Wine Terms | La Boutique Du Vin

Wine Terms

Morrión or Muselet

The muselet is the metal wire cage that is used in bottles of sparkling wines to keep the cork in place and prevent it from popping out with the pressure coming from the bubbles. Before the invention ...

Nov 18, 2024

Primary Fermentation

Primary fermentation is the process that turns grape juice into wine through a series of chemical reactions. To put it simply, yeast (a microorganism) turns the natural sugar in the grape juice into a...

Nov 8, 2024 Wine Terms

Fumé Blanc

Fumé Blanc is a term used in California to refer to a dry style of wine made with Sauvignon Blanc grapes. It was first used by Robert Mondavi Winery in 1968 in an effort to differentiate this style fr...

Nov 7, 2024 Wine Terms

Terroir

Derived from the Latin word ‘terra”, meaning “earth”, the term terroir has been used for centuries to describe the unique environmental factors found in a specific region and how they affect the wine ...

Oct 30, 2024 Wine Terms

Whole cluster

Whole cluster fermentation refers to a winemaking technique that uses entire bunches of grapes instead of removing the individual grapes from the stems. Usually, grapes are harvested and separated fro...

Oct 29, 2024 Wine Terms

Poniente and Levante

The “poniente” and “levante” are two wind currents that affect the vineyards of the Jerez region in southwestern Spain. The poniente blows from the Atlantic Ocean towards the east during the months of...

Oct 23, 2024 Wine Terms

Jarilla

Jarilla is a resinous wild shrub with yellow flowers typical of the western region of Argentina where it grows near the Andes Mountain range in dry and arid soils. Its medicinal qualities have been us...

Oct 15, 2024 Wine Terms

Bordeaux bottle

A Bordeaux bottle, the most common glass wine bottle, is recognized for its cylindric shape, short neck and high shoulders. Before 1740’s, bottles were round with a flat base, and not intended for pro...

Sep 23, 2024 Wine Terms

Brut Nature

Brut Nature is the term used for the driest style of Champagne, where no additional sugar is used during the production process. This style can have from 0-3 grams of residual sugar per liter, in comp...

Sep 20, 2024 Wine Terms

Liebfraumilch

Liebfraumilch is a German white wine made in a semi-sweet style using at least 70% of one or more of these grapes: Riesling, Silvaner, Müller Thurgau, and Kerner. The name translates to “milk of our L...

Sep 20, 2024 Wine Terms

Beneficio System

The Beneficio System is used in the Douro region of Portugal to classify vineyards and establish the amount of Port wine that each winery can produce. Created in 1933 by the Instituto dos Vinhos do Do...

Sep 12, 2024 Wine Terms

Vitis Vinifera

Vitis Vinifera is the scientific name of the grape vine used to produce most of the wines of the world. It is native to central Europe and southwest Asia, where it was domesticated around 7,000 BC in ...

Sep 5, 2024 Wine Terms

1
2
3
4
5