Wine Terms Flashcards
TCA
Trichloroanisole
Tainted cork (corked) wine. Smells like damp cardboard or mildew.
Reduction
Taint that gives wine a stinky character like rotten eggs
Sulfur dioxide
Additive to wine to prevent oxidation. Too much can create an acrid smell of recently extinguished matches, tainting the wine.
Oxidation
Can turn wine brown and create coffee and caramel aromas instead of fruit.
Out of condition wine
Wine will taste old and stale. Tainted due to improper storage or wine too old.
Volatile acidity (VA)
All wines have low levels of VA, but high levels can make wine smell like vinegar or nail polish.
Brettanomyces (Brett)
Yeast that gives wine animal or plastic aromas. Low levels of Brett are not considered a fault by all consumers.
Primary Aromas
From fermentation:
Fruits
Floral
Herbaceous
Herbal
Spice
Minerals/rocks
Secondary Aromas
From yeast/lees, malolactic conversion or oak:
Lees - bread, toast, cheese
Malo - butter, cheese cream
Oak - vanilla, spices, cedar, smoke, chocolate, coffee, resin
Tertiary Aromas
From maturation:
Oxidation - nuts, coffee, toffee, caramel
Fruit development - dried fruit, jam, tar
Bottle age white - petrol, spice, toast, mushroom, hay, honey
Bottle age red - leather, forest floor, game, tobacco, meat, barnyard
Youthful wine
Dominated by primary aromas
Developing wine
Distinct primary and secondary aromas, some tertiary
Fully developed wine
Dominated by tertiary aromas
Tired/past its best wine
Deteriorating aromas or signs of taint
Food pairing : Sweet
Increases perception of acidity, bitterness, alcohol.
Decreases perception of body, sweetness, fruit
Select wine sweeter than the food
Food pairing: Umami
Increases perception of bitterness, acidity, alcohol
Decreases perception of body, sweetness, fruit
Avoid high tannin, light red, or oak aged whites
Food pairing: Acidity
Increases perception of body, sweetness, fruit
Decreases perception of acidity
Select high acid wine
Food pairing: Salt
Increases perception of body
Decreases perception of bitterness, acidity
Pairs well with most wines
Food pairing: Bitterness
Increases perception of bitterness in wine
Select lower acid wines
Food pairing: Chili heat
Increases perception of bitterness, acidity, alcohol
Decreases perception of body, sweetness, fruit
Select low alcohol, sweeter wines
Vitis vinifera
Eurasian species of grape used for wine making.
American vines
Grape species native to North America. Fruit not suitable for winemaking, but rootstock is used world wide because it is resistant to Phylloxera
Phylloxera
An insect that burrows in the ground and feeds on roots of the vine. Vitis vinifera is killed by Phylloxera. American rootstock is resistant to to Phylloxera
Bench grafting
An automated process to graft v. vinifera species onto American rootstock. Takes place with machinery in a nursery.
