France - General Flashcards
Total cases of wine produced in France?
544 Million Casses
When was the modern AOC created and by whom
in 1935 with the creation of CNAO Coumité National des Appellation d’Origine
What is the INAO, when was it created and by who?
Institute National des Appellation Origine in 1947 by CNAO
What is the VdP and When was it created?
Vin de pays in 1930
What is the VDQS and when was it created and abolished?
Vin Delimité Qualiteé Superieur
Created in 1949
Abolished in 2010
Most planted grape variety in France?
Merlot
Most planted white variety in France, and what is it used to make?
Ugni Blanc, Used to make Armagnac and Cognac
14 Main AOC regions of France?
- Champagne
- Alsace
- Lorraine
- Loire
- Burgundy
- Jura
- Savoie
- Bagey
- Bordeaux
- Rhone
- South-west France
- Languedoc-Roussillion
- Provence
- Corsica
How many AOC’s?
Acres?
and cases?
490 AOC”s
1,093,614 acres
267m cases
AOC stands for?
AOP stands for?
Appellation d’Origine Controleé
Appellation d’Origine Protegeé
IGP Stands for?
Indicazione Geographica Protegeé
How many IGP appellations are in France?
Acres?
Cases?
177 Appellations
477,807 Acres
133m cases
Example of top IGP wine?
Mas Daumas Gassac
VdT Stand for?
Vin de France
VdF Acres?
Cases?
76,000 acres
25m cases
Cépage?
Grape Veriety
Chataignier?
Chestnut (Cooperage)
Chene?
Oak
Clairet?
Dark Rose, Light red, usually found in bordeaux
Clos?
A plot of land (micro-climate) enclosed by walls
Cru?
Growth
Cru Bourgeois?
A growth below cru classes
Cru Classes?
Classified vineyard in the Medoc or Provence
Cuve?
Vat
Cuve Close?
A sparkling wine that has undergone a second fermentation in a vat
Cuvée
Specific blend from multiple vats
What is a Demi-muid?
A large oval barrel of 300 Liters (600 liters in Champaign)
Demi-sec
Semi-dry
Doux?
Sweet wine
Elevage par X or Eleveur X
Traditional Negotiant X who has Purchased the win aged it, blended it, and bottled it.
Eleveé en…
Aged in…
Foudre?
A large wooden cask or vat
Fûts?
Barrels, are not necessarily small.
Grand Cru meaning?
Great Growth
Grand Vin?
When used in Bordeaux it refers to the main wine sold my the chateau
Lieu-dit?
Named site
Medaille?
Medal
What is Methode Ancestral?
Sweet sparkling wine from Limoux that only undergoes primary fermentation.
What is Methode Classique?
Legal term for Methode Champenoise
Terms for Methode Champenoise?
- Methode deuxieme fermentation (Gaillac)
- Traditionnelle
- Methode traditionnelle classique
Millesime?
Year
What is Mistelle?
The fresh grape juice that has been muted with alcohol before fermentation
What is Moelleux?
- “Soft” or “Smooth”, implies rich medium sweet wine
- in the Loire, it used to indicate a truly rich, sweet botrytis wine
Mousse?
Qhe effervescence of a sparkling wine
Mousseaux?
“Cheep Fizz”
Oeil de Perdix?
“Partridge eye”, rosé colored wine
Recolte?
Vintage year
Rubis?
Ruby, darker Rosé
Saignee?
A rosé wine made by bleeding the surplus of juice from press of fermenting vat
Sec
Dry
Selection-de-grains Nobles?
Rare sweet wine using botrytis grapes in Alsace
Tete de Cuveé?
Not a legal term, but refers to wine used from first pressing
Tonneau?
Large barrel four times the size of a barroque
Vendage Tardive?
Late Harvest
Vin doux Natural
Fortified wine like muscat de Beaumes de Venise that has to be muted at 5-8%
Vin de Glace?
Eiswein or Ice Wine
Vin Juane?
Yellow wine of the Jura. It gets its name from the honey like color it develops from the deliberate oxidation under a sherry-like flor, results are similar to aged sherry.
Vin de liquer
A fortified wine that is muted with alcohol before fermentation can begin
Vin de Paille?
“Straw wine”, complex sweet wine made by drying late harvest grapes from the rafters over straw mats
Vin d’une nuit?
A rosé or pal red wine that is allowed contact with the skins for only 1 night
What is vin de press
Pressed juice
What is vin de Goutte?
Free run juice?
Chai
Storeroom usually about ground unless otherwise noted. Referring to the area for large cask, not bottles.
What is Alluvium?
Alluvium is a loose clay and sand from rivers meaning, “to wash against”
1 Hectoliter is equivalent to _______ gallons?
26.42 gallons
What does Eau-de-vie mean?
What is it?
“Water of life”
Colorless double distilled fortified wine/fruit brandy
How is Pineau des Charentes made?
Made from unfermented or slightly fermented grapes, to which cognac eau-de-vie is added.
Another name of ugni blanc?
Trebbiano
Two varieties of Pineau des Charentes, the grapes used?
- White - ugni blanc, folle blanc, sauvignon blanc, semillion
- Red/Rose- cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon or merlot. Aged 14 months in oak, 16-22% ABV
What is Frances oldest wine producing area?
Provence
Where do to top rosé in France come from?
Tavel
“Courtiers” meaning?
Brokers
French Wine Law:
When was AOC Created and what was it based upon?
1936
Based on the self imposed Chateauneuf-du-Pape laws
French Wine Law:
Stipulations on?
- Limits and yield
- Vineyard density
- Training and pruning techniques
- Grapes Variety
- Method of Production
- Minimum Alcohol Level
- Must Weight
- Geographical boundaries of each appellation
- Wines must pass a tasting panel
IN what year did the INAO change its name and what to?
2007
L’Institute National de l’Origine et de la Quality (Kept acronym INAO)
What is PDO and What is its relationship to AOP?
PDO is Protection Designation of Origin, and it is the Eu standardization that Frances AOP falls underneath.
Vin de pays in _______(fraction) the production of all French wine?
1/3
What in VdP?
And its standards?
- Vin de Pays is a less restrictive classification
Controls added sulfur and TA - Source grape from within a specified region
- Must submit to tasting panel
-No longer exist, Must use IGP now
IGP Grape regulation?
at least 85% of grapes must come from the specified region
What region of France has the highest amount of rainfall?
Medoc (Guildsomm)
What are Microbullage, Cliquage, and Soutirage al’ air, explain the similarities and the differences?
They all involve adding oxygen to the wine, but each in different ways.
- Microbullage is the method of adding tiny oxygen bubbles to a wine to soften the tannins
- Cliquage is the technique of adding “macro” amounts of oxygen, moving from a reductive state to an oxidative state. differe from Microbullage, but more precise than Soutirage al’ air.
- Soutirage al’ air is full saturation of oxygen in wine. less controlled than Cliquage
Assemblage?
Blending of wine
Remontage?
Pumping over of wine from the bottom of the barrel to the top over the must
Pigeage?
The pushing down or breaking of the “cap” in the fermenting tank
What is Gabbro?
Stone created by the cooling of magma chambers, equivalent to basalt
What is Tirage?
to draw off blended wine for secondary fermentation
