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Glossary
Wine words, explained simply. 26 terms.
No matching term.
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- Main grape, secondary grapeThe specification distinguishes the grape varieties that make up most of the wine from those allowed as a complement, within a share it caps.
- Malolactic fermentationThe conversion of malic acid into lactic acid by bacteria: the wine becomes softer.
- MutageThe addition of alcohol during fermentation to stop it: the wine keeps part of its sugar.
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- Sparkling wine, crémantA wine with bubbles, whose carbon dioxide comes from a fermentation; crémant is one appellation form of it.
- Specification (cahier des charges)The text that sets the rules of an appellation: area, grape varieties, yields, practices.
- Still wineA wine without bubbles: it neither foams nor sparkles.
- Sur lieA wine aged in contact with its lees, the yeast deposit left by fermentation.
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- Vendanges tardives, sélection de grains noblesTerms for wines made from overripe grapes, very rich in sugar, mainly in Alsace.
- Vin doux naturelA wine made by mutage, from defined grape varieties and terroirs, mainly in Roussillon and the southern Rhône.
- Vin jauneA white wine from the Jura, made from savagnin, aged for years in barrel under a veil of yeast.map
- VintageThe year in which the grapes were harvested.