Fortified Wines Flashcards
What is the process of adding alcohol to the wine before or while it is still fermenting and still has a significant amount of sugar in it?
Mutage
Fortification for a sweet style wine will typically take place when the remaining sugar level reaches the ….?
8% - 12% range
Relatively neutral white grapes are most appropriate for what style of fortified wines?
Dry style fortified wines - fortified after fermentation.
What are the 2 predominant grapes for dry style sherry?
Primary: Palomino
Secondary: Pedro Ximenez
Maderia’s dry fermented wines are made from what grape varieties?
Sercial or Verdelho
What are the two basic types of Sherry wine?
Fine and Oloroso
Describe the Biological aging process
the changes in the wine are largely due to the action of a living organism.
What unique organism is necessary for Fino Sherry?
The biological aging requires the action of a unique organism known as flor yeast during the aging process.
What does flor yeast survive & feed on?
survives in the presence of oxygen by consuming any remaining sugars and glycerol in the wine, as well as a acetic acid and small amounts of alcohol.
What ABV is fino sherry brought to for biological aging?
15-15.5%
What ABV are oloroso sherries fortified to?
17-18%, which is too high for the development of flor.
During this aging process, alcohol and acid levels increase, and the color of the wine deepens. The result is a fuller-bodied, darkened, flavorful wine dominated by oxidative and caramelized aromas.
Oxidative aging
Oloroso can rise in alcoholic strength to as high as____?
24%
Describe the Solera system
young wine is progressively blended together with a series of older, more complex wines.
What is the longest that flor may be maintained?
6-7 years
What is the minimum amount of time required by law for fino wines to be aged?
2 years
What size barrels are used in the Solera System?
Butts - Large (600L) American oak barrels.
In the solera, one of the older groups, containing the oldest wine is called the:
Solera
What are the other groups of “butts” in the solera called?
Criaderas (nurseries)
Lightly fortified sweet wines produced throughout the South of France:
Vins doux naturel
Fortifying grape must before - or just slightly after - it begins to ferment is known as:
France: Mistelle
Spain: Mistela (must is unfermented) or vino licor (when a small of fermentation is allowed)
Italian: Sifone
Examples of Mistelle:
Pineau de Charentes AOC - Congnac region, fortified with cognac.
Floc de Gascogne AOC - Armagnac region.
Where are Rutherglen fortified wines produced?
Rutherglen GI in Australia. The majority of Rutherglen’s vineyards are concentrated in the northern half of the region, where the Murray river separates it from New South Wales.
List the Rutherglen’s fortified categories
- Rutherglen: a belnd of wines that average 3-5 years old with 180-220 grams per litre (GPL) of RS
- Classic: average are of 6-10 years with 200-280 GPL of RS
- Grand: average are of 11-19 years with 270-400 GPL of RS
- Rare: minimum of 20 years of barrel aging with 270-400 GPL of RS
What grape variety is used in Rutherglen’s Fortified Muscat wines
Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains “Rutherglen Brown Muscat”
What winemaking process is involved in the production of Rutherglen’s fortified muscat?
Slow oxidative barrel-ageing which imparts a complex array of flavors variously described as caramel, toffee, butterscotch, sweet spices, molasses, tea liquor and cassis liqueur.
What grape variety is used in the production of Rutherglen’s Topaque
Muscadelle
What grape variety is used in Rutherglen’s tawny and ruby wines?
Shiraz, Grenache and Durif, along with some Spanish and Portuguese varieties.
Commandaria Wine:
A fortified wine produced in the Commandaria region in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The wine can be made only in a strictly defined region comprising of 14 wine-producing villages in the Troodos foothills.
Commandaria wine style:
Their sweetness is entirely natural - the result of the high sugar levels wine grapes can achieve in Cyprus’ warm climate, later concentrated by the drying process the grapes undergo before vinification.
Malaga DO fortified wine style
Malaga DO can be used for:
- Fortified wines with alcohol levels between 15-22%
-Solera: borrowed from the Jerez region.
- The name has been traditionally associated with sweet wines made from grapes dried on grass mats under the region’s intense sun.
Vino Dulce Natural
known in Malaga DO as the process invloving stopping fermentation with grape spirit to retain natural sweetness.
Traditional Marsala grape varities
Grillo and Inzolia
Maury Fortified wines are from:
predominantly from the Grenache grape varieties in all their forms (Noir, Blanc, Gris)
Mavrodpaphne of Patras is from what region & what style?
Located in Greece, this fortified red wine is produced with the Mavrpdpaphne grape variety and allowed to be blended with up to 50% with the lesser Cornithiaki variety.
Moscatel de Setubal
Setubal is a DOC of the Setubal Peninsula in southern Portugal. Moscatel de Setubal is also known as Muscat of Alexandria.
Setubal winemakers add the leftover, highly aromatic moscatel grape skins to the mix and allow them to macerate with the wine for as long as six months. The gives its intensely pungent, floral aroma.
Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise
sweet fortified Muscat based wines from the village of Beaumes-de-Venise, in France’s Rhone Valley made entirely from Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains and its Muscat Noir color mutation. The wines are created through the traditional process of mutage, to produce a vin doux naturel.
Muscat de Riversaltes
an appellation for Muscat-based sweet wines from Roussillon, southern France. Riversaltes is an example of a vin doux naturel made by mutage.
Rasteau Vin Doux Naturel
AOC region where sweet wines from the parish of Rasteau, in the southern Rhone valley made from hand harvested grenache grapes.
Banyuls
a wine appellation covering sweet, fortified red, white, and rose wines made in a southeastern corner of Roussillon, southern France, in the lower reaches of the Pyrenees, just a few miles from the Spanish border.
Banyuls Rancio
the term is applied to those Banyuls wines which have been subject to specific and intentional oxidative aging.
