Wine Lexicon

Whatever it is called in the history of civilization – from “the nectar of gods” to “an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice” – wine presented a more beautiful side of life, a blessed journey on which the soul and body may temporarily be free of earthly attachments and temptations, a way for humble human forces and possibilities to unite with the upper planes and unfathomable in a unique circle of pleasure, strength and understanding of our own and also historical sense.

FROM THE HISTROY OF WINE. The earliest archeological and archeobotanical evidence of grape wine and viticulture come from Georgia (about 6000 BC), todays Iran (about 5000 BC), and Sicily (about 4000 BC). In general, archeological and genetic evidence suggest that the South Caucasus (which includes Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) or West Asian region between eastern Turkey and northern Iran were at the time the center of “wine culture”. About 4500 BC wine came to the Balkans, was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece, Thrace and Rome. Throughout history wine was consumed mostly because of its intoxicating properties. The earliest known “organized” winery, Arena-1 in Armenia, dates back to 4100 BC.

From those regions wine has conquered the west most likely thank to the Phoenicians, from the city-states along the Mediterranean coast, todays Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Palestine. But, the custom of wine consumption was established in Sardinia, for example, even before the arrival of Phoenicians.

In ancient Egypt, six out of 36 wine amphora were found in the tomb of king Tutankhamun, with a “signature” of the main royal wine maker. Traces of wine which originate from the second and first millennia BC were found also in Central Asian Xinjiang, in modern China. First known mention of grape based wine in India was in the texts of Chanakya, the main minster of the emperor Chandragupta Maurya, at the end of the 4^th century BC. It is interesting that Chanakya in his texts condemns the use of alcohol during the emperor’s rule and often “surrender” to wine.

Ancient Romans have planted vineyards near garrisons and towns so that the wines could be produced in the country, and not imported from far away. Some of those areas are to this day famous by wine production. In Medieval Europe the Roman Catholic Church has supported wine drinking, because the clergy needed it for Masses and other rites. Monk in France have produced wine for years, aging it in caves. An old English recipe which survived in various forms until the 19^th century demands purification of white wine from the bad or spoiled “bastardo” wine.

Later on the sacramental wine gained a more noble taste, but it also led to modern French, Italian, Spanish viticulture. After that the traditions of wine grapes were introduced into the wine of the New World. The Spanish Franciscans brought “missionary wine” and grapes to New Mexico in the 17^th century starting a wine culture of that area. These grapes were brought also to California, which initiated the Californian “wine industry”. Both of these regions have evolved into the oldest and largest wine producers of America. Prior to the Spaniards, France and Britain have had successful attempts to establish grapevine production in present-day Florida and Virginia.

WORD ORIGIN. Etymologically, in a vast majority of European languages “label” for wine has the same origin from the Latin word “vinum”, across the pangerman “winam”, to become in today’s English “wine”, German “Wein”, Spanish and Italian “vino”, Portuguese “vinho”, French, Romanian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish “vin”, Finish “viiniä”, Polish “wino”, Czech “víno”, Russian Bulgarian and Macedonian “vino”, Icelandic “vín”, Estonian “vein”, Letonian “vïns”, Lithuanian “vynas”… Hungarians, Greeks, Albanians deviate from this rule.

Among some old Indo-European languages (Proto-Armenian, Georgian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, Proto-Carthaginian, Hebrew) some linguists have noticed the similarities in the words which label “wine”, pointing out the possibility of their mutual origin, and that origin is “placed” in a common geographical area, Transcaucasia, which was determined based on archeological and biomolecular studies regarding viticulture origin.

GRAPE VARIETIES. Vine is usually made from one or more varieties of the European species Vitis vinifera, such as pinot noir, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, gamay, merlot. When one of these varieties is used as the predominant one (usually defined by law as a minimum of 75% to 85%), the result is the “variety” which differs from “mixed” wine. Mixed wines aren’t necessarily inferior to varietal wines, but a different way of wine production.

Wine can be made from other grape varieties or from hybrids created by genetic crossbreeding of two varieties. Thereby, a distinction should be made between hybridization and grafting. Most of the world’s vineyards are planted with the European vine Vitis vinifera grafted on a substrate of North American species, which is common practice due to their resistance to phylloxera, a root louse that eventually kills the vine. Grating is done in all vineyard regions in the world, except for Argentina and Canary Islands – the only places still unexposed to insects.

In the context of wine production, terroir is a concept that includes grape varieties used, the height and shape of the vineyard, type and chemistry of the soil, the climate and seasonal conditions as well as the local yeast culture. A number of possible combination of this factors may result in big differences among wines, also influencing the fermentation, finishing and aging process. Many wineries use cultivation and production methods that preserve or emphasize aroma or taste under the influence of their unique terroir. However, differences in taste are less desirable for mass-market table wine producers or other cheap wines, where consistency is preferred. That type of producers are trying to minimize differences in grape sources through different production techniques.

WINE FROM GRAPES… Wine is an alcoholic drink which is usually made from fermented grape juice. The yeast uses sugar from the grape and turns it into ethanol, carbon dioxide and heat. Different grape varieties and yeast strains give different types, styles of wine. These varieties result from a complex interaction between the biochemical development of grapes, reactions involved in fermentation, the grape growing environment (terroir) and the production process. Many countries enact a law and other regulations designed to define the types and qualities of wine. They usually limit the geographical origin and permitted grape varieties, as well as other aspects of wine production. Wines that are not made from grapes include fermentation of additional crops, specific for different cultures.

Wines can be classified in several ways, ranging from dry to sweet.

Red wine is made from dark colored grape varieties. The production process of this wine includes the extraction of components of color and taste from grape skip. The actual color of this wine may vary from purple, typical for young wines, across red for mature wines, to brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grape varieties is actually green-white color; the red color comes from anthocyanin pigments (anthocyanins) present in the grape skin; the exception are the varieties which have red flesh and produce red juice.

White wine gets its color through fermentation of colored grape pulp. The grapes from which white wine is produced is usually green or yellow. Some varieties are well known, such as chardonnay, sauvignon and Riesling. Other white wines are mixed from several varieties: Tokaj, Sherry and Sotern are examples of this. Dark purple grapes may be used for the production of white wine if the wine producers is careful and capable of not staining the malt during the separation of the pulp juice. For example, pinot noir is usually used for the production of champagne.

Dry (unsweetened) white wine is usually derived from the complete fermentation of malt. Sweet wines are produced when the fermentation is stopped before all the grape sugars are turned to alcohol. Sparkling wine, which are mostly white wines, are produced by not allowing carbon dioxide to leave during fermentation which occurs in the bottle, and not in the barrel.

Sparkling wine is a wine with a significant level of carbon dioxide, making it carbonated. Although the phrase usually refers to champagne, EU countries legally retain the term for products made exclusively in the French region Champagne. Sparkling wine is usually white or rose, but there are also examples of red sparkling wines. The sweetness of sparkling wine may vary from dry to more sweet.

Rose wine contains a part of grape skin color, but not enough for it to be classified as red. It’s produced from a wide spectrum of grapes throughout the world. It is possibly the oldes known wine variety, because it is the easiest to make by using the grape skin contact method. The rose color may vary from pale orange to picturesque almost purple, depending on the varieties used and the wine making technique. Rose wines can be made to be half-sparkling or sparkling, with a wide range of sweetness.

Desert wine is a sweet wine which is usually served with desert. There is no unique definition of desert wine, but it’s usually assumed to be sweeter and stronger (more than 14-15% alcohol) wines, both red and white.

Fruit wine usually gets named after the fruit from which it’s made from. Most fruits naturally lack enough fermentable sugars, appropriate amounts of acidity, yeast quantity necessary for improvement or sustaining fermentation, or a combination of these components. It is probably one of the main reasons why grape wine was far more common than other varieties and why certain varieties of fruit wines were mostly limited to regions in which the fruit was domestic or imported for other reasons.

Desert wine is a sweet wine usually served with desert. There is no unique

Honey wine (mead) is made by fermenting honey with water, sometimes various fruits, spices, cereals or hops. As long as the main substance is fermented honey, the drink is considered a mead. Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, and in Europe it was known before grape wine.

Starch based “Wine” and wine based products. It is not uncommon for drinks to be called “wine”, even though they aren’t that, such as barley or rice wine (for example sake, huangjiu, cheongju). They are produced from starch based material and are more like beer than traditional wine, whereas, for example, ginger wine is enriched with brandy. In these cases, the term “wine” refers to the similarity in alcohol percentage, and not the production process.

Regarding all this, the commercial use of the English word “wine” (and her equivalent in other languages) in many jurisdictions is protected by law. International regulations require that “wine based drinks” must contain at least 75% wine, but the producers need not reveal the nature of the remaining 25%.

LITTLE BIT ABOUT CLASSIFICATION. In many world’s regions the regulations regulate the classification of wine sale. European wines have the tendency to classify based on region, whereas the non-European wines mostly classify by the variety of grape. The market recognition of certain regions brings to its greater importance on non-European wine labels.

Some names of mixed wines are marketing terms whose use is regulated by regulations on protection laws, and not specific wine regulations.

Within European classifications, France has different systems based on terroir concept, with classification from “table wine” up to top notch wines with a controlled origin label or similar, depending on the region. Spain, Greece and Italy have classifications based on a double system of region of origin and product quality.

Wines which are produced outside the traditional European wine regions are more often classified by the grape than by terroir or region of origin.

VINTAGE. In the USA, in order for wine to have a marked year of vintage and a marked country of origin or wine-growing area, 95% of its quantity must be from the grape picked the same year. If the wine is not marked with a country of origin or a wine-growing area, the percentage required is 85%.

Vintage wines are usually bottled in one batch, so that every bottle would have similar taste. The climate influence on wine character may be significant enough to cause drastic differences in flavor and quality of different vintages from the same vineyard. So, the year of the wine is emphasized as a singular characteristic of a certain vintage. Top notch vintages of renowned producers and regions will often have higher prices than their midrange vintages. Some vintage wines are produced only in years that are higher than average.

Due to consistency, wines without an emphasized vintage may be mixed from more, which helps winemakers to sustain a reliable image on the market and sustain sales even in bad years.

TASTING. Tasting of wine is a sensory examination and evaluation of wine. Wines contain a lot of chemical compounds similar or identical to those in fruit, vegetables and spices. The sweetness of the wine is determined by the quantity of sugar remaining in the wine after fermentation, relative to the acidity of the wine. Dry wine, for example, has only a small quantity of residual sugar. Labels on some wines suggest opening the bottle and letting the wine “breathe” for a few hours before serving, while others suggest recommend drinking it immediately. Decanting (the act of pouring wine in a special container only for “breathing”) is a controversial topic among wine lovers. In addition to aeration, filtering allows the removal of bitter sediments which may occur in the wine. Sediment is more common in older bottles, but aeration may benefit younger wines.

During aeration, exposing a younger wine to air often “relaxes” the drink, making it smoother and better integrated with the aroma, texture and flavor. Older wines mostly pale (lose character and flavor intensity) with prolonged aeration. In spite of these general rules “breathing” doesn’t necessarily benefit all wines.

When tasting wine, individual flavors may also be detected, due to the complex mixture of organic molecules (for example esters and terpenes) that grape juice and wine may contain. Experienced tasters can tell apart different flavors characteristic for a specific grape and flavors which are a result of other factors in wine making. Some intentional elements of wine flavor, such as chocolate, vanilla or coffee, are given by aging in oak barrels, and not in the grapes themselves.

The so called vertical tasting includes a number of vintages within the same grape variety and vineyard, and the horizontal include one vintage from multiple vineyards.

The wine aroma comes from volatile compounds which are released in the air. The evaporation of these compounds may be accelerated by turning the wine glass or serving at room temperature. A lot of people who drink more prefer to cool red wines that are already very aromatic.

The ideal temperature for serving of a specific wine is a subject of debate among wine lovers and sommelier, but there are some relatively broad direction which will generally enhance the experience of tasting certain regular wines. Thus, white wine should encourage a feeling of coolness, achieved by serving at “cellar temperature” (13°C). It is recommended that light red young wines also be served at this temperature, because they will quickly heat up by a few degrees. Red wines are generally best experienced when served at room temperature. However, that doesn’t mean living room temperature – commonly around 21°C – rather the coldest room in the house, thus, always a little bit cooler than the living room. Pinot noir, for example, should be brought to the serving table at 16°C, and it would reach its full bouquet at 18°C. Other varieties have somewhat different suggestions.

THERE ISN’T A BETTER ONE THAN THE ONE YOU LIKE. Little consolation for those who consider themselves laymen, at least in regard to wine evaluation. Roman Weil, a well-known American economic consultant and professor at the University of Chicago, has tested the controversial hypothesis that experienced wine lovers cannot differentiate wine age in a blind testing, high from low evaluated, or, if they can, they cannot agree with the preferences of the graph of a certain vintage. Weil has, namely, used wines ranging from four to 17 years after harvest with 240 experienced wine drinkers and discovered that tasters cannot differentiate wines from good and bad vintages, expect for burgundy wines. Even when they could make a difference, the match between the individual taster evaluations and the rankings in the tables was only slightly better than the statistical probability – of a coin toss. When the test were repeated with wine experts, including French wine academics, the results were once again the same as random.

Weil however doesn’t consider that the vintage card is useless. He suggest that it is used for “finding good opportunities for wine shopping; one should shop wine from bad years”, whose price may be far below the real quality.

COLLECTING. The exceptional vintages from the finest vineyards can be sold for thousands of euros per bottle, although the broader term “fine wine” covers also those who are usually sold for 50 euros. Special choices like “Vertical”, which cover more vintages of the same grape and vineyard, may be highly evaluated. Thus chateau d’yquem, 135 year old vertical which contained every vintage from 1860 to 2003, was sold for 1,5 million dollars in the USA.

Characteristics of the most valuable collectable wines include:

• Proven records of good posture over time
• A plateau with windows for drinking (that is a period of maturity and accessibility) implies many years
• An expert consensus on wine quality
• Rigorous methods of production in each phase, including the choice of grapes and the adequate aging barrels

On the other hand, investing in fine wine has attracted those who exploit the relative ignorance of this wine sector by potential victims. In this area as well, wine frauds often profit by overpricing out of vintage wines or wines of lower status from famous wine regions, at the same time claiming a solid investments unaffected by economic cycles. As with any serious investment, before making the right decision thorough research is required.

LITTLE WINE STATISTICS. About twenty countries established themselves at the top in various economic categories – wine production, export, a share in the export market. The ring leaders are: Italy, Spain, France, USA, China, Argentina, Chile, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Greece, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, Serbia… In these variable global conditions, Italy is the greatest producer and exporter, and France is in the possession of the largest market cake. Around 30 million tons of wine per year.

The largest wine consumers per capita is by far France, followed by Portugal and Italy. IN the top ten in this category are Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary.

CULINARY ARTS. Wine follows and enhances a large spectrum of cuisines, from simple and traditional stews to the most sophisticated and complex cuisines. Wine is often served with dinner. In good restaurants, especially in western countries, wine usually goes toe to toe with dinner. In these types of situations a sommelier or a wine waiter help “pair” the food and wine.

Wine is drank also without a following course in wine bars or with an appropriate cheese selection (on a wine or a cheese party)

Directly in the kitchen, wine is important not only as a drink. Its acidity gives balance to rich salty or sweet dishes. An example of a culinary sauce is wine sauce which uses wine as a primary ingredient.

WINE AND HEALTH. Wine contains ethyl – alcohol, and intoxicating chemical which is also a component of beer and distilled alcoholic beverages. Different concentrations of alcohol in the human body have a different effect. Thus the alcohol effects of wine, among other factors, depend on its quantity, the time of consumption, percentage of alcohol in the wine and the quantity of consumed food. Drinking enough to reach a blood alcohol concentration of 0.03% – 0.12% usually causes overall improvement in mood, enhanced confidence and sociability, reduced anxiety, redness of the face, reduced reasoning ability and fine motoric coordination. Larger quantities of ethanol in the blood, even the one coming from wine, leads to issues with balanced and foggy vision, deep confusion, deranged speech, dizziness and vomiting, up to fainting, amnesia, depression, coma and even death.

Wines in a short time period may start up positive emotions, such as feelings of relaxation and comfort. The context and wine quality also can influence the mood and emotions. Some studies have concluded that drinking small, controlled doses of alcohol, including those coming from wine, is related to a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus and early death. Drinking large quantities directly enhances risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and stroke.

WINE CELLARS or wine rooms, if they are overhead, are places designed especially for storage and aging of wine. Top notch restaurants and some private houses have them. In an active wine cellar temperature and humidity is sustained by a climate control system. Passive wine cellars don’t have a climate control systems and therefore must be carefully located. Given the fact that wine is a natural, perishable food product, all types – including red, white, sparkling and enriched – may rot when exposed to heat, light, vibration or temperature and humidity variations. When stored properly, wines, as they age, can maintain their quality and even improve the aroma, taste and complexity. Some wine experts claim that optimal temperature for wine storage is 13°C (for other 15°C).

An alternative to wine cellars are wine refrigerators, which are not ideal for aging, but are rather used to cool the wine to the appropriate temperature for consumption.

WHO IS WHAT IN THE WINE INDUSTRY AND CULTURE. A large number of professions that are a specific part of the wine industry, starting from the individuals who produce grapes, prepare the wine, bottle it, sell it, evaluate it, place on the market and finally give recommendations to clients and serve the wine. So, a cellar master is a person responsible for the wine cellar. A cooper is an expert in making and maintaining wooden barrels. Enologist is an expert in the field of enology, a science about wine, or a wine chemist. A vine grower is a specialist for grapevine science; manager for vineyard pruning, watering and pest control (may be trained by and enologist, but is often hired as a consultant. A sommelier is a wine expert, responsible for the wine card of a restaurant, the education of staff about wine, and responsible for helping clients in selecting their wines (especially in regard to pairing food and wine). A vintner is a wine maker; a person who makes wine. A wine critique is a wine enthusiast and a journalist who tastes and reviews the wine for books and magazines. A wine waiter is a restaurant or a wine bar server with a basic and intermediate knowledge of food and wine pairing.