This week’s Wine Word of the Week is shoot thinning. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Shoot thinning is the vineyard operation normally carried out by hand in the early spring which consists of breaking off unwanted shoots arising from the vine’s head or cordon. …. The aim of shoot thinning […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is pruning. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Pruning of vines involves cutting off unwanted vegetative parts in the form of canes in winter. …. Winter pruning is a vineyard practice developed primarily to produce fewer but larger bunches of riper grapes and is […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is non-vintage. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Non-vintage, often abbreviated to NV, is a blended wine, particularly champagne or sparkling wine, which may contain the produce of several different vintages, although in champagne-making practice it is usually substantially based on the most recent […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is sherry. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Sherry is a seriously undervalued but slowly reawakening fortified wine from the region around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalucia, south west Spain. ‘Sherry’ was used as a generic term for a wide […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is maceration. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Maceration is an ancient word for steeping a material in liquid with or without a kneading action to separate the softened parts of the material from the harder ones. This important process in red wine-making involves […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is micro-oxygenation. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Micro-oxygenation, also known by the French term microbullage, is a vinification technique initiated in 1990 by winemaker Patrick Ducournau in Madiran to control the aeration of wines in tank. The method was authorized by the European […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is chaptalization. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Chaptalization is a common wine-making practice, named after its French promulgator Jean-Antoine Chaptal, whereby the final alcoholic strength of a wine is increased by the addition of sugar to the grape juice or must, before and/or […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is acidification. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Acidification is the wine-making process of increasing the acidity in a grape must or wine. This is a common practice in warm wine regions, and is often the only course open to a winemaker wanting to […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is mulled wine. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Mulled wine is wine that has been heated with sugar and spices and also, sometimes, slices of fruit and even brandy. This was a particularly common way of serving wine in the Middle Ages, since […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is transversage. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Transversage is an occasional twist on the traditional method [of sparkling winemaking] whereby, immediately after disgorgement, the contents of bottles of sparkling wine made by the traditional method are transferred into a pressure tank to which […]