Destemming
Plucking the berries from the stalks before fermentation; happens automatically
Tapping
The goals pursued with the tapping are diverse. First, the wine is separated from its lees (the leftover yeast), its trub (deposit) and undissolved parts of fruit pulp and grape skins. Another effect is the release of carbonic acid, making the wine smoother and more accessible. In addition, the sulphurization and the treatment of the wine with other additives can now begin. Overall, the wine begins to stabilize after fermentation.
Age of the vines
In a wine study in the years 2002 - 2006, the wine quality of wines from older vines was compared to that from younger vines. A higher acidity was determined in the wines from older vines. In the wine tastings, wines from older vines performed slightly better than wines from younger vines. However, this only applied to red wines, which were perceived to be more complex and structured overall and with firmer tannins.
One explanation for this is that the vines need a few years to dig deep into the ground with their roots. Only then do they reach the stony, mineral-rich strata. In addition, older vines are hardly exposed to water pressure, as is the case with young vines with their surface root structure. Since the yield also decreases from a certain age of the vines, older vines are among the quality characteristics of premium wines.
Breathe
Allowing a wine to breathe is the process of a refinement process to make the wine taste even better. It is also known as decanting (French: to clarify) or carafing (derived from carafe). Before tasting, the wine is poured from the wine bottle into an airtight container like a carafe. This does two things:
1. The wine is exposed to oxygen, so it can breathe. This dissolves the astringent tannins such as the tannins, the wine unfolds its aroma and becomes softer and more accessible. Carafing requires a great deal of skill from the wine connoisseur, because, especially with old wines that are not used to contact with oxygen, an undesirable reaction can quickly occur that causes the wine to tip over and taste inedible due to the oxidation process.
2. The second function of decanting is that sediment and wine crystals that have formed in the wine bottle remain in the bottle, while the valuable content alone is poured into the carafe. Some wine experts use a candle or other light placed behind the wine bottle to check that the dregs and crystals are sticking to the bottom. Depot and crystals not only look ugly, but also taste bitter, which is avoided by decanting.
Stale
A stale wine can be recognized by a strong alcoholic smell, a brownish tinge and a bouquet that has been lost in whole or in part. The oxidation of the wine is responsible for this. For this reason, an opened wine bottle should be drunk relatively quickly if there is no way to reclose it.
Basically, after opening a wine bottle, the larger the rest of the wine, the longer it will keep. A red wine that is three quarters full will keep for about a week, a rosé wine 4-6 days and a white wine 3-5 days. If the content is only half full, the values change to 4-5 days for the red wine, 3 days for the rosé wine and 2-3 days for the white wine.If the bottle is only a quarter full, the stale taste will set in after about 2 days for a red wine, after 1 – 2 days for a rosé wine and after a day for a white wine.
Stale can set in Taste wine even after a wine fault. This happens, for example, when the chemical compound acetaldehyde, which is a breakdown product of ethanol, remains in the wine during fermentation. This creates an unpleasant undertone in the wine, reminiscent of rotten apples.
Aperitif
An aperitif (plural: aperitifs) is an alcoholic drink that stimulates the appetite and sets the mood for the meal. It is an ingredient in French and Italian cuisine, particularly at banquets. An aperitif can also be used to bridge the waiting time until the next course, although it should be noted that in France a banquet usually consists of several courses in order to lengthen the social event and make it more varied. A wine is a popular aperitif, for example a delicate white wine, a frizzante, a Monti Lessini, the flavor rose, a Bardolino and a Lambrusco are good choices.
Assemblage
The term assemblage describes the process of producing a cuvée. The German word is for this the blend, which, however, is only rarely used because it has a bad reputation in this country after various scandals. In fact, assemblage can also be used to correct minor wine imperfections. However, the primary goal of this process is to increase the quality of the wine and to achieve a harmonious blend. At the other extreme in the popularity of cuvée wines is the south of France, where assemblage is used in the best wines and is held in high esteem.
The term wine is borrowed from art history, where it stands for the joining of several elements into one overall aesthetic picture. The whole is more than the sum of its parts, so attention is not only focused on the elements, but also on their interaction. Grape varieties can be arranged in oenology, but also vintages and locations of the same grape variety. The assemblage is a high art among cellar masters and requires a fine feeling for the smallest details. The cellar master (English: wine maker) must be able to recognize which wines go together, which complement each other and where the risks for the blending lie.
Finish
The finish - also reverberation or finale - is understood as the aftertaste of the wine after swallowing. A good finish is characterized by its length and a balanced and harmonious taste experience. The finish is rated by wine experts. The length of the exit is measured in caudalies (seconds), with a reverberation of 1 - 5 seconds as a short exit, a reverberation of 6 - 12 seconds as a medium one and a reverberation of 12 - 16 seconds as a long exit. The highest quality wines reach a finale of up to 60 seconds.
Alcohol content
Like other alcoholic beverages, the alcohol content of wines is measured in % vol., which means percentage by volume. A drink with 1% vol. contains 7.95 grams of ethanol. Wines usually have an alcohol content of 9 - 14.5% vol (70 to 100 grams of ethanol). The wine gets its alcohol content from fermentation. The process is that the vines are first picked and then crushed, creating yeasts that now convert the sugars in a wine into alcohol during fermentation.The alcohol content of wines is usually determined by the sugar content of the vines and the duration of fermentation, with heat up to 40 degrees having a positive effect on alcohol formation. At temperatures above 40 degrees, on the other hand, there is an opposite effect because the yeasts prevent growth and stop multiplying. Due to global warming, European wines have increased by 1% vol. in the last ten years.
Grapes have the potential to develop an alcohol content of up to 15% vol. through fermentation. With some wines, the fermentation process is stopped beforehand in order to produce a less alcohol-rich wine. This is the case, for example, with the Federweißer, which at 4 – 5% vol. has an alcohol content that roughly corresponds to that of a beer. With port wines and sherry, on the other hand, additional sugar is added to the grapes before fermentation, so that the wine as the end product has an ethanol content of around 20% vol. Wines with less alcohol tend to appear sweeter, fruitier and smoother, while wines with a high percentage of alcohol appear powerful, complex and full-bodied. Red wines tend to have a slightly higher alcohol content than white and rosé wines.
Balanced
Balanced is an important quality criterion for a wine. A wine is balanced when its components such as alcohol, extract, fruit, acidity and tannin are in the right proportion to each other and the relationship between sweetness and acidity is balanced. Synonyms for this are rounded, harmonious, balanced and round.
animal
Animal scents in wine are caused by volatile ethylphenols, the reactions of which can develop a strong and harsh smell reminiscent of animals or animal things. Sometimes such fragrances give the wine its special flavor, such as with Pinot Noir and its fragrance as "Burgundy Stinkerl". Sometimes, however, they smell too strong and intense, so that a wine fault must be assumed.
It is difficult even for wine connoisseurs to judge whether such animal scents are seen as a strength or weakness of the wine, as the boundaries are fluid are. In low concentrations, the phenols are interesting and can give wines a breathtaking oriental taste. At a certain point, however, the aroma becomes unpleasantly pungent. Since a red wine contains significantly more of the phenols, only red wines and not white wines are affected by this chemical process.
The French oenologist Pierre Casamayor has worked out a spectrum of such animal scents: fresh meat, leather, Connolly leather , fur, venison sauce, venison, rabbit gizzard, hung pheasant, civet cat, musk, sweat, horse and pungent stable smell. The expert says that from the game sauce onwards, the taste can no longer be perceived as pleasant and is therefore definitely defective.
autochthonous
The term autochthon comes from ancient Greek and is made up of the syllables autos (self) and chton (earth). An autochthonous wine is thus rooted in its original growing area, where it has been able to adapt to its natural environment and develop its varieties through crossing, selection and mutation over the ages. Although the label "autochthonous wine" is not a direct sign of quality, some wine lovers swear by good traditional grape varieties. Examples of such wines are the Touriga Nacional from Portugal, the Frappato from Sicily, the Fraueler from South Tyrol, the Elbling from the Moselle and the Grüner Veltliner from Austria.
Malic acid
Chemically, malic acid is monohydroxysuccinic acid, which got its name because it was first distilled from an apple in 1785 and described exactly. But it also comes found in barberries, gooseberries, rowanberries, quince and especially grapes. Along with tartaric acid and citric acid, it is one of the most important acids in wine.
Malic acid tastes like an unripe apple and is therefore perceived as extremely tart. With the Riesling, the high malic acid content is one of its quality features and serves the needs of a crowd of enthusiastic followers. However, the majority of wine connoisseurs prefer a less tart taste, produced by a longer cultivation period in warmer climes or by the method of malolactic fermentation.
In fact, the malic acid content is highest at the beginning of the aging of the wine. After that, no more new malic acid is added, while the existing acidity is slowly breathed out, so that the milder tartaric acid dominates with its softer and more pleasant taste. The respiration process is significantly accelerated by heat, which explains the milder taste of typical wines from hot vineyards.
Malolactic fermentation, in turn, involves the conversion of malic acid into lactic acid, giving red wines a rounder and warmer appearance, and white wines gives a creamy and creamy aroma. Malolactic fermentation requires skill in winemaking, as it strikes the right balance between ideal flavor and retention of acidity.
Maturation
In vinification, aging includes all measures between the end of fermentation and bottling. These measures serve to produce the wine character as well as its complexity and structure. During this process, the quality-determining ingredients are preserved, unwanted ones are removed, unwanted reactions are avoided and the wine is filtered and fined. Depending on the type of oxygen supply during the basic isolation of oxygen, one speaks of an oxidative or a reductive expansion. In the case of oxidative aging, the contact with oxygen is greater and is produced, for example, via the pores of the wooden barrels. For reductive storage, on the other hand, airtight tanks are preferred.
Numerous chemical processes are used. A preservative is added to the wine during sulphurisation, which not only offers protection against oxidation, but also has an antibacterial and enzyme-deactivating effect and contributes to increasing the wine sensory system, which is perceived with the sense of sight, touch, smell and taste. Lime, calcium and potassium tartrates are used for deacidification, while tartaric and malic acid are added if the acidity is too low. During the polymerization, the phenolic compounds are converted into quinones by enzymes and oxygen. These now form long chains of molecules and thus change the taste of the wine positively. If the chains are too long, they fall to the ground as trub, which in turn can be filtered out of the wine using the racking method. In this context, filtration describes a process that removes all undesirable substances from the wine. The wine gains color with natural coloring agents, while coarse turbidity is eliminated with the methods of precipitation and binding. Finally, the ideal ratio between acids, esters and alcohol is created through the esterification of the wine.
In addition, there are other processes during the aging that can give the wine the finishing touch.For example, the purpose of storage on the lees is to aerate the wine, to give it additional flavors from proteins, carbon dioxide and the yeast as a whole. Overall, after this treatment, the wine tastes fruitier, more sparkling and fresher. The wine is stored on a lees with whole yeast or fine yeast, as required. Stabilization, on the other hand, is another process that ensures the aging of the wine by removing potentially harmful substances or reducing other ingredients. The elimination of tartar is ensured by cooling, the elimination of protein by bentonite, the elimination of metal by ferrous and the elimination of tannins by gelatine.
Avinizing
is the name of the process of rinsing wine glasses with a small amount of wine. This serves to wet the inside of the glasses. This can eliminate musty and soapy odors. Such smells are sometimes caused by storing the glasses in wooden cupboards or by washing-up liquid and affect the aroma of the wine. The alcohol in the wine itself dissolves odors that cannot be removed by rinsing with clear water.
Asti
The name of a town and wine appellation of the Italian province of Piedmont. Asti is part of a number of DOC designations of origin such as Barbera D'Asti, Dolcetto d'Asti, Freisa d'Asti, Grignolino d'Asti and Malvasia di Casorzo d'Asti as well as namesake of the DOCG sparkling wine Asti or Asti Spumante and its counterpart Moscato d 'Asti
Airen
White wine grape variety cultivated exclusively in Spain in Spain, which occupies more than a third (390000 ha in 2000) of the country's total area under vines, making it the most cultivated variety in the world. Nevertheless, the name of this grape variety is very rare, which may be due to the fact that it is mostly used as the base wine for Brandy de Jerez and for making sparkling wine. The relatively undemanding Airèn is well suited to growing in hot and dry climates. Only recently has it been possible in many places to press fresh, clean white wines from Airèn for quick consumption with the help of modern cellar technology and controlled fermentation.
.
