When Life Gives You Grapes...
This red grape is the main varietal of Burgundy.
What is Pinot Noir?
This region began producing its famous sparkling wines in earnest in the 1720s.
What is Champagne?
If a wine's cork shrivels, it is in danger of becoming this, which smells like nuts.
What is oxidized / oxidation?
This is the catch-all French term to describe all the aspects of environment where the grapes were cultivated.
What is terroir?
This process produces bubbles in Champagne.
What is secondary alcoholic fermentation?
This is the most-planted grape of Greece...yamas!
What is Assyrtiko?
This mountainous sparkling wine region is just inland from Barcelona.
What is Cava?
What is Madeira / Madeirized?
This term is used to describe the interplay between soil type and aroma / taste, although there is no science behind it.
This is the most common material used for non-oxidative winemaking.
What is stainless steel?
Wine made from this grape usually displays flavors and aromas of cassis and currant, green peppers, and leather.
What is Cabernet Sauvignon?
This world-famous region was famously the second legally recognized wine region in the US...but still ranks first the hearts of collectors.
What is the Napa Valley?
This flaws smells like wet dog, or moldy cardboard.
What is TCA / cork taint?
This fungus is integral in making stellar examples of sweet wines like Sauternes and trockenbeerenauslese rieslings.
What is Botrytis?
This process leads to a creamy or buttery flavor and texture in wine.
What is malolactic fermentation?
This grape puts the "M" in a GSM blend.
What is Mourvèdre?
This Italian area is famous for its rolling hills, sprawling villas, and its "super" wines.
What is Tuscany?
What is Brettanomyces?
This is the term for the difference in temperature of a region between daytime and nighttime.
What is diurnal shift?
This process transfers pigment from grape skins to juice.
What is skin-contact / maceration?
This white varietal is one parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, sometimes described as "grassy."
What is Sauvignon Blanc?
This California region was named for the nationality of the fur and pelt trading companies that were based there in the mid-1800s, and is known for opulent Pinots.
What is Russian River Valley?
You find this acetone aroma at the nail salon and in many Italian red wines.
What is Volatile Acidity?
Having a cover crop or sheep grazing a vineyard are examples of this type of cultivation.
What is sustainable viticulture?
This is the addition of sugar to wine in order to ferment it to a fuller body and higher alcohol.
What is Chaptalization?