WINE SCIENCE & SOME - TERMINOLOGY - Qs & As

Q. What are the four building blocks of wine?

A. Grape sugar: Fermented into alcohol, it gives the wine its richness and its fruitiness.

Acidity: It keeps the fruit lively on the palate, especially in a white wine. Without it, a white wine becomes limp and bland. It gives structure to reds to age well.

Tannins: They help red wines last long and mature with age. And they keep a good wine lingering on the palate.

Alcohol: It gives a wine weight on the palate – a German wine with 7% alcohol will taste light, but a chunky Californian Zinfandel with 17% will be more than a mouthful. In a good wine, alcohol should never leave a burning sensation.

Q. What is botrytis?

A. Brotrytis, or botrytis cinerea, is a fungal spore that reduces the water content of wine grapes, effectively increasing their sugar levels, acidity, viscosity and flavour to yield luxuriously sweet and deliciously aromatic wines that are responsible for the special position enjoyed by the Bordeaux village named Sauternes. Chateau d’Yquem is the Sauternes dessert wine that commands the highest prestige and price.

Q. Which are the latitudes where the world’s vineyards are concentrated?

A. The vineyards are mostly located between 32 degrees and 51 degrees in the northern hemisphere, and between 28 degrees and 48 degrees in the southern hemisphere. The Old World wine-producing countries – France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria – are all in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere is where the top New World wine producers – Australia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina – are thriving. The only New World wine-producing regions in the Northern Hemisphere are California, Oregon and Washington in the United States.

Q. What are the natural acids that appear in wine?

A. Citric, tartaric, malic and lactic acid. Wines from hot years tend to be lower in acidity, whereas wines from cool years tend to have higher levels of acidity. Acidity in a wine preserves its freshness and keeps it lively.

Q. What is aftertaste?

A. It is the taste left in the mouth after one swallows the wine. The word is a synonym for length or finish. The longer the aftertaste lingers in the mouth (assuming it’s a pleasant taste), the finer the quality of the wine.

Q. What are tannins?

A. Tannins are the drying compounds that come from grape skins, pips and stalks. Rarely noticeable in white wines, they give reds their all-important structure, helping them to last and mature with age. Tannins give a wine firmness and some roughness when it’s young, but they gradually dissipate or mellow down. A tannic wine is one that is young and not yet ready to be drunk.

Q. What is balance?

A. One of the most desired traits in a wine is good balance, where the concentration of fruit, level of tannin and acidity are in total harmony. Well-balanced wines tend to age gracefully.

Q. What is the red grape variety known as Syrah in France called in the New World?

A. Shiraz. As Syrah, this grape variety provides the backbone to full-bodied, perfumed and age-worthy wines in the Rhone Valley (France). It figures in blends in the South of France. As Shiraz, it is the signature wine of Australia, where the warmer climate paves the way for an altogether riper and more powerful, blockbuster-style wine, especially in the Barossa and Hunter valleys and McLaren Vale.

Q. What are the grape varieties that are together responsible for the creation of Pinotage, the famous South African wine grape?

A. Pinot Noir and Cinsault.

Q. Which is the most planted wine grape variety in the world?

A. Cabernet Sauvignon, the red wine grape that originated on the Left Bank of the River Gironde in Bordeaux. It is planted in about 615,000 hectares around the world. It is followed by Chardonnay, which is planted in about 412,000 hectares.