Wine 101

The world of wine, at times, seems to have its own vocabulary, a baffling array of words and phrases specific to wine that can be hard for us mere mortals to understand.
I’ll never forget the time years ago when, trying to be cool, I asked a winemaker whether he was going to “fife” some wine from the barrel.  He looked at me bewildered and then said, “you mean thief?”  The expression, thieving wine, means to remove or siphon some wine from the barrel, usually with a glass or plastic tube.
You can imagine my surprise also, when a vintner talking about his latest vintage referred to its legs and great body.  Naively, I thanked him for the compliment only to find out he was talking about his wine, not me!
Since the vocabulary used when describing wine or the winemaking process is vast and often confusing, we’ve instituted a weekly pop quiz on In Wine Country to demystify some of the terms.  So, if you’re ready to test your wine knowledge or perhaps learn some new phrases to throw out at the wine bar, here goes:

When it comes to bubbly, what is “disgorging?”
A) what happens to Champagne when the bubbles go flat
B) removing the yeast sediment from the
neck of the Champagne bottle
C) the safe process used to uncork a bottle of bubbly

The correct answer is B. Disgorging is a process where the yeast sediment is removed from the neck of the Champagne bottle. The sediment is a normal byproduct of fermentation. In order to remove the yeast plug, the neck of the bottle is submerged in a brine ice bath, which freezes the sediment, making it easier to disgorge. Once out, the bottle is refilled with a “dosage” (or small amount) of wine to adjust the taste of the bubbly before the bottle is corked and sealed.

While on the subject of bubbly, here’s another question that involves sparkling wine: 
What is a cuveé?
A) a blend of wines
B) a non-vintage wine or Champagne
C) an extra large bottling holding six liters of wine

This time, the correct answer is “A”. Cuveé is a French term for a special blend of still wine, often using different varieties and vintages that are combined to making sparkling wine.

Here's one for ayone who's counting calories as part of a New Year's resolution: 
How many calories are in a glass of wine?
A) 200 
B) 110 
C) 85

Wine is fat free, but not calorie free. the calories from wine come from the alcohol and the residual surgar. The number of calories per glass, of course, depaends on the size of the glass, but a standard pour, or six ounces, would be B) or about 110 calories.

NEXT UP, WHAT IS A "STELVIN CLOSURE"?

How many calories are in a glass of wine?
A) a device used to prevent leakage froom barrels
B) a type of scew cap
C) a tool used to re-cork wine

The answer is "B". A Stelvin closure is a fancy name for a scew cap. The Stelvin screwcap was developed in the late fifties and is gaining renewed popularilty today as more wineries turn to them to prevent wines tainted by bad corks or accidental oxidation.

Speaking of oxidation...

WHAT DOES THE TERM 'AERATION" MEAN?

A) the step in the growing process when grape wines are pruned
B) adding bubble to make Champagne
C) exposing a wine to air to let it "breathe"

The answer is C). Aeration is the process of letting a wine breathe in the open air. We’ve all seen people swirling their wine. They are aerating it, or adding oxygen to the wine before drinking it. Aerating opens up the bouquet of the wine, enhancing what you smell in the glass. This is mostly done with red wines because the process of aeration can soften young, tannic wines. It’s the reason many people decant red wines before drinking them. There are limits, though, because too much air can ruin a wine.