Wine Terms Flashcards
Cave
(Cooperative) co- operative winery
Coteaux de, Cote de
Typically hillsides
Cru
Literally a “growth”: a specified superior plot of land
Cru Classe
Cry that has been distinguished by an important classification such as the 1855 in Bordeaux
Recolte
Vine grower
Vielles Vignes
Old vines and therefore in theory denser wine, though the “old” is regulated
phenolic aldehydes
compound in oak responsible for the vanilla flavor. Low-to-medium toasting increases their levels, as does open-air seasoning of the wood. Barrel-fermentation & HEAVY-toasting decreases their levels.
Quercus alba
American white oak- wide grained, low in tannins (when compared to European oak), sweet aromatics
Quercus garryana
White oak found in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Similar to French oak at a much lower cost.
Quercus robur (Q. pedunculata)
European white oak, tends to grow individually- wide grained, very tannic, fast growing- found in Limousin and Balkan forests
Quercus sessilus (Q. petraea)
European white oak, tends to grow in forests- tight grained, very aromatic (compared to Q. robur), slow growing- found in Alliers, Vosges, Troncais, Nevers, Argonne, Bourgogne and Russian forests
sur pointe (FR)
the final stage of riddling, when the bottle is aged neck down after agining is complete and before disgorging
soutirage
racking
Transvasage
transfer of wine between bottles
volatile phenols
compound in oak that creates the All-Spice/Clove-like character. Euganol is the one most associated w/ wood (‘clove-like’). VP are not present in untoasted wood & ‘seasoning’ the wood will reduce the levels.
Vitis rotundifolia
Mostly South Eastern USA North American species of grapevines- includes Muscadine and Scuppernong
Bonded Warehouse
One in which no duty has been paid on the goods inside it. Prices for wines and, especially, spirits held in bond (IB) are therefore considerably lower than those quoted duty paid. It is sensible for any foreigner buying wine to store for possible shipment outside that country to buy it in bond.
Direct Shipping
Cause célèbre in the US which banned shipping of wine direct from winery to consumer, until a seminal Supreme Court decision in 2005 liberalized direct shipments into some states, yet allowed others to keep their borders closed to wine shipments from out of state. See united states, regulations for more detail of this bypassing of the notorious three-tier system.
Quality Assurance
Is a general concept covering the way in which a business is organized so that the quality of the product is assured at all stages. As applied to a wine business, good quality assurance will ensure that the original potential of the grapes and wine is not lost on the way to the bottle. Quality assurance is the totality of all the management actions and procedures that set out to achieve this high standard, and therefore incorporates quality control. An internationally recognized standard of quality management is ISO 9001:2008. This standard imposes a discipline that demands a uniformity of action throughout the business every time, all of the time. Another useful though simple tool is Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). The manufacturing process is divided into its basic stages, then each stage is examined to determine the problems that could occur at each one (hazard identification). Each hazard is then assessed for its potential danger to the process (the hazard analysis). Those that constitute the greatest danger are identified as the critical control points, to which the maximum attention is given. This procedure is now considered so important that it is mandatory throughout the eu for anyone involved in food and beverage handling, and is gaining worldwide recognition.
Quality Control
Is a hands-on process of monitoring and controlling all parameters that verify a wine’s palatability, stability, compliance with regulations, typicality, and freedom from faults and contaminants. Most large wineries maintain laboratories capable of conducting all but the most difficult of the required analyses, while smaller wine enterprises send samples to an independent commercial laboratory. For complete quality control, a chemical analytical laboratory, a microbiological laboratory, and a statistically controlled tasting panel are required. See also quality assurance and sampling.
Quality Wine
Is an expression widely and loosely used for any wine of good quality and was, until 2008, an official wine category throughout the eu, and therefore throughout most of Europe. It has been superseded by the pdo and pgi categories. Similarly, everything else, called ‘table wine’ in its strict pre-2008 EU sense, has been superseded by the cumbersome but clear wine without geographical indication.
Table Wine
Term used internationally to distinguish wines of average alcoholic strength from fortified wines, which have been strengthened by the addition of alcohol. In this context, ‘table wines’ rely solely on fermentation for their alcoholic strength, which tends to be between 9 and 15%. Within the eu, the term ‘table wine’ had until the reforms of 2008/2009 a specific meaning and was applied to the vast but declining quantity of wine produced within it that did not qualify as superior so-called quality wine. Within Italy, the situation was rather different, as explained in vino da tavola. In the US, the term table wine denotes wine with less than 14% alcohol while wines with between 14 and 24% alcohol are officially ‘dessert wines’ whether fortified or not, and attract a higher tax rate.
Railways
Until the arrival of a railway in their region, wine producers were almost totally dependent on water-borne means of transport. Without access to the sea or a navigable river or canal, transport was too difficult and expensive for all but the finest and rarest wines. This gave an overwhelming advantage to regions such as bordeaux, which were served by a major port, or champagne, with access to the river system of northern France. The construction of the railways enabled a number of wines previously unknown outside their region to be exported. In some cases—notably chianti in central Italy and rioja in northern Spain—this enabled high-quality wines to achieve their deserved recognition for the first time. The construction of a railway line between the town of jerez and the coast in the mid 19th century greatly encouraged exports of sherry. The railways also facilitated the transport of inferior wines. They allowed the late-19th-century development of the mass-production vineyards of the languedoc and roussillon in the south of France, whose rough wines were transported in vast quantities to northern France and Belgium, thus ruining such marginal northern European vineyards as those around orléans and, to a lesser extent, those of the French moselle. The railways in argentina were also crucial in establishing Mendoza as an important wine region so far from the capital Buenos Aires. During the 15 years of prohibition in North America, efficient rail transport of fresh grapes from California to the suddenly numerous home winemakers in the eastern states played a part in maintaining a winemaking tradition in the United States.
Auctions
of wine are the sale of wine by lots by an auctioneer acting as agent for the seller or, in certain instances, as the seller in his or her own right.