WSET Diploma: Unit 3: Europe > UK/ Rest Of Europe > Flashcards
UK/ Rest Of Europe Flashcards
What is the largest wine- producing region in China?
Ning Xia
What is Gamza?
A Bulgarian synonym for Kadarka
What are the two major winemaking region of the two Czech Republic?
Bohemia and Moravia
What does Barik indicate on a Bulgarian bottle?
The wine was barrel- fermented in casks no larger than 500L
In what country is the wine region of Krasnooar located?
Russia
In what region is Contari produced?
Moldova, Romania
Bakaa Valley
Key region, Lebanon
UK Climate, Weather, Soils
Cool, maritime, climate. Tempered by the Gulfstream and global warming. Variable weather gives annual vintage variations. Rain and frost are major problems. Soils are varied but good drainage is essential.
UK Key Black Grapes
Dornfelder
Rondo
Pinot Noir
Pinot Meunier
UK
Name 2 of the 6 key white grapes
Bacchus Ortega Reichensteiner Schonberger Seyual Blanc Chardonnay
Romania
Climate, Weather, Soils
Sunny dry Continental.
Milder and more humid near Black Sea.
Fewer variations in vintages
Bulgaria
Climate, Weather, Soils
Sunny dry continental.
Milder and more humid near Black Sea. Fewer variations in vintages.
Romania
Key grape varieties
Black: Pinot Noir, Merlot
White: Feteasca, Welschriesling
Bulgaria
Key grape Varieites
Black: Cab Sav, Merlot, Gamza, Maurvo
White: Aligote, Chardonnay
Key region of Romania?
Dealumare
Key region of Thracian Valley, Danube Plain, Stuma Valley, Black Sea Region are located in what country?
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
What is the labelling term equivalent to French AC
Controllian
Greece, Cyprus, Lebannon- Climate
Warm Hot Mediterranean
What is the main white grape of Santorini?
Assyrtiko. Attiri and Aidani are two lesser used grapes on the island.
England and Wales- History and Trade
Producer for 1000 yrs. Site selection and replanting (recent) has lead to 812 ha now under vine.
1992- British Quality Scheme (QWS). Wines must be tasted and come from 100% vinifera varieties. Wine can be labelled as English (or Welsh) Vineyards Quality Wine. The huge plantings of Seyval Blanc not eligible as they have non vinifera parentage.
1996- RWS (regional wine scheme) introduced to assess any variety of wine.
Growing Environment- England and Wales
Latitude above 51 degrees north, moderated by maritime and Gulf stream influences. Global warming a positive influence on UK viticulture. Spring frosts and wet weather at flowering a problem. Long season and mild autumns. Disease control an issue due to high rainfall. Best sites in south/ south- east have chalk or limestone subsoil which is a continuation of that found in Champagne.
Viticulture- England and Wales
Many training systems used. VSP common, use of systems as Geneva Double Curtain, Lyre and Scot Henry to deal with vigorous growth conditions. Site selections is of great importance to maximise ripeness. Half to all vineyards in the UK ae under 1ha and yields are small. Small numbers of grower/ producers. Most sell grapes or wine to large wineries.
Bacchus, Huxelrebe and Phoenix- England and Wales
Light body, crisp acidity with an herbaceous nettle like character. Low yields give an intense flavour character.
Reichensteiner and Seyval Blanc- England and Wales
Non- aromatic with high acidity. High yielding with good disease resistance. Used for sparkling and still production, Reichensteiner bulk wine for blends. Seyval Blanc often barrel aged producing wines with peaches and cream finish.
Ortega- England and Wales
High sugar levels, susceptible to noble rot. Used to make sweet wines with zesty citrus fruit and moderate acidity.
Dornfelder and Rondo- England and Wales
Deep black wines with low tannin. Light body and crisp acidity. Rondo is one hybrid variety permitted for quality wine production in the EU. Red wine increasing in importance.
Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier- England and Wales
Plantings increasing as production of sparkling wine increases.
Vinification- England and Wales
Most grapes are sold to large wineries and wine produced sold under the winery label. Reduces production costs and enables adequate supply. Enrichment is permitted and takes place for nearly every wine. Wine can be sweetened by grape concentrate by either imported or British grape concentrate. Quality wine must be sweetened only by British concentrate.
Wine Styles- England and Wales
Marginal climate means majority of wine is white, unoaked, low alcohol, high acidity from varieties with aroma profiles similar to Muscat or Gewürztraminer.
England- 2015
A frost-free spring led to a cool spring. Flowering weather was very good, but two weeks late, and with a cool summer, characterised by untypical cool nights, grapes were slow to develop. August and most of September were cooler than average and many growers were despairing of harvesting later varieties. However, a good end to September and an exceptionally warm October saved growers and most picked good yields of healthy grapes. Altogether a very good year for both still and sparkling wines, although Chardonnay based sparkling wines will want long ageing. Total harvest estimated to be 4.5 m bottles off 1,600 hectares.
England- 2014
A dream year for UK vineyards with little frost, very good flowering weather, a cool wet August, but warm September and October. Most growers had very good crops with excellent sugars and acids. Still wines very good and sparklers up to the high quality of 2009. Total harvest 6.32 m bottles off 1,506 hectares.
England- 2013
An early frost-free spring then led to a cool spell with very good, but very late, flowering weather. Grapes developed slowly with one of the latest harvests on record in modern times. Some growers still picking in mid-November. Not a great year for still wines and sparklers will be long-lived. Total harvest 4.45 m bottles off 1,571 hectares.
England- 2012
A year best forgotten for many growers. Really bad flowering weather and high disease pressures saw some growers (but by no means all) pick nothing. However, those wines that were produced are of good quality. Total yield 1.03 m bottles off 1,297 hectares. Lowest average yield ever recorded.
England- 2011
Poor flowering with widespread millerandage especially on Pinots saw some growers struggling. Fair quality, but not the greatest. Total vintage 3.02 m bottles off 1,208 hectares.
England- 2010
Ideal flowering conditions and a warm summer saw another early harvest with some growers having to pick Pinots early as sugars were getting too high. A very good year for both still and sparkling wines. Total vintage 4.05 m bottles off 1,095 hectares.
England- 2009
Very little spring frost, perfect flowering weather, rain at the right time and warm dry weather at the end of the season resulted in an early harvest with high sugars and balanced acids. Great year for both still and sparkling wines. Total vintage 3.18 m bottles off 946 hectares.
Seyval Blanc
Complex, light-skinned french hybrid, the most widely planted seyve-villard hybrid, number 5276, the result of crossing two seibel hybrids. It is productive, ripens early and is well suited to relatively cool climates such as that of england, where it was the single most planted vine variety in the late 20th century but has been superseded by the popularity of the Champagne grapes. It is also popular in canada and, to a lesser extent, in the eastern united states, notably in new york state. Its crisp white wines have no hint of foxy flavour and can even benefit from barrel maturation. In the UK it is mainly used for blending and is particularly successful for sparkling wine production. As a sparkling wine, it can (somewhat unexpectedly in view of its hybrid origins) be labelled as Quality Sparkling Wine.
Schönburger
Pink-berried 1979 german cross with Pinot Noir, Chasselas Rose, and Muscat of Hamburg among its antecedents which has been more useful to the wine industry of england than to its native Germany, where it is hardly grown, although English plantings have been declining. Its wines are white, low in acid, and relatively full bodied.
Latitude
Angular distance north or south of the equator, measured in degrees and minutes. The main northern hemisphere viticultural regions extend between 32 and 51 degrees north, and most of those in the southern hemisphere between 28 and 42 degrees south. Viticulture is spreading polewards and is likely to continue to do so due to climate change. Whereas ten years ago 52 degrees north in england (and Ireland) was around the northern limit, vines are now planted in norway and sweden, up to 59 degrees north. The southern extension is just over 46 degrees south in Central Otago, new zealand and it seems highly unlikely that the vine could thrive further south than this in South America. Some vines are also cultivated for wine production in tropical highlands or irrigated desert conditions as close to the equator as eight or nine degrees. See tropical viticulture. Comparisons between hemispheres based purely on latitude are misleading. Northern hemisphere vineyards are on average warmer during the growing season at given latitudes, a fact partly related to their greater continentality. But even over the whole year, the northern hemisphere is on average warmer than the southern hemisphere at similar latitudes, partly because of the greater land mass and its disposition around the North Pole, and partly (in the case of western Europe) because of warming by the Gulf Stream. Similarly, comparisons between vineyard regions based on latitude can be misleading since temperature, which is influenced more by distance from the sea and elevation than by latitude, has a greater impact on vine physiology, phenology, and wine style. When wine regions with equal average mean temperatures during the growing season, or equal temperature summations (see climate classification), are compared, grapes tend to ripen more fully when grown at high latitudes, i.e. further from the equator. Alternatively, later maturing grape varieties can be ripened. The reasons for this phenomenon of great significance for wine quality remain unproven, but two main mechanisms have been proposed. There is speculation that because summers at higher latitudes have longer days, this may be an advantage for grape production and even wine style, but arguments for this are conjectural. It can be noted that high-latitude viticultural climates tend to have higher relative humidities and less day-to-day temperature variability during the growing season than those at low latitudes (apart from where the latter are coastal). Both factors have likely implications for ripening and for grape and wine quality. See climate and wine quality, humidity, temperature variability, and map under world production.
Huxelrebe
Is an early-21st-century German vine cross that enjoys some popularity both in Germany and, on a much smaller scale, in england. Although like scheurebe and faberrebe it was actually bred by Georg Scheu at Alzey, this cross takes its name from its chief propagator, nurseryman Fritz Huxel. It was bred in 1927 from gutedel (Chasselas) and Courtillier Musqué (which is also an antecedent of the popular hybrid maréchal foch). The cross is capable of producing enormous quantities of rather ordinary wine—so enormous in fact that the vines can collapse under the strain. If pruned carefully, however, and planted on an average to good site, it can easily reach Auslese must weights even in an ordinary year and produce a fulsome if not exactly subtle wine redolent of honey, musk, and raisins for reasonably early consumption. In England, its ripeness is a useful counterbalance to naturally high acidity. In Germany, it is grown almost exclusively in the Pfalz and Rheinhessen and, although it continues to lose ground, there were still 548 ha/1,354 acres in 2012. Gysler and Seehof manage to spin gold from it.
Madeleine Angevine
Early-ripening cross most common as a table grape but the parent of several wine grapes, including the confusingly named Madeleine × Angevine 7672, first sent to the UK from Alzey Research Institute in Germany in 1957. It makes some light, grapey wines in England and has been planted in sweden and denmark.
Ortega
Was once popular as an oechsle booster in German wines, especially with the blenders of Rheinhessen. This cross of Müller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe produces extremely full-flavoured wines that often lack acidity but can reach high must weights, if not quite as high as the equally early-ripening but less widely planted optima. Varietal wines are made, but a little goes a long way. The vine does not have good disease resistance, however, and its susceptibility to coulure and rot leaves Optima the more obvious choice for the Mosel. Germany’s total plantings dropped from around 1,200 ha/2,960 acres in the the late 1980s to 561 ha in 2012. The variety is also quite popular in england, for obvious reasons.
Scotland
Northern British country too cold for vine-growing but with some fine wine merchants and a long tradition of importing wine, notably from Bordeaux.
Protected Viticulture
A form of vine-growing where the vines are protected from climatological excesses to avoid stress. In a conventional agricultural sense, this would involve protection from low temperatures using glass or plastic houses or cloches; such structures are rare in commercial wine grape vineyards because of the prohibitive costs although they can be seen in the cool climate of england or very occasionally in cooler parts of California to protect some Chardonnay vines from poor fruit set. Protected viticulture is more usual for table grapes, as in northern Europe, Japan, and New Zealand.
Vines may also be protected from the wind by windbreaks and from frost by various techniques (see frost protection), and from drought by irrigation.
Nyetimber
- Won the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1993
- Started by a husband and wife from Chicago, Sandy and Stuart Moss
- They bought the Nyetimber estate in 1986
- It was build on greensand soil- which usually has chalk below it. Very similar to Champagne
- Vines planted in 1988
