Have you ever been to a wine tasting, and the host starts tossing wine terminology around like a truck stop fry-cook slinging corn-beef-hash? Or read a wine label where they drop terms such as the lees or punch-down, and you think, well, that must be advantageous, or otherwise, they wouldn’t include it, but I have NO IDEA what they’re saying. No worries, wine-making process terms are often used and can add value to the consumer.
Help!
Let’s start with statements about the lees, sur lie, or left on the lees. Lees are yeast cells that have completed their part in fermentation and sink to the fermentation vessel’s bottom. Leaving wine exposed to yeast cells can improve the taste and how the wine feels in your mouth. The lees’ stirring is a method of mixing the lees and wine to increase the effect, creating a yeast aroma (think of the smell of fresh-baked bread), a more complex taste, and a creamy mouthfeel.
Oaked – either fermenting or aging wine in oak barrels from France and the USA and a lesser degree, Hungry and Slovenia. This process imparts many good flavors and can soften wines with harsh tannin.
Steel fermented – fermenting wine in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. This process has immensely improved wine production, especially white wine, where delicate flavors are enhanced and preserved by cooler fermentation temperatures.
RS or Residual Sugar – fruit sugar left over after fermentation is stopped, potentially making wine sweet. Low amounts of undetectable fruit sugar in wine can improve mouthfeel, making wine heavier and deeper feeling.
Single varietal.
This term is used for wine made from only one grape type, only using the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, for example. As for the reasoning behind making wine with only one grape type, well, it can simply be the vintner likes this style or that they have exceptional grapes that can stand alone to make a distinct wine. Or, in some cases, it’s a marketing angle that showcases the unique, lovely characteristics of one grape type.
Dry – a wine that has no detectable sugar after fermentation.
Traditional Method – of making champagne, this is the method of a small secondary fermentation in the bottle or sometimes in a tank. It makes for far better-integrated bubbles in sparkling wine. This method will make the bubbles small, fine, and plentiful.
Claret – a somewhat outdated British term used for light red wines from Bordeaux, France.
Punch down.
This term is not necessarily exclusive to MMA fighting. This term describes the process of stirring the seeds and skins (optionally the stems) into the fermenting juice during red wine fermentation. This is needed because the CO2 gas created during fermentation can push the skins and seeds upward, forming a cap that needs to be broken up. Punching down is the process of breaking up this cap, and it maximizes the goodness of skins and seeds integrating with the fermenting juice, thus extracting more tannin, color, and flavor.
Brut – sparkling wine with no detectable sugar
AOC, DOC, DOCa, and DOCG are terms for high-quality wines, primarily in the European wine industry. They mean the highest standards are used to produce wine from a regulated and managed process in a designated wine-growing area.
Aroma and Bouquet – primary aromas come from the grapes, secondary aromas come from the fermentation process, and tertiary aromas or bouquets are created as the wine develops in the bottle with time. FYI, the term the nose is a synonym for aroma or bouquet.
Estate Bottled.
An official term regulated by the Feds implies complete control over the winemaking process from start to finish. In particular, it means that 100% of the wine is from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery, which must be in an American Viticultural Area (AVA), for example, “Monticello.” The estate winery must crush, ferment, finish, age, and bottle the wine continuously on their premises. The winery and the vineyard must be in the same viticultural area.
