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Wine Terms Of The Gods
If you want to drink the wine of the Gods, well, you have to know how to speak the language of wine. Here are 20 critical wine terms you should know so you can throw them around haphazardly at the next wine tasting or party.
If you want to drink the wine of the Gods, well, you have to know how to speak the language of wine. Here are 20 critical wine terms you should know so you can throw them around haphazardly at the next wine tasting or party.
Fruit Character - Those characteristics of a wine that derive from the characteristics of the grape, such as aromas and flavors
Vitis labrusca - A breed of grapes native to North America.
Wine lake - Refers to the continuing surplus of wine over demand (glut) being produced in the European Union.
Wine-press - A device, comprising two vats or receptacles, one for trodding and bruising grapes, and the other for collecting the juice.
Lees - the solids left over from grapes and dead yeast cells at the bottom of the barrel when white wine ferments.
Confused - A wine that is excessively complex and cannot really be categorized. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.
Viticulture - The cultivation of grapes. Not to be confused with viniculture.
Vertical and horizontal wine tasting - In a vertical tasting, different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted. In a horizontal tasting, the wines are all from the same vintage but are from different wineries.
Alcohol Level - As the name suggests, the level of alcohol in a wine. Whites range from 9 to 14 percent. Reds from 10 to 14. Beer is about 6 percent for a contrasting view.
New World Wine - Collective phrase used for non-European wines with Australia being noted in particular. Can be an insult, compliment or general statement.
Tasting flight - Refers to a selection of wines, usually between three and eight glasses, but sometimes as many as fifty, presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison.
Puncheon - A wine barrel that holds approximately 318 litres (160 U.S. gallons).
Varietal - Wines made from a single grape variety.
Volatile acidity - The level of acetic acid present within a wine.
Residual sugar - Also known as RS, the level of sugar that remains unfermented in a wine.
Wine tasting - The sensory evaluation of wine, encompassing more than taste, but also mouthfeel, aroma, and colour.
Wine cellar - A cool, dark location in which wine is stored, often for the purpose of ageing.
Terroir - French for soil, the physical and geographical characteristics of a particular vineyard site that give the resultant wine its unique properties.
Sangria - A tart punch made from red wine along with orange, lemon and apricot juice with added sugar.
Vinho verde - An effervescent white wine produced in Portugal.