Wine request: Chassagne Montrachet "Les Vergers" 1er cru, Simon Colin (2022), 150 cl.

B –

Blanc Fumé

Is a French synonm for Sauvignon Blanc, notably in Pouilly-sur-Loire, centre of the Pouilly-Fumé, or Blanc Fumé de Pouilly, appellation, many of whose aromatic dry whites do indeed have a smoky, if not exactly smoked, perfume.

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C –

Clos de la Roche

Leading red Grand Cru in Burgundy's Côte d'Or

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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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O –

oxidative winemaking

Contrasts with protective and reductive winemaking in that the winemaker deliberately exposes the wine to oxygen at various stages in the winemaking process in order to encourage certain reactions and achieve a particular style of wine. Oloroso Sherry being an extreme example.

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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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D –

dormancy

Sleep, the normal state of vines in winter. This period normally starts with autumn leaf fall, although buds are in a state of so-called organic dormancy from veraison onwards.

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R –

récolte

French for harvest.

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B –

Bacchus

Common name in Ancient Rome for the classical god of wine.

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G –

Grosses Gewächs

Is a prestige wine category devised by Germany's VDP and in use since 2002. The sites in question are typically Einzellagen.

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D –

domaine

French word for an estate, typically a vine-growing and winemaking estate in Burgundy.

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A –

American hybrids

A group of vine hybrids developed in the eastern United States, mainly in the early and mid 19th century.

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S –

soutirage

French term for racking, or moving clear wine off ist sediment and into a clean container. It can also be used for the wine serving process of decanting.

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D –

decanting

Optional and controversial step in serving wine, involving pouring wine out of its bottle into another container called a decanter.

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F –

filtration

Fundamental but controversial winemaking process, a means of clarification involving the removal of solid particles from a wine.

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K –

Kellerei

Is used in much the same way as the word cave in French, for any sort of wine-producing premises wheather above or below ground. A German wine specifying a Keller rather than a Weingut on the label is usually the produce of a merchant rather than an estate. In Alto Adige, the Italian Tyrol, Kellereigenossenschaft is a common name for one of the many wine co-operatives.

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A –

amphora

Latin word from the Greek for a vessel with two handles. Although the term may refer sometimes to fine wares, it is normally used to describe the large pottery containers which were used for the bulk transport of many goods and luquids ind the Mediterranean world.

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S –

saignée

French term meaning "bled" for a winemaking technique which results in a rosé wine made by running off, or "bleeding", a certain amount of free-run juice from just-crushed dark-skinned grapes after a short, prefermentation maceration.

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I –

inner staves

Or insert, planks of wood, usually oak, placed in a stainless steel tank and held in position by a metal framework, are a way of imparting oak flavour to wine more cheaply than by fermenting or ageing in barrels since the staves are easily replaced.

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M –

Marsannay

Northernmost appellation of the Côte de Nuits district of the Côte d'Or. It is unique in Burgundy for having Appellation Contrôllée status for red, white, and pink wines.

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M –

monopole

Burgundian term for wholly owned vineyard or climat.

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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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V –

vin jaune

Meaning literally "yellow wine" in French, extraordinary style of wine made in France, mainly in the Jura region, using a technique similar to that used for making Sherry but without fortification.

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N –

noble rot

Sometimes simply as botrytis, is the benevolent form of botrytis bunch rot, in which the Botrytis cinerea fungus attacks ripe, undamaged white wine grapes and, given the right weather, can result in extremely sweet grapes.

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L –

lees stirring

Or bâtonnage, as it is called in French, is the once fashionable winemaking operation of mixing up the lees in a barrel, cask, tank or vat with the wine resting on them. It is an optional addition to the process of lees contact and is often employed, particularly for whites which have undergone barrel fermentation. Usually done with a stick. Stirring up the lees in the barrel also effects oak flavour.

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B –

barrel types

Before concrete, stainless steel, and other inert materials replaced wood as the most common material for wine fermentation vessels and storage containers in the 1960s, each wine region had ist own legion of barrel types. Even today such terms as feuillette, tonneau, and fudre may be used to measure volumes of wine long after the actual containers themselves have been abandoned.

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