AC: used in France as an abbreviation of Appellation Contrôllée,
a type of regional wine cooperative.
Apéritif: A beverage served before a meal intended to stimulate the appetite.
Traditional apéritifs include many fortified wines, such as
sweet and dry vermouth, Lillet and Dubonnet, as well as champagne
and other sparkling wines and Sauternes.
Appellation: The name of a wine, particularly regarding its geographic origin.
Appellation
Contrôlée: Short for Appellation d'Origine
Contrôlée.
Appellation
d'Origine Contrôlée: Abbreviating to
AOC, this is the highest level of the French system of geographic
naming control. It was developed in the 1930s to regulate French wine
production, purity and geographic origin, and is administered by the
Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, or INAO. Rules for AOC
qualification are stringent and far-reaching, covering everything
from grape varieties and winemaking methods to yields and vine density.
Wines from regions that have not earned AOC status may fall into the
VDQS category or vin de pays, or they may simply be vin de table.
The successful AOC system has been emulated, with mixed results, by
most wine-producing countries as well as the European Union, whose
quality wine designation is its parallel.
Assemblage: The blending of wines, particularly finer wines. See also, coupage.
France Wine Terminology- Dallas Bartenders
B
Barrique: French The most famous type of wine-making barrel, in Bordeaux it
has a capacity of 225 litres (59.4 US fl. gal., 49.5 UK gal.). Outside
France the word is often used for any kind of wooden barrel.
Blanc: White.
Blanc
de blancs: Literally "white of whites",
this is the French term for white wine made from light-skinned grapes.
Most frequently it is associated with Champagne where much white wine
is made from dark-skinned grapes. See blanc de noirs.
Blanc
de noirs: Literally "white of blacks", this
is the French term for white wine made from dark-skinned grapes, such
as champagne that is made from Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes. See
blanc de blancs.
Brut: Literally meaning "rough", "raw" or "crude",
this word is used to describe champagne and other sparkling wine that
is dry to bone dry. See also dosage.
France Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
C
Capsule: French. The foil, the metal or plastic sheath covering the top of
a wine bottle to protect the cork.
Cassis: Meaning "blackcurrant" and also a liqueur flavored with
blackcurrants, and used to describe the same character in wine, but
implying a more pronounced or intense quality.
Caudalie: From the Latin word cauda, meaning "tail", this is a unit
of measure of the duration of a wine's finish. 1 Caudalie = 1 second
of aftertaste.
Cépage: Meaning "grape variety".
Chai
or Chais: Term used mostly in Bordeaux for a place
where wine is stored in barrels.
France's Wine Terminology- Dallas Bartenders
Château: French Translates literally to "castle", but in wine terms
generally refers to an estate that produces wine from vines grown
on the property. The word is most often associated with Bordeaux where
currently there are more than 7,000 châteaux.
Château-bottled: In Bordeaux this is an assurance of a wine's authenticity. The words
"mise en bouteille au château", or simply "mise
au château", on a wine label guarantee that the estate
that grew the grapes also produced and bottled the wine. In France
this is strictly controlled by law, however, similar phrases appear
on wines from all over the world and should often be regarded with
a bit of skepticism. See domaine-bottled, estate-bottled and Erzeugerabfüllung.
Clairet: A wine produced in Bordeaux that falls between a rosé and a
red wine in color.
French Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
Climat: Used in Burgundy for "vineyard", taking into account the
collected climatic and geographic influences on the land.
Clos: In Burgundy, a vineyard surrounded by walls.
Côte: Hillside or slope.
Coulure: A vine condition that adversely effects yield. Soon after flowering,
immature, under-nourished grapes dry up and fall from the vines. It
is impossible to prevent coulure altogether, but good weather conditions
and careful growing practices can minimize its effects.
Coupage: Meaning literally "cutting", a term for blending wines,
usually applied to lower quality wines, while the term assemblage
is reserved for the blending of finer wines.
France Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
Crémant: As it applies to champagne it means a style of wine
that is somewhat less sparkling than fully sparkling, or mousseux,
wines at about half the pressure in atmospheres. More recently it
has been used to designate certain sparkling wines produced in France
by means of the méthode champenoise but falling outside the
boundaries of the Champagne region, such as Crémant d'Alsace
and Crémant de Loire.
Cru
or crû: Generally translated as "growth",
it is used in France to mean "vineyard".
Cuvaison: With red wine, it is the period during fermentation when the juice
is kept in contact with the skins. It is from the skins and seeds
of the grapes that the juice gains colour and tannins, as well as
vital flavour and aroma components.
French Wine Terminology- Dallas Bartenders
Cuve: A vat or tank. Typically, a large fermentation vessel made of wood
or stainless steel.
Cuve
close: Synonymous with Charmat method of producing
sparkling wine.
Cuvée: Originally referred to the contents of one cuve, but now often found
on wine labels meaning either the wine produced under a particular
set of conditions, or a particular blend of wines.
Cuvée
de prestige: Also called cuvée spéciale,
this is the name given to the premium wines produced by some champagne
houses, the first and most famous of which is Moët & Chandon's
Dom Pérignon.
