This week’s Wine Word of the Week is cover crop. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Cover crop is a crop of plants other than vines established in the vineyard, typically between the rows, generally for the benefit of the vineyard soil. Layman’s terms from Kori: Cover crop is a crop […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is vintage charts. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Vintage charts are both useful and notoriously fallible, partly because young vintage assessment is so fraught with difficulty. Most vintage charts take the form of a grid mapping ratings for each combination of wine region […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is ripening. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Ripening is the important process of grape development which is a prelude to harvest. Ripening begins when the berries soften at the stage called veraison and is concluded normally by harvest, which can occur at different […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is fining. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Fining is the winemaking process with the aim of clarification and stabilization of a wine whereby a fining agent, one of a range of special materials, is added to coagulate or absorb and precipitate quickly the […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is breathing. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Breathing is an operation believed beneficial by some consumers, involving pulling the cork and letting the open bottle stand for a few hours before it is poured. In fact, in such circumstances, the wine can take […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is photosynthesis. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Photosynthesis is a biochemical reaction which combines water and atmospheric carbon dioxide using the energy of the sun to form sugars in plants, including vines. Important in this process are the green chlorophyll pigments in leaves […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is hybrid. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Hybrid, in common viticultural terms, is the offspring of two varieties of different species, as distinct from a cross between two varieties of the same species. European Union authorities prefer the somewhat cumbersome term ‘interspecific cross’ […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is cross. Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine: Cross is the result of breeding a new variety by crossing two vine varieties of the same species, usually the European vinifera species. Thus, Muller-Thurgau, for example is a cross. Layman’s terms from Kori: Cross is […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is inoculate. Official definition from Ron Herbst and Sharon Tyler Herbst’s The New Wine Lover’s Companion: Inoculate is a winemaking technique of adding an active yeast culture or malolactic bacteria to juice, must, or wine. Winemakers often inoculate their must with known strains of reliable yeasts to activate […]

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is carafe. Official definition from Ron Herbst and Sharon Tyler Herbst’s The New Wine Lover’s Companion: Carafe is a simple clear glass (occasionally metal) container with a wide mouth used for serving wine or other beverages. Restaurants often use carafes to serve inexpensive wines. Carafes can also be […]