Wine 101

Having a 101 course on one's wine blog seems to be necessary these days. So here's the rundown of some key wine terms:

First, the types of wine:

• White wines: Made from red, purple/black, or white grapes, the juice is pressed off the skins and fermented. No tannins, relying entirely on citric and tartric acids for structure. Minimal aging potential, limited to particular grapes, regions, and wineries. Primary flavours tend to be citrus, floral, mineral, and tree fruits.
• Red wines: Made from red & purple/black grapes, the fruit is pressed and fermented on the skins. Tannins provide structure & aging potential, along with acids. Primary flavours tend to be berries, earth, some dark floral (rose/violet), and pitted fruits (such as plum).
• Rosé wines: Made from red & purple/black grapes, the fruit is pressed, fermented for a short time on the skins, then drained off to complete fermentation & maturation similar to a white. Minimal tannins, if any. No aging potential, intended to be drunk young. Primary flavours are all over the place, everything from citrus to black fruit, depending on method of fermentation, type of grape, and length of time on the skins. Some rosés are made by blending a red and white, though this is not a common method.
• White (Zinfandel, Merlot, etc): Made by picking the dark-skinned grape before full ripeness, adding sugar pre-fermentation (chapitalization), then fermenting the same way as a rosé and bottling. The addition of sugar is to counter the higher acid content that results from an early harvest, and to ensure enough sugar for fermentation. Picking the grapes early allows for less exactitude in fermentation and maturation.
• Dessert wines: Made one of three ways; late harvest, noble rot (botrytis), or eiswein (grapes frozen on the vine & pressed before thawing). Very sweet, can be either red or white. Frequently slightly syrupy with honey or molasses notes.

Next up, some wine terms that might confuse the heck out of most non-experts:

• Tannin: A chemical found in wine, tea, and other foods. Gives a "dried-out" feeling to the inside of the mouth. Used in tanning leather (therefore the name "tannin"). Helps preserve the wine for long aging, and gives structure to the flavours of the wine. Only found in wines exposed to the skins during fermentation (red wines). Frequently imparts a bitter flavour. High levels of tannin are found in Barolo and Barbaresco wines from the Piedmont region of Italy.
  
• Citric acid: Same acid in orange or grapefruit juice. Gives a tight prickly feeling along the lower jaw, and increases saliva production along the sides of the tongue. Provides structure to flavours. Sauvignon Blanc has quite a bit of citric acid.
  
• Tartaric acid: Cream of Tartar. Occasionally forms harmless crystals in the bottom of wine bottles. Provides "crispness" and affects the apparent sweetness of a wine. Chenin Blanc has a high level of tartaric acid.
  
• Nose: What you smell when you stick your nose in the glass.
• Notes: The flavours in a wine. Like in a piece of music, the individual notes form a chord of harmony, or a dissonant noise.

Levels of sweetness:

• Dry/Trocken/Sec: A wine that has no residual sugar (less than 4-9 g/L, depending on acid content), post-fermentation. Most wines are dry.
• Semi-Sweet/Half-Sweet/Halbtrocken/Demi-Sec: Some residual sugar.
  
• Medium Sweet/Lieblich/Moelleux: More sugar than in a semi-sweet, but not enough to be considered a dessert wine.
• Sweet/Süss/Doux: Very high levels of sweetness, more than 45 g/L.
• Occasionally, the apparent sweetness of wine does not equal its residual sugar level.

So there you have a few of the basic wine terms. Next up? Oak, and its influence on wine. The good and the bad.