Winemaking Terms Flashcards
What is Élevage?
Aging in barrel. Maturation period lasting several months to several years. Important changes to color, clarity, flavor, oak, integration, and mouthfeel occur during this time.
What is assemblage?
Blending. Component wines that differ by variety, vineyard, or vineyard parcel, or by winemaking, are combined to create a blend.
What is mise en bouteille?
Bottling. The final step of winemaking. Care must be taken to ensure that wine quality is preserved. High-speed, modern bottling lines are equipped with inert gas to reduce oxygen pickup
What is chapeau?
Cap. The Layer of grape skins forced to the top of the tank by CO2 during fermentation
What is cap managment?
Any technique used to mix the tank and break up the cap to increase extraction and reduce temperature
What is carbonic maceration?
Intracellular fermentation by the grape’s own enzymes in the absence of oxygen. Fermentation will proceed to a few degrees of alcohol. Lends characteristic flavors and aromas to the wine
What is chaptalization?
The addition of sugar to must to increase the final percent ABV. Used when grapes do not achieve sufficient sugar ripeness
What is cold-soak?
Red grape must is held at a low temperature (close to 0ºC) prior to fermentation, typically for 2 to 10 days. Believed by some to enhance color extraction.
What is foulage?
Grapes are intentionally crushed, either with a crusher or incidentally through pumping the must, to aid with extraction and promote a quick fermentation
What is égrappage or éraflage?
Destemming. Grape berries are removed from the stem, generally using a destemming machine.
What is dégorgement?
Disgorgement. Process to remove yeast collected in the neck of the bottle after second fermentation. The neck is frozen, the cap is removed, and pressure inside the bottle expels the yeast.
What is liqueur d’expédition?
Dosage. A mixture of wine and sugar used to fill the bottle after disgorgement and adjust the sweetness
What is égouttage or écoulage?
Draining. Removing the wine from the fermentation tank, leaving skins and seeds behind. Often occurs just after primary fermentation.
What is extended maceration?
Leaving the wine on its skins after primary fermentation is complete for a period of a few days to a few months for better tannin integration
What is filtration?
Filtration is used to clarify wine or remove yeast and bacteria. Filtration to 0.4 microns is generally considered sterile. Filtration may be nominal or absolute
What is collage?
Fining. The addition of a fining agent that selectively removes astringency, bitterness, proteins, or reductive aromas from the wine
What is a gyropalette?
Equipment used for high-speed, automated riddling
What is vendage or récolte?
Harvest. Grapes are picked. This may occur during the day or at night by hand or by machine
What is vin de taille?
Heavy press wine. In Champagne, refers to the next 500 liters extracted from 4,000 kilograms of grapes after the vin de cuvée during pressing. Darker colored, more phenolic, and lower acidity than the vin de cuvée.
What is levurage?
Inoculation. The addition of a yeast culture to the must for a more predictable fermentation
What is lees?
Sediment consisting of yeast and other grape solids that settles out of the wine after fermentation
What is bâtonnage?
Lees stirring. Mixing a barrel using a long wand to incorporate the lees. This practice may lessen reductive aromas and improve mouthfeel
What is vin de cuvée?
Light press wine. In Champagne, refers to the first 2,050 liters extracted from 4,000 kilograms of grapes during pressing.
What is liqueur de tirage?
Mixture of wine, yeast, and sugar added to the base wine to induce secondary fermentation
What is malolactic fermentation?
Malic acid is converted to lactic acid and carbon dioxide by lactic acid bacteria
What is micro-oxygenation?
Used to add small amounts of oxygen to a wine to accelerate maturation post fermentation
What is corps étragers?
MOG. Material other than grapes. Typically used to describe leaves, sticks, etc. removed during sorting.
What is Moût?
(Must) Refers to the juice along with skins and seeds (in the case of red wine) at any stage of fermentation
What is native/spontaneous fermentation?
Fermentation that occurs without the intentional addition of commercial yeast
What is oenoccoccus oeni?
Species of lactic acid bacteria preferred to complete malolactic fermentation
What is marc or gène?
Pomace. Refers to the skins and seeds that remain after pressing
What is press wine?
(Presse or taille) Wine that required higher pressure to extract. Typically more phenolic, bitter, and astringent than free-run wine.
What is pressurage?
Pressing. For whites or rosé, whole clusters or destemmed fruit are pressed to remove the juice from the skins and seeds prior to fermentation. For reds, after draining, skins are pressed to remove any remaining wine.
What is fermentation alcoolique?
Primary fermentation. The conversion of sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast. Heat is created.
What is remontage?
Pumpover. A form of cap management in which liquid is pumped from the bottom of the tank over the top of the tank to mix the tank and wet the cap
What is pigéage?
Punchdown. A form of cap management in which a plunger or similar device is used to push down and break up the cap. May be done by hand or using a pneumatic device
What is délestage?
Rack and return. A form of cap management in which the entire liquid portion is transferred from the fermentation tank to a holding tank and then returned
What is soutirage?
Racking. Wine is decanted off of the lees, often using a pump, to clarify the wine naturally
What is remuage?
Riddling. Process of collecting yeast in the neck of the bottle by slowly inverting the bottle from horizontal to upside-down and vertical (sur pointe) as the yeast settles. May be done by hand or using a gyropalette.
What is a pupitre?
Riddling rack. Wooden a-frame rack with cradles for each bottle used for riddling. Bottles are slowly turned and inverted over a period of several weeks or months
What is saccharomyces cerevisiae?
Yeast species typically responsible for alcoholic fermentation
What is saignée?
Juice removed from a red fermentation to increase the skin-to-juice ratio. This juice may be used to make rosé
What is échantillage?
Sampling. Wine is removed from tank or barrel for tasting or chemical analysis
What is prise de mousse?
Second fermentation. After the liqueur de tirage is added to the base wine, a second fermentation takes place in bottle for traditional method sparkling wines. Increases the percent ABV and carbonates the wine
What is débourbage?
Settling. During élévage, the wine is allowed to clarify naturally, as lees settle to the bottom of the barrel.
What is skin contact?
Standard for red wines and may be used for a short period on white wines to extract varietal flavors and aromas or phenolic compounds from the skins.
What is tri?
Sorting. Sorting of clusters or berries may be done by hand or machine in the field or in the winery
What is mousseux, or péttilant?
Sparkling/carbonated wine
What is ajoute du soufre?
Sulfuring. Sulfer is typically added after primary or ML fermentation and throughout aging to maintain free SO2 around 25 to 50 ppm
What is découvage?
Tank digout. After a tank has been drained, the remaining solids are transferred to the press
What is tirage?
Winemaking step where base wine is bottled with liqueur de tirage to induce secondary fermentation
What is ouillage?
Topping. Filling barrels to replace wine lost through evaporation during barrel aging. Typically done every two to four weeks
What is millésime or récolte?
Vintage. The calendar year in which the grapes were harvested
What is whole berry?
Grapes are not crushed in order to promote a slower, cooler fermentation and carbonic maceration flavors and aromas
What is grappe entière?
Whole-cluster fermentation. Some percentage of intact grape clusters are placed in the fermentation vessel where they will undergo some carbonic maceration
What is pied de cuve?
Yeast starter. Yeast culture prepared from native yeasts and used for inoculation
