Wine request: Meursault "Perrieres" 1er cru Domaine Ballot Millot et Fils (2021), 150 cl.

B –

Brunello

Montalcino name for the six to eight different clones of Sangiovese planted there.

B –

Banyuls

Appellation for France's finest and certanly most complex vins doux naturels, made from vertiginous terraced vineyards above the Mediterranean at the southern limit of Roussillon.

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R –

ripasso

Italian term meaning literally "repassed", for the technique of adding extra flavour, and alcohol, to Valpolicella by refermenting the young wine on the unpressed skins of Amarone wines after these dried-grape wines have finished their fermentation in the spring, and racked off.

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A –

appellation

Commonly used term for controlled origin and quality designations for wine, often following the example of the French Appellation Contrôlée (AC). They are always based on a geographical definition.

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L –

left bank

An expression for that part of the Bordeaux wine region that is on the left bank of the river Garonne. It includes, travelling down river, Graves, Sauternes, Barsac, Pessac-Léognan, Médoc and all the appellations of the Médoc.

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F –

fermentation

As it appplies to wine, is the process of converting sugar to ethanol and carbon dioxide effected by the anaerobic metabolism of yeast.

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S –

Selection

A Prädikat that means literally "selected harvest" but is officilly defined by the must weight at harvest.

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P –

pomace

In white winemaking, the pomace is the sweet, pale brownish-green mass of grape skins, stems, seeds and pulp left after pressing. In red winemaking, the pomace is coloured blackish red.

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M –

malic acid

One of the two principal organic acids of grapes and wines. Ist name comes from malum, Latin for apple, the fruit in which it was first identified. Present in nearly all fruits and berries.

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S –

Sauternes

The special distinction of this region embedded within the Graves distric south of Bordeaux is that it is dedicated, in a way unmatched by any other wine region, to the production of unfortified, sweet, white wine.

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S –

sulfur

An element that is extremely important in wine production. The addition of sulfur dioxide during crushing and pressing deactivates enzymes that catalyse oxidation, which leads to juice browning and modification of aromas and flavours, which is why it is often added to freshly picked grapes in the salt form of metabisulfite. (The compound is widely, often more liberally, used in the preparation of other foods and drinks, particularly in fruit juices and dried fruits).

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B –

Blanc de Noir

French for "white of blacks", describes a white wine made from dark-skinned grapes by pressing them very gently and running the pale juice off the skins as clear as possibl.

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M –

Melon

Or Melon de Bourgogne, the most planted grape variety in the Loire valley, planted on 10798ha/26671acres in 2011 and famous in only one respect and one region, Muscadet.

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D –

dégorgement

French term for the disgorgement operation at the end of the traditional method of sparkling winemaking

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A –

AC or AOC

Stands for Appellation d'Origine Contrôllée, France's famous denomination for ist best wines, sometimes known as Appellation Contrôlée.

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B –

Bocksbeutel

Special bottle in the shape of flattened flask used in the German wine region of Franken and four communes in the northern Ortenau area of Baden.

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S –

Sancerre

Dramatically situated hilltop town on the left bank of the upper Loire which lends ist name to one of the Loire's most famous, and famously variable, wines: racy, pungent, dry white Sauvignon Blanc.

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M –

Mâcon

Important commercial centre on the River Saône and capital of the Mâconnais dynamic district of Burgundy which produces considerable quantities of white wine and some red.

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O –

oak ageing

The process of ageing a wine in contact with oak. This typically involves barrel maturation, ageing the wine in a relatively small oak container.

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M –

malolactic conversion

Widely known as malolactic fermentation, and often abbreviated to MLF or malo, is the conversion of stronger malic acid into lactic acid.

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R –

Rhône

One of the most important wine rivers, linking a range of vineyards as dissimilar as those of Châteauneuf-du Pape in southern France, sparkling Seyssel, and Fendant du Valais in Switzerland.

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L –

lees contact

Increasingly popular and currently fashionable winemaking practice known to the Ancient Romans whereby newly fermented wine is deliberately left in contact with the lees. This period of lees contact may take place in any container, from a bottle to a large tank or vat-although a small oak barrel is the most common location for lees contact.

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C –

casein

The principal milk protein, is used by winemakers as a fining agent particularly useful for removing brown colours from white wines. It is used also in the clarification of young wines.

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A –

ascorbic acid

Vitamin C, one of the first vitamins to be discovered, and a winemaking additiv used chiefly as an antioxidant.

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D –

downy mildew

Downy mildew attacks all green parts of the vine and young leaves are particularly susceptible. When severly affected, leaves will drop off. The loss of leaves reduces photosynthesis and thus causes delays in fruit ripening and, typically, levels of fruit sugars, vine reserves of carbohydrates, and anthocyanins are depressed.

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