop ripening But rain can also dilute grapes making watery wine and worse it can swell the grapes so much that they burst and expose the grapes to rot and other disease compromising the whole crop If its late September (in the northern hemisphere) and its raining where you are a grower somewhere is probably grumbling Red grapes Red grapes are uh grapes which are red To this soaring platitude I add red grapes are different from white grapes What do I win Johnny As dumb as it might sound however its important to make a distinction between red wine grapes and white wine grapes for the simple reason that theyre processed differently and make different wines Both kinds of grapes follow the same arc of budbreak to flowering to ripeness though growers may coax them along with different techniques and they may be picked at different times And at the winery the first stop for both will usually be the crusher (with some variation based on the style and flavor of the wine envisioned) which will separate the berries from the stems But once the grapes have run this harrowing gauntlet their fates diverge Thats because of their skins Grape skins give wines much of their tannin which can add backbone and a little longevity to the finished wine White wines however get most of their backbone from acid and in fact too much tannin can make a white wine kind of gritty (yum) So as soon as the grapes safely pass the crusher winemakers will want to separate the juice from the skins as quickly as possible so they send them directly to the press After press the juice goes straight to the fermenter to begin its transformation into wine Where red wine grapes are concerned by contrast winemakers want tannin In fact they crave it -- so much that some will let the juice soak on the skins for weeks before they even pitch any yeast In any case red winemakers (like those in Life in Vine) send the whole mess skins and all straight to the fermenter This goo by the way is called a must Only after fermentation is complete does the wine see the press Rehoboam A large bottle holding 45 litres the equivalent of six regular wine bottles Reacutemuage See riddling Renewal Spur During winter pruning growers cut back a vine to a few bare canes This is done differently all over the world but in Northern Oregon it often results in a kind of T shape leaving a main trunk and two canes each heading different directions down the trellis wire From these canes new canes will sprout in the spring and one of these will in turn get laid down on the wire to begin the process again the next winter Nevertheless some growers like to have a little insurance that theyll have quality canes close to the trunk so they leave little spurs behind in addition to the two canes Usually these little spurs are short enough theyll only produce two sprouts but the two canes that grow out of them are nicely positioned for the following year


Reserva Spanish and Portuguese term for a reserve wine Reserve A term given to wine to indicate that it is of higher quality than usual Renewal Zone A zone established by some growers whereby the buds which will produce next years shoots are assured proper positioning It is generally believed that placing these renewal buds (or primordial shoots [qv]) in a location of high sunlight will make them more fruitful next vintage Residual sugar is sugar left un-converted by yeasts during fermentation Given the right conditions once the yeasts get to work in a fermentation they usually tear off the rear view mirror and dont stop until theyve converted all the sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide But its important for winemakers to know whether theyve finished or how far they are away from doing so because once they stop theyll stop producing CO2 which protects the new wine from the ravages of oxygen Some winemakers also like to finish the last little bit of fermentation in a barrel to help soften the wine Whatever the reason they often take repeated measurements of residual sugar as the end of fermentation draws near usually with a diabetes test kit as it turns out In Life in Vine Doug Tunnells wines have reached 1 residual sugar which is the point at which he wants to press Also known as RS the level of sugar that remains unfermented in a wine Reverse osmosis A process used to remove excess water from wine Riddling Also known as Reacutemuage in French part of the Meacutethode Champenoise process whereby bottles of sparkling wine are successively turned and gradually tilted upside down so that sediment settles into the necks of the bottles in preparation for degorgement Riesling Also known as White Riesling in countries outside of Germany Riesling is a variety of grape used to make white wine It is grown mainly in Germany where the relatively cold climate enables it to produce grapes for some of the best white wines in the world Riesling grapes are also used also for high quality wines in Austria and can be found in countries like Australia South Africa and Canada Riesling is famous for its vivid acidity and fruitiness both in the nose and on the palate Ripe As Shakespeares Edgar says in King Lear Ripeness is all Though the character is actually talking about something else (death despair fate the usual peppy Lear topics) he couldnt have described the ultimate goal of grape growing more perfectly The trouble is however that theres no objective standard of whats ripe As we see in Life in Vine while Westreys David Autrey and Amy Wesselman take a similar tack as Camerons John Paul about deciding when to pick they each have their personal strategies based on their experience and the wines they like to make Fifteen years ago many winemakers simply went by the numbers when grapes reached 23 Brix (for instance) they came off the vines with no ifs ands or buts But these days higher-end winemakers rely on their sense of taste to decide ripeness looking for ripe and mature berry flavors with no green vegetal components Rootstock A cutting taken from a vine (usually Native American or hybrid) and cultivated to serve as a rootsystem for a grafted vine Hence a grafted vine consists of a scion (the above ground growth) amp a rootstock (the below ground growth)


Roseacute wines Pink wines are produced by shortening the contact period of red wine juice with its skins resulting in a light red colour These wines are also made by blending a small amount of red wine with white wine Rot Rot -or botrytis bunch rot- is the scourge of late harvests and it can wipe out whole vineyards in a few days This fungal disease can take many forms but at its worst it spreads over berries and breaks down the skins and the result is downright ugly Worse it can give wines made from the grapes it infests a moldy vinegary taste so winemakers who spot it will often spend untold hours sorting their fruit in a grim attempt to minimize the damage In general rot flourishes in moist still and lukewarm environments as the grapes near ripeness so growers often pay special attention to retaining airflow around their grapes As an aside not all rots are shunned One form is called noble rot and winemakers bent on making sweet late harvest wines welcome it Coveting botrytized grapes is most famously practiced in Sauternes a region within the Bordeaux appellation in France but late harvest winemakers in Germany and the US also seek it out Ruby A style of Port wine that is generally sweet Sack An early English term for what is now called Sherry Salmanazar A large bottle holding nine litres the equivalent of 12 regular wine bottles Sangiovese The preponderant grape for making the Italian wine known as Chianti Sangria A tart punch made from red wine along with orange lemon and apricot juice with added sugar Scion A cutting (or bud wood) taken from a vine (usually vitis Vinifera) and grafted onto a rootsystem from another vine (usually native American or a hybrid thereof) Hence a grafted vine consists of a scion (the above ground growth) amp a rootstock (the below ground growth) Screwcap An alternative to cork for sealing wine bottles comprising a metal cap that screws onto threads on the neck of a bottle Also called a Stelvin Sec French for dry except in the case of Champagne where it means semi-sweet Secondary fermentation Most commonly the term is used to refer to the continuation of fermentation in a second vessel - eg moving the wine from a stainless steel tank to an oak barrel Sekt German sparkling wine Semi-generic


Wines made in the United States but named after places that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau requires be modified by a US name of geographic origin Examples would be New York Chablis Napa Valley Burgundy or California Champagne Set Also known as fruit set this is a term used by growers to refer to how successfully a the flowers in a vineyard have pollinated -- as in we had a good set this year In other words since these flowers will grow into grapes the quality of the set will determine how good the crop will be months later Shatter The physiological stage following bloom when impotent flowers and small green berries begin to fall from the cluster (see life cycle) Also used to refer to the annoying habit of some cultivars to have their over-ripe grapes simply fall from the vine Sherry A fortified wine that has been subjected to controlled oxidation to produce a distinctive flavor Shiraz Shiraz or Syrah is a variety of grape used to make red wine Shoot This term for the part of the vine which emerges from a young bud is no understatement Unless the weather is unforgivingly cold shoots will literally shoot upwards growing perceptibly in just one day The green leafy growth developing from a bud on a cane spur cordon or trunk The developing growth of the shoot is the source of all of the vines leaves stems tendrils flowers amp fruit Solera system A process used to systematically blend various vintages of Sherry Sommelier A trained wine expert who often works in fine restaurants Sparkling wine Effervescent wine containing significant levels of carbon dioxide Spaumltlese German for late harvest A Praumldikat in Germany and Austria Spinning cone column Used to reduce the amount of alcohol in a wine Split A wine bottle that holds approximately 6 oz (175-187 mL) or one-fourth the equivalent of a typical 750 mL bottle a single-serving Spraying Especially in Oregon but in other wine regions as well growers cant simply prune the vines and then kick back until harvest Among other things they need to constantly monitor the vines for disease which means they need to spray their vineyards periodically In Oregon the chief scourge is powdery mildew which many growers combat by spraying sulfur every 1-2 weeks like


clockwork While there are other more high tech chemicals available sulfur is gentler on the vineyards ecosystem and promotes fewer side effects In fact spraying sulfur is even considered organic Spumante Italian for sparkling Generally any sparkling wine from Italy although producers of Franciacorta have recently started stating that Franciacorta is not a spumante Spur A cane pruned to 3 or fewer nodes generally on a cordon A Renewal Spur - is a spur whose primary purpose is to position a cane for fruiting the following season (see renewal zone) StemStalk Woody attachment of grape to bunch high in often harsh tannins All or most are usually deliberately eliminated by a mechanical destemmer prior to fermentation Stelvin A brand of screwcap Still wine Wine that is not sparkling wine Stoving wine A production method of artificially mellowing wine by exposing it to heat Strohwein A German word for straw wine same as the French term vin de paille Refers to a dried grape wine A Praumldikat in Austria Sucker A shoot arising from a bud below ground Can be used to create multiple trunks (Note MUST be removed from a grafted vine as the sucker is originating from the rootstock amp not the scion) Sugar In many ways sugar is the reason youre here reading this glossary Its certainly the engine that drives the wine industry because without sugar yeasts would yawn at the sight of grapes and never transform them into wine The chemical evolution of sugar (or glucose) into alcohol is complex but it occurs naturally and almost anywhere -- the spritz you taste in the apple cider you left too long in the back of the fridge tells you that you probably have a little less sugar in the juice than when you bought it Sulfites Compounds (typically potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite) which are added to wine to prevent oxidation and microbial spoilage Sulphur dioxide A substance used in winemaking as a preservative Sweetness of wine Defined by the level of residual sugar in the final liquid after the fermentation has ceased However how sweet the wine will actually taste is also controlled by factors such as the acidity and alcohol levels the amount of tannin present and whether the wine is sparkling


Table wine Generally any wine that is not sparkling or fortified In the US these wines must also be between 7 and 14 alcohol by volume The term table wine is also used to describe a wine that is considered a good everyday drinker Tannin Polyphenolic compounds that give wine a bitter dry or puckery feeling in the mouth Tannin is the primary culprit behind a surprising amount of wine babblestructure backbone even grip But thats because tannin is so central to the way a (red) wine tastes and therefore how critical it is in the winemaking process If you can imagine over-steeped tea -- or sucking on a tea bag -- thats tannin Of course any wine that tastes like over-steeped tea would be a difficult sell so winemakers try to get just the right amount enough to add a firmness to the wine without making the wine bitterly astringent Tannin is most often found in red wines and thats because most of the tannin in grapes comes from the skins -- in general red wines ferment on the grape skins white wines do not But prolonged storage in new or newer oak barrels can also infuse a wine with tannin so winemakers will decide how long to keep a wine in barrel in part to determine how much tannin they want in the wine By the way tannin isnt the only component in a wine that gives a wine structure Acid plays a part too Together with tactile impressions of body or alcohol theyre like the framework of a building and theyre what hold a wine together Tart A tasting term describing a wine high in acidity Often displayed by young unripe wines Tartaric acid The most important acid found in grapes Tasting flight Refers to a selection of wines usually between three and eight glasses but sometimes as many as fifty presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison TBA An abbreviation for the German wine Trockenbeerenauslese T budding A technique that permits grafting of different grape varieties onto existing rootstocks in a vineyard Tears See legs Tendril A curled structure arising from some nodes of the shoot and capable of attaching itself to other portions of the vine amp non-vine structures (like trees or a trellis) They give the vine the ability to climb Terroir French for soil the physical and geographical characteristics of a particular vineyard site that give the resultant wine its unique properties The ecology of a wine The total inter-related environment wherein a grapevine is cultivated for the purpose of making wine Key factors include but are not limited to cultivar type soil climate vineyard location planting density training system pruning philosophy amp the cultural and social milieu wherein the whole enterprise takes place


Texture A tasting term for the mouthfeel of wine on the palate Thief A tubular instrument for removing a sample from a cask or barrel Also called a pipe Toast The charcoal that is burned into the inside of wine casks To toast refers to that process It also refers to the practice of drinking an alcohol beverage along with wishing good health or other good fortune Training In its simplest terms Placing the fruiting buds of a vine so as to maximize the effective production of that vine Effectively shaping a vine into a specific shape usually to effect some form of canopy management Training systems are often referred to by indicating the location of the fruiting wood in terms of it relation to the vines perennial wood (trunk head or cordon) amp by indicating the length of the fruiting wood (spur or cane) Hence one might use a cordoncane system or a headspur system Transparency The ability of a wine to clearly portray all unique aspects of its flavor--fruit floral and mineral notes The opposite would be a wine where flavors are diffused and thoroughly integrated Trocken German for dry Trockenbeerenauslese German term meaning approximately harvest of selected dry berries A type of German wine made from grapes affected by noble rot Such grapes can be so rare that it can take a skilled picker a day to gather enough for just one bottle A Praumldikat in Germany and Austria Tun A wine cask that holds approximately two butts or 252 US gallons Trunk The main upright structure of the vine from which cordons shoots amp canes may arise Vines may have more than 1 trunk Typicity A wine tasting term used to describe how much a wine expresses the typical characteristics of the varietal UllageAlso known as headspace the unfilled space in a wine bottle barrel or tank Derrived from the French ouillage the terms ullage space and on ullage are sometimes used and a bottle or barrel not entirely full may be described as ullaged Unoaked Also known as unwooded refers to wines that have been matured without contact with woodoak such as in aging barrels Varietal


Some writers make a distinction between varietal and variety (a varietal wine being one which is marketed and sold on the basis of its variety) but the distinction is blurring At the core of both is a reference to the kind of grapes used in making a wine The most famous (and best-selling) varieties in the marketplace are Cabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay and Merlot Theyre grown all over the world but they were made famous in France Cab (you may have been the victim of bad puns leeched from this abbreviation) and Merlot are two major components in Bordeaux while Chardonnay is the grape used exclusively in white Burgundy Pinot Noir the red wine grape featured in Life in Vine was also made famous in Burgundy and it is notoriously difficult to grow well This and the popularity of the so-called Big Three varietals mentioned above has kept Pinots market share comparatively low In fact as vineyards around the world are being replanted with the Big Three because theyre such cash crops some people are anxious about a future barreling increasingly toward monoculture There are thousands of grape varieties in the world (most famously in Italy with thousands alone) each creating a different kind of wine and many represent specific regions so exclusively that their wines are essentially the flavor of their towns or districts As growers see how much more money they can make growing Cabernet some often uproot their old characterful vines along with centuries of tradition propelling the world one bit closer to bland uniformity Veraison Veraison (vuh-RAY-zon) is a truly magical time in the grape growing year Before veraison red wine grapes are green bitter and hard poor fodder for glossy coffee table books But toward the end of the summer over about a week or so their color changes to a more appetizing deep purple On the way vineyards are decked multicolored clusters since each grape within a cluster changes on its own timetable With a little backlighting the result is amazing to behold Veraison tells growers that the ripening process which will culminate in harvest has begun since red grapes change color when the sugar in them increases to 5-10 brix White wine grapes also change color about this time but the change is much more subtle Vermouth A fortified wine that has been flavoured with as many as 40 herbs and spices Vertical and horizontal wine tasting In a vertical tasting different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted This emphasizes differences between various vintages In a horizontal tasting the wines are all from the same vintage but are from different wineries Keeping wine variety or type and wine region the same helps emphasize differences in winery styles Vieilles Vignes (Fr old vines) Mature established vines which generally produce more concentrated wine than young ones Studies show that stored carbohydrates in very old vines can give the vine an early start to fruit ripening Vigneron French for vine grower Vigor A vines natural tendency to sprout forth leaves amp other green growth (often at the expense of quality fruit production) Vin French for wine Vine


A plant on which grapes grow Vine density Important vineyard parameter the number of vines planted per unit of area (usually acre) New World plantings tend to be relatively low density (less than 800 vines per acre) while Old World plantings tend to be very high density (1000+ vines per acre) Density is directly determined by vine spacing (the distance between the rows of vines amp the distance between the vines in the rows) Vinegar A sour-tasting highly acidic liquid made from the oxidation of ethanol in wine cider beer fermented fruit juice or nearly any other liquid containing alcohol Vineyard A place where grape vines are grown for wine making purposes Vinho Portuguese for wine Vinho verde An effervescent white wine produced in Portugal Viniculture The art and science of making wine Also called enology (or oenology) Not to be confused with viticulture Vinifera (Also Vitis Vinifera) Vine species of European origin Members of this species are known for their ability to produce the finest grapes for wine The most Noble examples are Cabernet Sauvignon Pinot Noir Chardonnay amp Riesling Vinification The process of making grape juice into wine Vin jaune French for yellow wine a wine fermented and matured under a yeast film that protects it similar to the flor in Sherry production Vino Italian and Spanish Originally derived from Latin for wine Vintage The year in which a particular wines grapes were harvested When a vintage year is indicated on a label it signifies that all the grapes used to make the wine in the bottle were harvested in that year Vintage sounds like a word youd say with your nose in the air and an ascot tied around your neck But this snobby-sounding word is used by winemakers in a much more functional way to essentially indicate a winemaking year Life in Vine for example covers the entirety of the 99 vintage On the shelf wines are often classified by vintage both to keep one years produce separate from another and to indicate a certain quality level If you dont see a date on a bottle of wine its whats called a non-vintage wine which means its a blend of wines from at least two different years When wineries issue both vintage and non-vintage wines the vintage-dated bottles are almost marketed as better wines but at a higher price


VSP - Common abbreviation for Vertical Shoot Positioning Describes the common training technique of forcing the growing shoots of a vine into a vertical (up amp down) position perpendicular to the ground Note that with low-wire trained systems the shoots are trained up while with high-wire trained systems they are trained down This practice facilitates easy canopy management (qv) Viticulture Is iticulture is the science and practice of growing grapes most famously taught in the United States at the University of California at Davis Compare to enology the science and practice of making wine The cultivation of grapes Not to be confused with viniculture Vitis The vine genus Water Sprout A shoot arising from a bud located on wood which is older than one year old usually the trunk) Generally it will not be fruitful amp is unwanted Wine An alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of unmodified grape juice Wine cave A large cave that is excavated to provide a cool location for storing and aging wine Similar to wine cellar Wine cellar A cool dark location in which wine is stored often for the purpose of ageing Wine fault Undesirable characteristics in wine caused by poor winemaking techniques or storage conditions Wine fraud Any form of dishonesty in the production or distribution of wine Wine label The descriptive sticker or signage adhered to the side of a wine bottle Wine lake Refers to the continuing surplus of wine over demand (glut) being produced in the European Union Winemaker A person engaged in the occupation of making wine Wine-press A device comprising two vats or receptacles one for trodding and bruising grapes and the other for collecting the juice Winery A building property or company that is involved in the production of wine


Wine tasting The sensory evaluation of wine encompassing more than taste but also mouthfeel aroma and colour White Grapes See Red Grapes Yeast Yeasts are the high livin dynamos that take gray mucky grape juice and transform it into wine Yeasts are everywhere There are untold strains of them in the world and they float around virtually everywhere poised to ferment something at a moments notice The popular conception that yeast gobble up sugar and spit sugar heat and carbon dioxide out the other side isnt exactly right but its close enough (a mercenary enzyme also plays a part) But as festive a process as that might be it ultimately ends in tragedy -- as the yeasts convert sugar to alcohol the alcohol level rises and after a while it actually kills them off Hows that for a morality play Thats why winemakers must always be careful which yeasts dominate their fermentations Not only will different yeasts impart different flavors to a wine but theyll also give up at different alcohol levels If a wimpy yeast gets the upper hand in the fermentation they might stop after processing only half the sugar The result is a stuck fermentation and that is a winemakers kryptonite (though it is what gave us Kendall-Jackson Vintnerrsquos Reserve Chardonnay) The danger of a stuck fermentation is why many winemakers use yeasts isolated and cultured in the lab -- they know what theyre going to get But more and more winemakers (and many in Life in Vine) like the complexity and naturalness so-called wild yeasts give to a wine Luckily yeasts which successfully dominate a fermentation tend to hang around for more action the following year so wineries tend to maintain a population which can do the job Nevertheless many winemakers have cultured yeasts on standby in case the unthinkable should occur Yield The amount of wine or grapes produced per unit area usually measured either as tonacre tonsha or in much of Europe hlha Many factors such as planting density pressing regime grape variety and style of wine affect the conversion of weight of grapes into volume of wine but 1 tonacre is very approximately equivalent to 175 hlha Young Wine that is not matured and usually bottled and sold within a year of its vintage Zymology The science of fermentation


champinni X concord) while an example of a later American hybrid (which utilized other hybrids in parentage) is Cayuga White (release by Univ Cornell [Geneva] in 1947 as a cross of Schuyler X Seyval Blanc) Ampelography The Science of identifying grape varieties by detailed description of the appearance of the vine especially its leaves(shape amp texture) clusters (size amp configuration) amp berries (color amp size) Amphora A type of ceramic vase used for transporting and storing wine in ancient times Angels share The portion of a wine in an aging barrel that is lost to evaporation Anthocyanin Phenolic pigments that give red wine its colour The natural phenolic (qv) glycoside compounds found in the skins of red wine grapes which most strongly influence a red wines color These are the compounds which produce reds amp blues of fruits and flowers AOC Abbreviation for Appellation dOrigine Controcircleacutee (English Appellation of controlled origin) as specified under French law The AOC laws specify and delimit the geography from which a particular wine (or other food product) may originate and methods by which it may be made The regulations are administered by the Institut National des Appellations dOrigine (INAO) AP number Abbreviation for Amtliche Pruumlfnummer the official testing number displayed on a German wine label that shows that the wine was tasted and passed government quality control standards Appellation A geographical based term to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown Aroma The smell of a wine The term is generally applied to younger wines while the term Bouquet is reserved for more aged wines ATF Abbreviation for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms a United States government agency which is primarily responsible for the regulation of wines sold and produced in the United States Ausbruch German term originally referring to the aszuacute production method of mixing grapes affected by noble rot with a fermenting base wine Today a Praumldikat in Austria intermediate between Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese Auslese German for select harvest a Praumldikat in Germany and Austria Balanced Pruning Pruning a vine based on its growth in terms of the amount of one year old wood it produced the previous growing season A method of determining the fruiting capacity of a vine this season by weighing the wood removed at pruning time after the past season Common balanced pruning































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Documents

English Glossary of Viticulture.pdf