glossary

Direct Matches:

Oxidized: Describes wine that has been exposed too long to air and taken on a brownish color, losing its freshness and perhaps beginning to smell and taste like Sherry or old apples. Oxidized wines are also called maderized or sherrified.

Related Matches:

Nutty: Used to describe oxidized wines. Often a flaw, but when it's close to an oaky flavor it can be a plus.

Reduced: Commonly used to describe a wine that has not been exposed to air. Wine that has not been exposed to air can develop stinky aromas due to reductive chemical reactions (as opposed to oxidation). Off aromas usually dissipate after exposure to air.

Fill Level: The amount of wine in a bottle is gauged by its height in the bottle. Common descriptors are good fill, high shoulder (the wine level is even with the sloping part of the bottle just below the neck), or low shoulder. Important since fill level is an indicator of the wine’s condition and whether it has been properly stored. The air space in the bottle, called ullage, can cause harmful oxidation.

Ullage: Refers to the small air space in a wine bottle or barrel. Excessive air in the bottle increases the speed of oxidation.

Microoxygenation: This technique, used almost exclusively on red wines, allows winemakers to control the amount of oxygen that wines in tank are exposed to. The apparatus involves chambers connected by tubes and valves to an oxygen tank. Small, measured amounts of oxygen are allowed to pass through the wine via a porous stone or ceramic plate at or near the base of the tank. The benefits of this type of oxygen exposure include prevention of oxidation and reduction as well as promotion of healthy yeast cultures, which prevent stuck fermentations. Microoxygenation is also believed to soften tannins and, in conjunction with the use of oak chips, is frequently practiced as an alternative to oak barrel aging.

Devatting: Also known as délestage, the oxidative winemaking process in which, after the cap of grape musts, skins, seeds and stems forms on the top of a vat of fermenting wine, the wine is drained through a valve at the base of the tank into another vat and reserved while the remaining solids are allowed to drain for a few hours. The reserved wine is then pumped back into the original tank over the top of the drained skins, seeds and stems. Like punch downs and pump overs, the purpose of devatting is to increase the extraction of color, flavor, tannins and aromas from the solids, as well as aerate the fermenting wine.