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Aging: All wines age to some
extent, first in the cellar (in a barrel, cask, tank or vat) and
then in the bottle. Many times, if properly stored, wine will
improve somewhat with aging. It's good to keep in mind though
that 90% of the wine produced in the world is as good when six
months old as it is ever likely going to be, and many wines will
actually deteriorate with age rather than improve. As a rule of
thumb, white wines are better consumed young, and fine red
wines, such as red Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignons, Barolo,
vintage port and others can need upwards of five years in order
to achieve the qualities for which they are best known.
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Apéritif: A French word now
used in a very general way to describe almost any alcoholic
beverage consumed before a meal to whet the appetite.
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Appellation Controlee: Two
words you will see on nearly every bottle of good French wine.
The phrase (sometimes abbreviated as "AOC") means controlled
place name and is the consumer's best guide to the origin and
authenticity of any wine whose label bears those names.
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Barolo: One of the finest red
wines of Italy, full bodied, richly textured, complex and long
lived, with a distinctive bouquet and taste often described as
reminiscent of truffles and faded roses.
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Beaujolais: One of the most
popular and best loved wines of France, nearly always red and
produced in the Beaujolais district in southern Burgundy.
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Blending: The practice of
mixing wines from different grape varieties, geographical
origins or vintages, or similar wines with somewhat different
characteristics.
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Blush Wine: A term used
informally to describe a category of wines whose color varies
from pale salmon to pink, and which are usually simple,
light-bodied, and slightly sweet.
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Bordeaux: A town of 225,000
on the Garonne River in southwestern France. This is the home of
one of the most prolific wine growing areas in the world, and
the Cabernet Sauvignons and other red varieties are among the
best on Earth.
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Bouquet: This can be defined,
quite simply, as the way a wine smells.
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Breathing: The practice of
aerating a bottle of wine (particularly red wine) before
consuming it. Although the neck of a bottle of wine is so small
that it really allows little air to mix with the content of the
bottle. The proper way to aerate wine (when possible) would be
to pour the contents into a decanter or other clean container.
Uncorking and leaving a bottle of wine to "breathe" is largely
ineffective.
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Burgundy: An extensive
region in France that includes Chablis, the Cote d'Or, the Cote
Chalonnaise, and Beaujolais. This region uses Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay grapes to produce some of the richest and most
remarkable wines in the world.
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Chateau: When used in
reference to French wines, and especially those of Bordeaux, the
word Chateau is synonymous with Vineyard.
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Cru: A French word meaning
"growth", when applied to wine, it refers to a specific vineyard
and, by implication, one of superior quality, as in the grand
crus and premiere crus of Burgundy.
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Domaine: French for "Estate",
most often used in Burgundy where it refers to all the vineyards
making up a single property.
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Enology: The entire science
of wine production, from the harvest and vinification to
bottling, the name is derived from Oeneus, the Greek god of
Calydon and originally the god of Wine.
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Hybrid: In viticulture, the
result of a cross between two different grape varieties.
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Late Harvest: A term used in
California and elsewhere to denote wines made from especially
ripe grapes, or, in many instances, from grapes infected with
Botrytis Cinerea or noble rot (see
below).
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Loire: The longest and most
scenically beautiful river in France which traverses 600 miles
through some of the best wine country on Earth. Wines that grow
in its vicinity are sometimes collectively referred to as
Vins de la Loire.
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Micro Climate: A term that
refers to the combination of soil-- gravel, chalk and clay-- and
such factors as altitude, angle of slope, drainage, and
orientation toward the sun, their influences on quality have
been recognized for nearly 2,000 years.
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Napa: The most celebrated
wine country in California, which has long been associated with
many of America's finest wines.
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Noble Rot:
Also known as Botrytis Cinerea, this is a beneficial mold
responsible for the special taste of such wines as Sauternes,
from the Bordeaux district of France and others. The mold forms
on the skins of ripe grapes under specific conditions-- humidity
alternating with dry heat-- and sends filaments into the grapes,
perforating the skin.
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Oak: The one wood in which
wine can almost always be counted on to improve, oak is used for
such small and medium sized containers as barrels, casks, pipes
and the like. All the fine red wines of the world owe at least a
little of their taste to the oak in which they've been aged.
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Phylloxera: Whereas
Noble Rot
can help grapes develop wonderful and distinctive flavors,
phylloxera is a devastating insect which destroys grape crops.
It is native to the eastern United States, and was accidentally
introduced to Europe in 1860. American grape varieties are
usually resistant to this pest.
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Reserve: A word often seen on
labels, especially of California wines, either by itself or as
part of such phrases as Private Reserve, Special Reserve,
Proprietor's Reserve, and the like. It has no legal meaning, and
the producer is free to use the phrase in any way.
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Sediment: The deposit that
most red wines tend to throw as they age in bottle, it is as
natural a part of an old wine as the shell is part of an egg. It
should not be confused with cloudiness, haziness or lack of
clarity, any of which often indicate that a wine is not fit to
drink.
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Supple: A term that describes
an attribute of quality wines-- smooth and drinkable, yet with
character and backbone.
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Tannin: Technically a group
of non-organic compounds, known as phenolic compounds, that
exist in bark, wood, roots, seeds, and stems of many plants. The
tannins present in many red wines are extracted from the grape
skins and seeds-- and, if not previously removed, the stems--
during fermentation. Tannin imparts structure, flavor, texture,
and complexity to a wine, and since it is an antioxidant, also
enables a wine to age.
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Vinifera: By all odds the
most important of the 40 odd species that make up the genus
vitis. Appropriately named the "wine bearer," vitis
vinifera is responsible for virtually all of the world's
finest wines.
