Rancio: A style of wine, usually fortified wine or vin doux naturel, that
involves deliberate maderization and/or oxidation. It is made primarily
in France and Spain.
Ratafia: A sweet apéritif made in France from dried
grapes and fortified with marc.
Récolte: Vintage.
Remontage: A process carried out during cuvaison where the wine is pumped over
the cap, floating the layer of grape skins to keep the cap from drying
and to aerate the wine.
Remuage: Riddling.
Réserve: Reserve. Implying a wine that is in some way superior.
S
Saignée: Meaning literally "bled"; this is a technique wherein a
certain amount of free-run juice is drawn from crushed red grapes
after a brief maceration to produce a rosé wine and/or to concentrate
the remaining juice.
Sangria
or Sangría: A summer beverage, originating
in Spain, made of red wine sweetened and flavoured with citrus or
other fruit and served over ice. Soda water, various liqueurs or brandy
are sometimes added.
Sec: Dry.
Selection
de Grains Nobles: The highest designation for the
wines of Alsace based, like the German system, on grape ripeness.
These late-harvest wines are rich, sweet and botrytis-affected.
French Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
Sommelier: A specialized waiter responsible for serving wine, as well as offering
advice on specific wines and food and wine combinations.
Soutirage: Racking.
Sur
lie: Meaning "on the lees", this term refers
to the winemaking practice of leaving wine, usually white wine, in
contact with the lees after fermentation. Lees contact is inherent
in the making of bottle fermented sparkling wines, but is also employed
with some still wines, particularly Muscadet from the Loire, to add
flavour and complexity to the wine. These wines often take on a very
slight effervescence.
French Wine Terms- Dallas Bartenders
T
Tastevin: A traditional utensil used by winemakers to view and sample small
amounts of wine, it is generally a shallow silver cup or saucer often
dimpled to reflect light.
Teinturier: Meaning literally "dyer", any of a number of grape varieties
having red flesh and juice, rather than the usual white. Most red
wines acquire their color by extracting pigment from the skins of
dark grapes but teinturier varieties can be used to boost the color
of pale wines. Called tintorera in Spanish.
Terroir: Meaning "soil"; a term for the effect of the land on a wine.
Without a direct English equivalent, this word specifically refers
to the consistent, distinctive qualities in a wine that are not due
to grape variety, specific weather fluctuations or the skills of the
grower and winemaker. Soil composition and drainage, elevation and
slope, exposure to sun as well as micro- and mesoclimate all contribute
to terroir. It is an elusive quality, better captured by some wines
than others, but it plays a large role in defining specific geographic
wine regions.
French Wine Terms- Dallas Bartenders
Tirage: Meaning "pulling" or "drawing", this refers either
to simply drawing wine from the barrel for bottling or for the process
in the making of sparkling wine of adding a mixture that includes
fermentable sugar and yeast, called dosage, or liqueur de tirage to
induce the secondary fermentation.
Tonneau: Originally a large wooden barrel that held an amount equal to 100
cases of bottled wine (900 litres, 237.6 US gal, 197.9 UK gal) the
word is still used in the Bordeaux trade as a measure of wine volume.
France Wine Terms- Dallas Bartenders
V
Vendange: Harvest or vintage.
Vendage: Late harvest.
Véraison: A stage in the ripening process of grapes. It is the
relatively short period during which the firm, green berries begin
to soften and change color.
Vigneron: Vine grower or vineyard laborer.
Vignoble: Vineyard.
Vin: Wine.
Vin
biologique: Organic wine; France is a world leader
in this area.
Vin
de cépage: French varietal wine.
Vin
de garde: Wine with great potential to improve with
age and therefore suitable for cellaring.
Vin
de glace: Ice wine.
Vin
Délimité de Qualité Supérieur: Abbreviated to VDQS and meaning "delimited wine of superior quality",
this is an official classification of French wine regions below the
level of Appelation d'Origine Contrôlée, but above Vin
de Pays. It is administered by the Institut National des Appellations
d'Origine, intended to recognize the quality of certain smaller wine
producing areas. While wines bearing this designation comprise only
about 1% of annual wine production in France, guidelines for qualification
are strict and many VDQS areas have eventually graduated to full AOC
status.
France's Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
Vin
de liqueur: A fortified wine which has had its fermentation
completely averted by the addition of alcohol, usually in the form
of brandy or marc, to the unfermented grape juice. The resulting wine
is sweet due to the high amounts of residual sugar and without benefit
of the complexity of flavour that would have come from fermentation
it is often dominated by the added spirit. Examples are Pineau des
Charentes and Macvin de Jura.
Vin
de paille: Meaning "straw wine", this name
refers not to the color of the wine but to the traditional method
of production involving drying the grapes either on straw mats or
hanging from rafters before crushing and fermentation. These opulent
sweet wines come from Alsace and the Jura primarily, as well as the
Rhône and are made in miniscule amounts by a few dedicated wine
makers.
France's Wine Glossary- Dallas Bartenders
Vin
de Pays: Meaning "country wine", this is
an official category of French wines above the level of vin de table
comprising about one quarter of the wine produced in France. Wines
bearing this designation should be of higher quality than vin de table
wines and should demonstrate a certain amount of regional character.
Vin
de presse: Pressed wine.
Vin
de table: Table wine; also called vin ordinaire: the
basic and largely unregulated class of French wine comprising about
one quarter of all wine produced in France. Labels of these wines
do not bear information regarding grape variety or geographic origin
more specific than the name of the country.
Vin
doux naturel: Meaning "naturally sweet wine".
This is a type of fortified wine originating in Roussillon and made
in a number of regions in southern France. Production is similar to
that of port, but the wines are not as strong, usually about 15% alcohol.
It is made in a number of styles ranging from golden white to deep
red and tawny.
French Wine Terms- Dallas Bartenders
Vin
gris: Literally "grey wine". This is a style
that is paler pink than rosé.
Vin
jaune: Meaning "yellow wine", this is an
unusual wine from the Jura in eastern France. It is not fortified
but is made using methods similar to those used to produce the fino
style of sherry, including a special yeast, locally called voile (meaning
"veil"), which is similar to flor. Despite the film of yeast
a certain amount of oxidation occurs, adding to its sherry-like character.
The wine is aged in wooden casks for a minimum of six years and three
months during which it is not topped up, then is bottled in unique
620ml (21 fl. oz.) bottles, called clavelins. The golden yellow wine
has a rich nutty flavour and can age in bottle for many decades.
Vin
mousseux: Sparkling wine.
France's Wine Terms- Dallas Bartenders
Vin
ordinaire: Essentially the same as vin de table. Meaning
"ordinary" or everyday wine. In France as well as other
parts of Europe, wine is a staple, consumed at nearly every lunch
and dinner. Wine made for this purpose is simple and unpretentious.
It is not necessarily bad, but it never aspires to the greatness or
ageing ability of some quality wines, which are prized and generally
reserved for special occasions. Sometimes used in a pejorative sense.
Vin
primeur: Now mostly synonymous with vin nouveau but
originally was a distinct wine released one month later than nouveau.
X
Xérès: The French word for Jerez as in Jerez de la Frontera, the Spanish
city that is central to the region producing Spanish sherry. By extension,
also French for sherry.
