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A dry wine from a "great growth" vineyard that has been designated as Erste Lage. In many regions this term has been replaced by Grosses Gewächs.
A French term that literally means "growth". May refer to a vineyard or a winery.
A winemaking process where wine is chilled to near freezing temperatures for several weeks to encourage the precipitation of tartrate crystals.
A winemaker who travels extensively across the globe sharing techniques and technology from one region of the world to another. The term originated with Australian winemakers who would fly to Northern Hemisphere wine regions in Europe and the United State ...
A cultivated grape variety. Used mainly in South African viticulture.
The quality of wine that gives it its crispiness and vitality. A proper balance of acidity must be struck with the other elements of a wine or else the wine may be said to be too sharp – having disproportionately high levels of acidity – or too flat – ha ...
The French term for destemming. Destemming is removing stems prior to pressing and fermenting the grapes and their juice. Stems have a significant amount of coarse and often green tannin undesirable in the finished wine.
A system of propagating vines by cutting the xylem and phloem of a vine bud into a tiny wedge shape and then inserting onto the rootstock of an existing root system.
A vineyard management plan that incorporates planting a high number of vines per acre/hectare in order to improve fruit quality. This is achieved by making more vines compete for a limited amount of resources which subsequently reduces the yields of the ...
A container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Modern wine bottles are nearly always made of glass because it is nonporous strong and aesthetically pleasing.
The time prior to fermentation that the grape must spends in contact with it skins. This technique may enhance some of the varietal characteristics of the wine and leech important phenolic compounds out from the skin. This process can be done either cold ...
A classification of Bordeaux wine estates in the Medoc that were not part of the originally 1855 Bordeaux classification.
German term for a viticultural technique of growing vines upon slopes in vertical up and down rows rather horizontally across terraces.
The vital system of plant life where sunlight energy is trapped by chorophyll in the leaves and is converted in chemical energy (such as the sugar glucose) that is used throughout the grapevine.
French term for a wine that has spent time aging on the lees during which it may have derived some flavors from autolysis. Often associated with the Loire wines of the Muscadet region.
White grape varieties that are relatively bland and not very aromatic on their own. These varieties are considered "neutral" because unlike more aromatic varieties like Riesling and Muscat these varieties can be enhanced by oak treatment or sur lie agin ...
