Definition:
It is an Alcoholic Beverage obtained from fermentation of freshly gathered grapes juice.
Classification
of Wines
1.
Table Wines
14-16% Alcohol
2.
Sparkling
Wines 15%Alcohol
3.
Fortified
Wines 15-21%Alcohol
4.
Aromatised
Wines 15-55%Alcohol
Table wines
Wine of moderate quality considered suitable for drinking with a meal are Table
wines. All Red, Rose and White wines are called Table wines.
Sparkling
Wines: Sparkling
wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it,
making it fizzy. The best known example of a sparkling wine is
champagne, which is exclusively produced in the Champagne region of France.
Examples of Champagne which are Dom Perignon (French), Moet & Chadon
(French)
Sprakling wines are - Asti Spumanti
(Italian), Sekt (German), and Espumoso (Spain)
Fortified
Wines: Addition of Alcohol during or
after fermentation. These wines are drunk before or after meal. E.g. Sherry
from Spain, Port from Portugal, Madeira, Marsala, Malaga.
Aromatized
Wines: wine flavored with herbs, barks and other
botanicals called Aromatized e.g. Cinzano/ Martini from Italy, Noilly Prat from
France.
Wine Manufacture:
- · Harvesting: Collection of grapes.
- · Grading: Graded according to quality.
- · Weighing: To know the exact quantity.
- · Plucking: To remove the stalks.
- · Crushing: They are crushed. if red wine is needed, the skin is left for long.
- · Pressing: They are mechanically pressed to extract juice called MUST. At this stage hydrometer is used to know the specific gravity, thus to know the alcohol content.
- · Sulphuring: SO2 is added before fermentation to prevent air from converting alcohol to vinegar. Sulphur takes away the oxygen.
- · Fermentation: Adding wine yeast to convert sugar into Alcohol + CO2. Carbon Dioxide is released 3-5% of the volume of yeast is added to the juice (must). The temperature 640 to 770 F is maintained during this process.
- · Cellaring & 2nd Pressing: The above wine is put in casks to mature. The residue (marc) left in the fermented tank is sent for further pressing. The resultant juice is called vin-de-presse. The wine maker will think if this addition is all right again and again the pressing is on till the sugar in the grape is completely used.
- · Racking: To separate dead yeast from the wine to prevent from odd flavor to wine.
- · Fining: to convert the cloudy wine into clear fine wine by using a gelatinous substance such as using Isinglass (bladder of Sturgeon fish).
- · Blending: Different wines are mixed.
- · Maturing: It is the oak barrels for 2-3 yrs. It can be done artificially induced by agitation, heating, refrigeration and electrical impulses.
- · Bottling: This is done before the blended wine has lost its bouquet finesse, quality and colour. Bottles are clean and dried with hot air. Supple cock is used and finally sealed with Spanish wax.
- · Pasteurisation: To free the wine from further fermentation, the wine in bottle is immersed upright in double boiler with water, heated to a temperature of 1800 – 1900 F. the immersion is for 1-2 minutes.
- Ageing of wines: Wines are aged in bottles; period depends on house to house.
Wine Tasting Phrases
Aftertaste:
This is one of the top components to a great wine. The length of time a wine
spends in your mouth once you’ve finished tasting it. Aftertaste means the same
thing as length, finish or end note on your tongue.
Aggressive:
An aggressive wine is usually too high in acidity. The term can also be used to
describe wines with hard tannin.
Angular:
Angular wines are lack roundness, generosity, and depth.
Wine from poor vintages or wines that are too acidic are often
described as being angular.
Aroma: Aroma is used to describe the scent of a wine.
Backward: Backwards is used to define a wine that is tight, closed in or reserved. This means the aromatic and other qualities in the wine are not available to the taster. This is often a normal trait in young wines.
Balance: Balance is one of the key traits all great wines share, regardless of where they come from. The term is used to say all the elements that make up the good wine.
Berry scented: Wines are made from grapes. Yet all red wine wines smell like berries. They could remind you of blackberries, strawberries, cherries, black raspberries, red raspberries or even cranberry or mulberry.
Body: Body is a term used to describe the weight and feel of wine. Full bodied wines are normally high in alcohol.
Buttery: Usually used for Chardonnay that has a butter or buttered popcorn character.
Butter characteristics are found in richer styles of Chardonnay that were often aged in barrel and have finished malolactic fermentation.
Chewy: Chewy wines are dense or meaty, with a lot of texture, concentration and tannin.
Classic: Classic is most often used for Bordeaux and California wine when the wine is less alcoholic, less ripe and more of aroma.
Complex: Complex is an important quality in a great wine. Normally associated with aromatics, the term is used when a myriad of scents or fragrances are found in a wines perfume.
Corked: Corked wines are flawed. They can smell like a wet dog or moldy newspaper. This is caused by a problem with an unclean or poor cork infected.
Creamy: When wine has the rich texture like cream.
Crisp: Similar to bright. Fruit that is crisp is usually high in acidity.
Delicate: Light wines are delicate. This is not a quality to seek in Bordeaux. It is better suited for some white wines and Pinot Noir.
Dense: Dense wines are filled with high levels of raw material giving the wine concentration.
Dry Wine: Dry wines are red or white wines where all the residual sugar has been fermented.
Earthy: Earthy wines smell of mushrooms, forest floor or truffles. This is a positive attribute that is experienced in older wines, especially, Bordeaux wines.
Elegant: Wines with elegance are in balance with soft, refined characteristics and textures. They are never heavy.
Finish: The finish, which is similar to end note, is the sensation of flavors your palate experiences long after you have already enjoyed and swallowed the wine.
Floral: Red and white wines can be floral. For example Bordeaux wine from Pomerol and Bordeaux wine from Margaux often displays a floral component.
Full-bodied: Full bodied wines are most often high in alcohol, glycerin and concentration.
Hollow: Hollow wines are missing the middle between the first sensation of flavor, the attack and the finish. They lack fruit.
Intensity: Intensity in wine is a good thing that takes place when ample flavor keeps the taster focused.
Jammy: Jammy wines are extremely ripe at their best, and over ripe at their worst. They taste and smell of scents of jam and can contain hints of raisins or prunes.
Length/ Long: The amount of time the flavor sensations remain in your mouth and on your palate after you have swallowed the wine. This denotes a high quality wine.
Mature: A mature wine has aged to the point in time that all its elements come together; tannin, fruit and acid. At this time, the wine has also taken on secondary aromas and flavors.
Medium Bodied: Term for wines lacking the same level of concentration found in full bodied wines.
Mouth-Feel: The textural sensation that takes place when drinking wine.
Nose: This common term is used in the same way as perfume or aromatics.
Nutty: Most often used to describe oxidised wines. But it can also be a useful descriptor for sweet wines made from grapes attacked by Botrytis.
Oaky: Wines that are too Oaky, often smell of vanilla. Those wines usually spent time in French oak barrels. Wines that are oaky that resided in America oak, often smell of dill pickle.
Peppery: A peppery wine is just that, the wine can smell of fresh black or white pepper. Peppery wines often come from Rhone.
Port like: Dry red wine that is described as Port like, are very thick, rich, concentrated and ripe. This can be a positive trait in many wines and a negative in others.
Powerful: Powerful wines are concentrated with raw material, flavor and tannin.
Rich: Wines that are rich display ample texture, body and flavor, along with a long finish.
Short: The opposite of long. A wine that is short has on length in the finish. This is a poor attribute.
Smoky: Some wines offer scents of smoke, fire, char or burnt aromas. This happens either because of the char in the barrels, the soil or the grapes.
Smooth: Wines that are smooth, feel soft on your palate. They transition from the beginning to the middle through to the end, with that a smooth texture. This is a positive attribute.
Spicy: Wines often smell like different spices ranging from pepper, to cinnamon, to 5 spice or cloves.
Sweet Wine: Sweet wines are red or white wines which have varying degrees of residual sugar remaining.
Vibrant: Wines which are fresh, lively, energetic, with good acidity, but also rich with depth. This is a positive trait.
Don't forget to follow me on Google
Aroma: Aroma is used to describe the scent of a wine.
Backward: Backwards is used to define a wine that is tight, closed in or reserved. This means the aromatic and other qualities in the wine are not available to the taster. This is often a normal trait in young wines.
Balance: Balance is one of the key traits all great wines share, regardless of where they come from. The term is used to say all the elements that make up the good wine.
Berry scented: Wines are made from grapes. Yet all red wine wines smell like berries. They could remind you of blackberries, strawberries, cherries, black raspberries, red raspberries or even cranberry or mulberry.
Body: Body is a term used to describe the weight and feel of wine. Full bodied wines are normally high in alcohol.
Buttery: Usually used for Chardonnay that has a butter or buttered popcorn character.
Butter characteristics are found in richer styles of Chardonnay that were often aged in barrel and have finished malolactic fermentation.
Chewy: Chewy wines are dense or meaty, with a lot of texture, concentration and tannin.
Classic: Classic is most often used for Bordeaux and California wine when the wine is less alcoholic, less ripe and more of aroma.
Complex: Complex is an important quality in a great wine. Normally associated with aromatics, the term is used when a myriad of scents or fragrances are found in a wines perfume.
Corked: Corked wines are flawed. They can smell like a wet dog or moldy newspaper. This is caused by a problem with an unclean or poor cork infected.
Creamy: When wine has the rich texture like cream.
Crisp: Similar to bright. Fruit that is crisp is usually high in acidity.
Delicate: Light wines are delicate. This is not a quality to seek in Bordeaux. It is better suited for some white wines and Pinot Noir.
Dense: Dense wines are filled with high levels of raw material giving the wine concentration.
Dry Wine: Dry wines are red or white wines where all the residual sugar has been fermented.
Earthy: Earthy wines smell of mushrooms, forest floor or truffles. This is a positive attribute that is experienced in older wines, especially, Bordeaux wines.
Elegant: Wines with elegance are in balance with soft, refined characteristics and textures. They are never heavy.
Finish: The finish, which is similar to end note, is the sensation of flavors your palate experiences long after you have already enjoyed and swallowed the wine.
Floral: Red and white wines can be floral. For example Bordeaux wine from Pomerol and Bordeaux wine from Margaux often displays a floral component.
Full-bodied: Full bodied wines are most often high in alcohol, glycerin and concentration.
Hollow: Hollow wines are missing the middle between the first sensation of flavor, the attack and the finish. They lack fruit.
Intensity: Intensity in wine is a good thing that takes place when ample flavor keeps the taster focused.
Jammy: Jammy wines are extremely ripe at their best, and over ripe at their worst. They taste and smell of scents of jam and can contain hints of raisins or prunes.
Length/ Long: The amount of time the flavor sensations remain in your mouth and on your palate after you have swallowed the wine. This denotes a high quality wine.
Mature: A mature wine has aged to the point in time that all its elements come together; tannin, fruit and acid. At this time, the wine has also taken on secondary aromas and flavors.
Medium Bodied: Term for wines lacking the same level of concentration found in full bodied wines.
Mouth-Feel: The textural sensation that takes place when drinking wine.
Nose: This common term is used in the same way as perfume or aromatics.
Nutty: Most often used to describe oxidised wines. But it can also be a useful descriptor for sweet wines made from grapes attacked by Botrytis.
Oaky: Wines that are too Oaky, often smell of vanilla. Those wines usually spent time in French oak barrels. Wines that are oaky that resided in America oak, often smell of dill pickle.
Peppery: A peppery wine is just that, the wine can smell of fresh black or white pepper. Peppery wines often come from Rhone.
Port like: Dry red wine that is described as Port like, are very thick, rich, concentrated and ripe. This can be a positive trait in many wines and a negative in others.
Powerful: Powerful wines are concentrated with raw material, flavor and tannin.
Rich: Wines that are rich display ample texture, body and flavor, along with a long finish.
Short: The opposite of long. A wine that is short has on length in the finish. This is a poor attribute.
Smoky: Some wines offer scents of smoke, fire, char or burnt aromas. This happens either because of the char in the barrels, the soil or the grapes.
Smooth: Wines that are smooth, feel soft on your palate. They transition from the beginning to the middle through to the end, with that a smooth texture. This is a positive attribute.
Spicy: Wines often smell like different spices ranging from pepper, to cinnamon, to 5 spice or cloves.
Sweet Wine: Sweet wines are red or white wines which have varying degrees of residual sugar remaining.
Vibrant: Wines which are fresh, lively, energetic, with good acidity, but also rich with depth. This is a positive trait.
Continue.....
Hope you like my post and it was useful for you, my next post also on wine. For Barteder's Diary other postDon't forget to follow me on Google
No comments:
Post a Comment