Archives: Glossary (Page 2 of 2)

A hoity-toity way of saying peach or apricot.

Tannins help form a wine’s structure, but generally only in red wines. Tannins come from the grape’s stems, seeds and skins, and to a lesser extent from the wood in which the wine is aged.

On the palate, tannins are detected by the drying/pulling sensation inside your cheeks. It produces the same sensation as a black tea that’s been steeped for too long (because tea also contains tannins!).

Tannins play an important role in the aging/cellaring process. They polymerize over time and form the sediment you find in older bottles (hence, the importance of decanting), and the pulling sensation softens.

High-tannin wines: cabernet sauvignon, Nebbiolo, syrah

Words to describe tannins: astringent, grippy, chewy

Terroir is essentially the geographical, environmental and climatic elements of grape-growing (that allow the same grape grown in two different places to make two completely distinct wines).

Here is a non-exhaustive list of elements that make up terroir:

• Soil type
• Hours of sun in a day
• Amount of precipitation
• Type of terrain
• Elevation
• Direction and angle of vineyard slope
• Amount of wind
• Proximity to bodies of water
• Difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures
• Etc.

As an example, NZ sauvignon blanc and its telltale aromas of gooseberry, grassiness and occasionally cat pee (!) is a completely different wine compared to the citrus and minerality-driven Sancerre, i.e. sauvignon blanc from the Loire Valley in France.

Coles notes version: how Champagne is made! The first fermentation happens in vats, then the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle. This process was originally developed by monks in the Champagne region in France.

Other sparkling wines made using the traditional method: cava, crémant,  

Aka Méthode champenoise/traditionnelle

Often confused with “grape variety”, a varietal is a term for a wine named after the single grape variety from which it is made.

E.g. Chardonnay, pinot noir