Wine Peeps

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is closures.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Closures for wine containers are necessary to avoid harmful contact with oxygen and have changed remarkably little until recent times. Corks are still the principal closures used for wine bottles, just as they were more than two centuries ago and probably long before that, although alternative stoppers are increasingly common, thanks primarily to the rise in the incidence of corked wine as a result of cork taint since the mid 1980s.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Closures are whatever mechanism is used to close a bottle of wine. Corks continue to be the most commonly used closures; however, in recent years, more and more wineries are experimenting with alternative closures such as screwcaps and glass stoppers in an attempt to eliminate cork taint.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is corked, not to be confused with the term corkage from last week.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Corked is the pejorative tasting term for a wine spoiled by a cork stopper contaminated with cork taint. This is one of the most serious wine faults as in most cases it irrevocably imbues the wine with such a powerfully off-putting smell that it cannot be drunk with any enjoyment. ….

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Corked is the term used to describe a wine that has been spoiled by cork taint. Cork taint is most often recognized by the smell of wet cardboard when you sniff the wine. A wine that is corked is essentially ruined. Some experts contend that as many as five percent of all wine bottles opened are flawed by a tainted cork. This fact has led many in the industry to pursue alternative closures such as screwcaps and glass stoppers.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is corkage.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Corkage is the charge customarily levied in a restaurant for each bottle of wine brought in and consumed on the premises rather than bought from the restaurant’s own selection. The term is derived from the fact that the number of corks pulled represents the number of bottles consumed. There is considerable variation in the amount charged, and the grace with which the practice is accepted.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Corkage is the fee charged by a restaurant when a patron brings in their own bottle to consume instead of ordering off of the restaurant’s wine list. Whether the practice is allowed and if so, the amount charged, varies from restaurant to restaurant. Be sure to call ahead before bringing a bottle to a restaurant to verify their policies. Even for restaurants that allow patrons to bring their own wine, only wines that are not already on the restaurant’s wine list will be allowed.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is vintage.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
The vintage year is the year in which a wine was produced and the characteristics of that year. … In the southern hemisphere, a vintage-dated wine invariably carries the year in which the grapes were picked, even though much of the vine growth cycle was actually in the previous year. In the northern hemisphere, vintage-dated wines carry the year in which both the vine growth occurred and the grapes were picked….

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Vintage is the year printed on a wine bottle’s label and indicates the year in which the grapes were picked. It is important to note a wine’s vintage since the quality of wines, even from the same producer, can vary year to year (i.e. a 2005 XYZ Merlot is a different wine than a 2006 XYZ Merlot). A wine that does not list a vintage on the label is considered non-vintage and is a blend of grapes from different years.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is nose.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Nose is the most sensitive form of tasting equipment so far encountered, the sense of taste being so inextricably linked with the sense of smell. …. Nose is also used as a synonym for the smell, aroma, or bouquet of a wine, as in wines having ‘a nose of raspberries’, ‘a raspberry nose’, or even ‘raspberries on the nose’.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Ms. Robinson’s definition is fairly straightforward on this one. Basically nose has two definitions in relation to wine:

1. An extremely important body part since smell and taste are so closely linked.
2. Another word for the smell or aroma of a wine; i.e. “black fruits come through on the nose.”

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is palate.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Palate is a term used when describing tasting as a process and an ability. It is generally used to describe the combined human tasting faculties in the mouth and, sometimes, nose. The impact of a wine on the mouth may be divided chronologically, and somewhat loosely, into its impact on the front, middle, and back palate. The word may also be used more generally as in describing a good taster as ‘having a fine palate.’

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Palate is an oft used term that can mean several different things.

1. Describes flavors identified in your mouth when tasting a wine; i.e. “Citrus fruits come through on the palate.”
2. Describes one’s wine preferences; i.e. “Trust your palate. You may prefer sweet wines while someone else prefers dry wines.”
3. Describes a good taster; i.e. “She has a good palate.”

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is legs (sometimes referred to as tears).

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Tears is a tasting term used to describe the behavior of the surface liquid layer that is observable in a glass of relatively strong wine. The wine wets the inside of a clean glass and climbs up a few millimeters. At the upper edge of the thin layer on the inside wall patches of the film thicken, become more drop-like, and eventually roll back down the inside wall to the liquid surface. These traces of what look like particularly viscous droplets are also sometimes called ‘legs,’ and may give some indication of a wine’s alcoholic strength.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
When you swirl a glass of wine or take a sip and then hold the glass upright and still, the residual “clear” liquid that you notice slowly dripping down the inside of the glass is called legs. Legs are simply an indication of alcohol. They are not an indicator of a wine’s quality.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is finish.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Since this is an oft used wine tasting term, I was surprised to find that there was no entry for “finish” in The Oxford Companion to Wine. However, I did locate entries for “long” and “short” that seem the closest to explaining this term. Long is a much-derided tasting term for wines whose impact on the palate is particularly persistent. A wine that is long is usually of high quality. Short is a tasting term for a wine whose impact on the palate is not persistent; the opposite of long.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
The finish is how long a wine’s flavor lingers in your mouth. A well made wine has a lingering finish (sometimes as much as 30 seconds or more.)

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is balance.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Wine tasters say that a wine has balance, or is well balanced, if its alcoholic strength, acidity, residual sugar, tannins, and fruit, complement each other so that no single one of them is obtrusive on the palate. (Young wines are expected to exhibit more marked tannins than mature ones however.) This extremely important wine characteristic is quite unrelated to flavor.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
A well-balanced wine has a good blend of fruit with acidity, tannins, and alcohol. Nothing stands out in isolation.

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is fruit.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
To a viticulturist, fruit is a synonym for grape…. To an oenologist or wine taster, fruit is a perceptible element essential to a young wine. Young wines should taste fruity, although not necessarily of grapes, or any particular grape variety. Fruit driven is a tasting term used to convey the fact that a wine has a dominance of grape-derived fruit flavor.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
As you can see from the definition above, when someone uses the word “fruit” in reference to a wine, it can mean a variety of things. For the purposes of a wine consumer, “fruit” is most often used to describe wine flavors as in, “This wine has a lot of fruit” or “This wine is very fruit-forward.” Depending on the varietal, wines can have a number of different “fruit” flavors such as blackcurrants, blackberries, raspberries, apples, citrus, and so on.