What Makes Wine, Wine? Flashcards
A grape berry is by weight (%)…?
75% pulp, 20% skin, and 5% seeds
Pulp is
The soft, juicy center of a grape. Water, sugar, acids, minerals, and vitamins.
Sugar in pulp will be converted into…
Ethanol
Skins are responsible for
Wine’s aroma, flavour, colour, and tannin.
During fermentation, a yeast cell takes ______ and turns it into ______, in the process ____ and _____ are thrown off.
One sugar molecule
Two ethanol molecules
Two carbon dioxide molecules
Heat
Alcohol determines the ____ of the wine
Body
The more alcohol, the ______ the body
Fuller
As for taste, alcohol can impact wine in two ways that are negative
- High alcohol can mask the flavour of wine
2. High alcohol comes from very ripe grapes, which have an overcooked fruit character
As a grape ripens it’s acid content changes from _____ to ______ %
3 to less than 1
As a grape ripens, it’s sugar content changes from _______ to ______ %
4 to 24
Acid gives wine it’s
Liveliness, snappiness, freshness, and thirst quenching-ness. It also gives wine its precision and clarity.
Wines that lack acidity do not ____ well
Age
What do winemakers often add to wine to mimic naturally occurring acidity?
Tartaric acid
German winemakers distinguish between three kinds of acidity
- Harsh acidity (sensory equivalent of shattering glass)
- Round acidity (harmonious crispness)
- Candies acidity (sweet crystalline taste of the power on sour patch kids)
What is VA, how does it occur?
Volatile acidity, acetic acid formed by bacteria during or after fermentation
VA will make wine smell like ____ and taste _____
Vinegar, dank and sour
Plants build tannins for
Protection, preservation, and defence
Tannin in found in
Grape skin, seeds, and stems
Tannin provides what two things for a wine
- Structure
2. Ageability
Different grape varieties are predisposed to to having different amounts of tannin, T or F?
True
Tannin is both a taste and a feel, the taste is ____ and the feel is ____
Bitterness, astringency or dryness.
Three examples of least tannic varieties
Gamay, Pinot noir, Sangiovese
Three examples of most tannic varieties
Nebbiolo, petite Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon
How do winemakers check the maturity of grape tannins?
Breaking open grapes and looking at seeds, the seeds turn a nutty brown as tannins ripen
Why does tannin dry out your mouth?
Tannin molecules in wine are hugely attracted to the protein in saliva. It’s not the tannin itself that is drying, but rather the saliva, bound to tannin molecules, can no longer lubricant your palate.
In the world of wine, dry means
The wine has no more natural grape sugar that could be converted into alcohol during fermentation
According the to EU, a wine labelled sweet must have ____ % residual sugar
4.5
