Famous Regions & Grapes
This red grape is historically associated with Burgundy.
What is Pinot Noir?
This French term refers to the combined environmental and human factors influencing wine character.
What is terroir?
This process converts grape sugar into alcohol.
What is fermentation?
AVA stands for this.
What is American Viticultural Area?
This stage occurs when grape buds first emerge after winter dormancy.
What is budbreak?
This region in Italy is most associated with Sangiovese.
What is Tuscany?
Name TWO major components of terroir.
Soil, climate, topography, human influence, vineyard practices.
Place these in the correct order: bottling, harvest, fermentation, crushing.
Harvest → Crushing → Fermentation → Bottling
True or False: AVAs guarantee wine quality.
What is False?
This devastating vineyard pest nearly destroyed European vineyards in the 19th century.
What is phylloxera?
Sauvignon Blanc is strongly associated with this New Zealand region.
What is Marlborough?
How can elevation influence grape growing conditions?
Higher elevations are cooler, may preserve acidity, increase diurnal shift, and slow ripening.
In red winemaking, grape skins remain in contact with juice primarily to extract these three things.
What are color, tannin, and flavor compounds?
What is the main purpose of an appellation system?
To identify geographic origin and communicate regional characteristics/rules.
Why was grafting important in the fight against phylloxera?
European vines were grafted onto resistant American rootstocks.
Tempranillo is the dominant grape of this famous Spanish wine region.
What is Rioja?
This climate type generally has warm dry summers and mild wet winters.
What is Mediterranean climate?
Why might a winemaker age wine in oak barrels?
To add flavor complexity, texture, oxygen exposure, structure, and stability.
Why might appellation laws matter to consumers?
They help indicate origin, style expectations, grape rules, and authenticity.
Name two stages in the grapevine phenological cycle.
Budbreak, flowering, fruit set, véraison, harvest, dormancy.
Explain why climate strongly influences grape variety success in a wine region.
Cool climates preserve acidity and favor certain grapes, while warm climates increase sugar ripeness and favor others. Climate impacts flavor, alcohol, structure, and growing success.
Explain how human decisions are part of terroir.
Vineyard management, harvest timing, fermentation choices, oak use, irrigation, canopy management, and cultural traditions all influence wine style and expression.
Compare one major difference between red and white winemaking.
Red wines ferment with skins; white wines are typically pressed before fermentation to minimize skin contact.
Compare the general philosophy of European appellation systems versus U.S. AVAs.
European systems are usually stricter and regulate grapes/methods; AVAs mainly define geographic origin without quality guarantees.
Explain why vineyard pests and diseases remain important today.
They reduce yield and quality, increase costs, affect sustainability, and require ongoing vineyard management.