Wine Terms 101 Flashcards
Acidity
Tart, sour flavor. Think acidity of milk vs. green apple vs. lemon. Should be described from low to high.
Body
The weight of the wine on the palate. Think skim milk (light body) to whole milk (full body)
Tannin
A drying texture on the palate. Most relevant to red and most red wines, but can also be detected in most rosés and some rare whites. Should be described both in degree (low to high) and quality (sweet, bitter, coarse, velvety, etc.)
Champagne Methode
(Méthode Champenoise, Traditional Method, Metodo Classico)
A still wine (vin clair) is bottled with additional yeast and sugar to initiate another fermentation that makes a sparkling wine. The wine is aged in bottle (sur late) and then disgorged, meaning the solids left over are removed.
Corked
Corked wine has been affected by cork taint, a fungus that can infect the wine. Very distinct aroma of moldy cardboard.
Pét-Nat (Pétillant Naturel, ancestral method/méthode ancestrale/metodo ancestrale)
Wines bottled during their initial fermentation so that the carbon dioxide and alcohol that are generated during fermentation remain in the bottle and make the wine naturally sparkling.
Biodynamics
A modern, pseudoscientific synthesis of historical agricultural techniques that proceed following the cosmos. Includes use of teas, tinctures, fermentations, and other treatments according to the movement of bodies in the solar system. Not required for natural wine, not synonymous with organics.
Charmat Method
(Tank Method)
Wine ferments in pressurized tanks to capture the CO2, yielding a sparkling wine.
Organic
Farmed without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
Natural wine
Made from organic grapes with minimal intervention between the vineyard and the bottle. Specifically, this means fermentation with indigenous yeast and minimal, judicious employment of filtering, fining, and sulfur or other additions or modern technology.
Maceration
Extended contact between the skins and must (juice), especially during and after fermentation.
Carbonic Maceration
A type of whole-cluster maceration that includes depriving fruit of oxygen to delay the activity of yeasts and allow an enzymatic fermentation within grapes to take place. Typically yields fruity, bubble gum, banana flavors.
Whole Cluster / Whole Bunch
Grapes are not destemmed, so stems become part of the winemaking process.
Volatile Acidity
A group of acidities that occur more commonly in natural wine due to less strict controls in the cellar. May remind guests of sour beer, kombucha, cider, or vinegar.
Hot
High in alcohol.
Brett / Brettanomyces
A family of yeast strains that give wines (usually red) aromas of horse, barnyard, manure. This is a fault but acceptable, and even desirable, in certain doses and in balance with other flavors.
Yeast
Single-cell microorganisms responsible for converting sugar to alcohol and CO2, and for yielding 99% of wine’s flavor.
Fermentation
The process by which yeast converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Botrytis
A very common fungus in vineyards. Sometimes desirable for its sweet-smoke flavor and ability to raisinate grapes without spoiling them. Usually problematic, yielding unpalatable acidities and spoiled flavors—affected grapes are usually disgarded.
Chaptalization
The addition of sugar to grape must to raise the final wine’s alcoholic ontent.
Dosage
In the Champagne or traditional method, the addition of sugar after disgorgement so that sweetness balances the acidity of sparkling wine.
Dry
Lacking sugar. Clarify with guests whether they may also be referring to the presence of tannins or the absence of fruit flavors.
Disgorge
Removing the solid, dead yeasts from a bottle of sparkling wine.
Malolactic Conversion
Enzymatic process by which malic acid (tart, like a green apple) becomes lactic acid (soft, like in milk). A natural process in 99% of wines that will not be halted in natural winemaking.
Oxidized vs. Oxidative
Oxidized wines have spoiled due to rapid exposure to oxygen. Oxidative wines are gradually exposed to oxygen in their aging process and give desirable flavors of nuts, cheese, bruised fruit, etc.
Phylloxera
A louse (bug) that eats the roots of vines. North American vines are immune, so winemakers around the world graft their local varieties onto American rootstocks. The character of the local variety is maintained.
Skin Contact
Less accurate term for maceration, as all wine unavoidably experiences some skin contact during pressing.
Solera
Ancient process by which small quantities of an old wine are drawn off for bottling or consumption, leaving room in a barrel that is topped off by a newer wine. Most famous in Sherry but traditional in many areas and popular as an experiment in even more.
Vinification
The time between harvest and the end of malolactic conversion, which signals the beginning of aging.
Indigenous Yeasts
Yeasts that live naturally on the skins of the grapes and in cellars. Distinct from industrial/selected/lab yeasts, which have been isolated in labs.
Mouse
A severe fault that gives flavors of rotten peanut butter, rancid cooking oil, stale tortilla chips, puppy feet. Can only be detected on the palate and only by 75% of people.
Fining
Addition of a coagulating agent (egg white, clay) to settle solids before bottling.
Filtering
Use of any of many technologies to mechanically remove solids from wine before or during bottling.
Minerality
Distinguished between organic (soil, forrest floor, logs, etc). and inorganic (any kind of rock). Don’t be a nerd tableside though, most guests are referring to inorganic minerality.
NV/MV
Non-vintage/multi-vintage. Blend of multiple vintages or, in rare cases, a wine that cannot or has not had its vintage certified due to bureaucratic challenges, protest, or ageing requirements.
Muffa
A fungus that develops in clay ageing vessels that gives an aroma very close to corked wine, but that can sometimes be acceptable in balance with other flavors. Most common in Georgian wine, rare in France.
In Conversion to Organic
Could indicate either that synthetics are still being used to gradually wean vines that are dependent on them, or merely that a farmer is working organically and is in the waiting period for certification.
Zero/zero
Nothing added, nothing taken away. The most extreme form of natural wine, though the flavors may not be extreme at all!
Orange wine
Wine made from white or pink grapes that are macerated so that the skins of the grapes can impart color, flavor, and tannin.
