(Please be aware – This text is a part of an on-going sequence about wine terminology from A to Z.)
We have now plenty of floor to cowl right here, particularly for the Letter C – Chateau, Claret, Corked, and so forth.
So sufficient chit chat. Let’s cost proper into the Cava and Chardonnay.
Hope you get pleasure from.
THE A TO Zs OF WINE
LETTER C
Cava – A sort of glowing wine from Spain. The identify comes from Spanish for “cellar.” Let me add that many Cavas price a fraction of another glowing wines (which you’ll be able to examine under) and have a beautiful, crisp, dry, refreshing style.
Cellar – Usually positioned under floor, a cellar is the place the place wine is usually saved as soon as it’s been bottled. Many wineries have in depth, underground, stone-wall-lined cellars. Some wine collectors (there’s one other C phrase) retailer their wine of their basement cellar as properly. You may additionally hear the phrase cellar used to explain the temperature wine ought to be saved at long run. Cellar temperature is about 55 to 57 levels, which was once the fixed cellar temperature in most castles a whole bunch of years in the past.
Chateau – You’ll typically see this phrase on many French wine bottles. The phrase chateau merely means “fortress” in French. When you see Chateau on a wine bottle, that usually merely means the wine comes from a vineyard that has its personal vineyards. It doesn’t essentially imply there’s a fortress there, though there may be in some instances.
Claret – You virtually by no means hear this phrase in america. However when you love British mysteries, you may hear some pompous aristocrat speaking about his beloved claret proper earlier than somebody shoots him on a darkish and stormy evening. So what’s claret? It’s merely the phrase Brits use for crimson wine from France’s Bordeaux area.
Clone – Two, precisely equivalent bottles of wine? No, no, no. This scientific time period merely means a slicing from a grapevine that’s grafted (one other scientific time period that merely means hooked up) to a different, current grapevine root. Winemakers typically plant vines utilizing grape clones since they mature sooner. Winemakers additionally typically plant grape clones if one explicit grapevine is particularly wholesome they usually wish to have extra, wholesome grapevines just like the primary one elsewhere of their fields.
Clos – One other French wine time period, “clos” merely means the winery’s enclosed (“clos” means closed in French) by a wall. Nonetheless, some wineries with vineyards with out partitions are known as “clos” these days as properly.
Commune – No, this doesn’t imply a bunch of hippies reside in yurts and make wine. Commune merely means “city” or “village” in French and means the wine comes from that individual place.
Cork – The spongy factor produced from bark from a cork tree positioned within the prime of the bottle to maintain the wine inside it.
Corked – Time period used to explain wine that has gone dangerous typically as a consequence of wine in a bottle reacting to micro organism on the cork. When this occurs, most individuals say a wine is “corked.” You’ll know straight away. Corked wines typically scent moldy.
Cote – The French phrase for “slope,” cote merely means the wine was grown on a hillside. You’ll typically see the phrase cote earlier than explicit hilly locations the place wine is grown in France. This consists of Cote Rotie within the Rhone area and Cote D’Or within the Burgundy area.
Cremant – A sort of French glowing wine that’s creamier and infrequently has much less bubbles than glowing wine from France’s Champagne area. France’s Burgundy area, Alsace area and Loire Valley particularly produce many excellent Cremant glowing wines.
Cru – The French phrase for “progress,” cru can imply many alternative issues in France. Usually, Cru refers to significantly nice wines – Grand Cru, for instance in Burgundy. Different occasions, it would imply the wine comes from a selected village – Cru wines in Beaujolais. Nonetheless, in Bordeaux, Cru Bourgeois wines are thought-about much less prestigious wines since they haven’t been categorized or ranked. The underside line? When you see the phrase “cru” in a wine retailer or on a wine listing at a restaurant, don’t be afraid to ask what the phrase means.
Cuvee – One other French phrase, cuvee actually means tank or vat. Nonetheless, some winemakers use the phrase cuvee to confer with wine that comes from a selected wine mix or particular batch of wine.
Standard Wine Grapes That Begin With C
Cabernet Franc (Pink wine grape well-liked in France, particularly in Bordeaux and the Loire area, and Southern Ontario in Canada)
Cabernet Sauvignon (Pink wine grape well-liked in California and France’s Bordeaux area.)
Chardonnay (White wine grape well-liked – all over the place! Many nice ones could be present in California, Oregon, Australia, Chile and particularly in France’s Burgundy area, the place Chardonnay grapes vividly convey to life a variety of several types of soils and climates.)
Standard Wine Areas That Begin With C
California (the state that produces a few of the finest wines on the earth)
Champagne (positioned in northern France, this area’s well-known for its glowing wine, which known as Champagne and which might solely come from this a part of the world)
Chianti (positioned inside the bigger Italian wine area of Tuscany, Chianti’s well-known for its earthy, inexpensive, scrumptious crimson wines)
LETTER D
Decant – A course of wherein the wine is poured out of the bottle into one other glass bottle, typically a decanter. Why would somebody do that? As a result of decanting wine helps expose the wine to oxygen and permits the wine to breathe. That is particularly essential with intense, crimson wines that may style a bit harsh with out being decanted. Decanting wine can also be typically achieved to take away sediment (dust) typically discovered within the backside of sure bottles of older, crimson wines.
Demi Sec – A time period used to explain the sweetness ranges in glowing wine. Demi Sec glowing wines are the second sweetest glowing wines. The sweetest ones? You may learn extra about these under.
Dessert wine – A large-ranging time period typically used to explain sweeter wines supposed to be consumed after a meal with dessert. Dessert wines typically embrace Port, Sherry, Sauterne and Ice Wine.
Disgorge – Part of the glowing winemaking course of, disgorgement entails eradicating the sediment from the bottle, particularly after secondary fermentation takes place. This is among the closing winemaking steps when making Champagne in France’s Champagne area.
DOC – Abbreviation utilized by winemakers in Italy and Spain which refers to the place the wine comes from in every nation. In Italian, DOC stands for Denominazione do Origine Controllata. In Spanish, DOC stands for Denominacion de Origen.
Domaine – The French phrase for “property,” domaine typically merely means the wine comes from a selected vineyard. Domaine may also imply that the wine comes from a selected discipline or piece of land. However normally, when you see the phrase “domaine” on a bottle, it means the wine was bottled by a selected vineyard that additionally owns the sphere the place the grapes are grown. That is very true in France’s Burgundy area, the place you’ll discover plenty of superb domaines that personal the vineyards and management wine manufacturing from begin to end.
Doux – One other time period used to explain the sweetness ranges in glowing wine. Doux glowing wines have the very best sugar content material and are the sweetest glowing wines.
Standard Wine Grapes That Begin With D
Dolcetto (Pink wine grape well-liked in Italy’s Piedmont area, which produces aromatic crimson wines utilizing this grape)
Standard Wine Areas That Begin With D
Douro (wine area positioned in Portugal named for the Douro River and well-known for its world-class port wines and inexpensive, scrumptious crimson wines)
LETTER E
Earthy – Generic time period used to explain a wine’s aromas or flavors. Earthy wines typically are typically massive, daring, hearty crimson wines. Nonetheless, as with many phrases used to explain what a wine tastes like, a wine’s earthiness is all within the eye (or the mouth) of the beholder.
Eiswein – German phrase for “ice wine,” which is a selected sort of dessert wine produced from frozen grapes.
Enology – Typically spelled oenology, this phrase merely refers back to the science of manufacturing wine.
Enophile – Identical to phrase above, enophile is a variation on the phrase “oenophile.” Each phrases merely imply somebody who loves wine.
Property bottled – Fancy, considerably meaningless time period that merely means the wine was bottled by the identical individual or firm that owns the winery. Many wines are property bottled however don’t say on the bottle. So simply because the phrase “property bottled” doesn’t seem on a wine label doesn’t imply the wine isn’t property bottled.
Additional Dry – Complicated wine time period used to explain glowing wine. You’d suppose further dry glowing wines could be the driest glowing wines. Guess once more. Actually, further dry glowing wines are sometimes barely candy. As a substitute, brut and additional brut wines are drier than further dry wines.
Extract – Exhausting-to-define scientific wine time period used to explain the flavors and aromas extracted from the grapes and put into the wine itself. Extracting such distinct traits is an artwork kind amongst winemakers. Give a dozen winemakers the identical grapes they usually might simply extract a dozen totally different aromas or flavors which might make every wine style fully totally different.
Standard Wine Grapes That Begin With E
You need to dig fairly deep to seek out wine grapes that begin with the letter E. So listed here are just a few obscure ones to stump your favourite enophile.
Egiodola (Comparatively new crimson wine grape from France’s Bordeaux area)
Elbling (Obscure white wine grape that was once well-liked in France and Germany, the place you may nonetheless discover some wines made with Ebling grapes in Germany’s Mosel area)
Emir (White wine grape well-liked in central Turkey)
Standard Wine Areas That Begin With E
Right here once more, there are only a few, acquainted wine areas that begin with the letter E. Listed here are few lesser-known ones:
Echezeaux (positioned within the northern a part of the Cote D’Or in France’s Burgundy area, this village and its vineyards produce a few of the world’s finest Pinot Noir wines)
Elgin (positioned in South Africa southeast of Cape City, the Elgin Valley has develop into one of many nation’s extra distinguished wine rising areas in recent times, particularly in the case of Sauvignon Blanc white wines and Pinot Noir crimson wines)
Emilia-Romagna (positioned in northern central Italy, this massive wine area is finest recognized for producing Lambrusco crimson wines)
Cheers!
(Wine Press – The A to Zs of Wine – Letter A)
(Wine Press – The A to Zs of Wine – Letter B)
(Wine Press by Ken Ross seems on Masslive.com each Monday and in The Republican’s weekend part each Thursday. Older “Wine Press” articles could be discovered here. Comply with Ken Ross on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.)
