Terms - In General

Question 1

What is Alte Reben?

Answer 1

Old Vines - Germany

Question 2

What is sonnenuhr?

Answer 2

Sundial vineyard

Question 3

What is remuage?

Answer 3

Riddling - Champagne

Question 4

What is bouvreux?

Answer 4

Second crop that rarely ripens and is left on the vine due to rain interrupting flowering - Champagne

Question 5

What is a crayeres?

Answer 5

Chalk Cave - Champagne (Ruinart)

Question 6

What is les bleus de ville?

Answer 6

Parisian garbage compost bags (Champagne) - outlawed in 1998

Question 7

What is a marc?

Answer 7

2,550 L per 4,000kg of fruit
or
102 L of must for every 160kg of grapes

Champagne

Question 8

What is blocage and deblocage

Answer 8

Respectively, the reserve and release of wine stocks for use in future vintages

Question 9

What is the vin de cuvee?

Answer 9

The first 2,050 liters of pressed juice (Champagne)

Question 10

What is the vin de taille?

Answer 10

The 500 liters of pressed juice following the vin de cuvee (Champagne)

Question 11

What is the rebeche?

Answer 11

Third extraction of pressed juice in Champagne, required by law. Must comprise 1-10% of the total. Used for distillate, not Champagne

Question 12

What is debourbage?

Answer 12

The settling of pressed juice (Champagne)

Question 13

What are bourbes?

Answer 13

Remaining solids after debourbage (Champagne) - these are then racked

Question 14

What is vins clairs?

Answer 14

High-Acid base wines (Champagne) - 11% abv

Question 15

What is assemblage?

Answer 15

Blending components to a final wine

Question 16

What is liqueur de tirage?

Answer 16

A mixture of still wine, yeasts, sugar, and fining agents that serve to ignite the second fermentation (Champagne)

Question 17

What is prise de mousse?

Answer 17

The second fermentation (Champagne)

Question 18

What is a bidule?

Answer 18

A plastic capsule that catches sediment during remuage (Champagne)

Question 19

What is sur latte?

Answer 19

Bottles are stored horizontally (Champagne)

Question 20

What is autolysis?

Answer 20

The breakdown of dead yeast cells

Question 21

What is pointage?

Answer 21

Bottle is briskly shaken in order to prevent sediment from sticking to the sides of the bottle (Champagne)

This is no longer widely practiced, new strains of yeast do not stick

Question 22

What is a pupitre?

Answer 22

Two large wooden planks fastened together in an upright “A” shape, with sixty angled holes cut into each plank of wood (Champagne)

Question 23

What is a gyropalette?

Answer 23

Spain’s answer to remuage by hand. An automated device that holds 504 bottles.

Question 24

What is sur pointe?

Answer 24

Once the sediment has settled in the neck of the bottle, bottles remain in the upside-down vertical position for a short period of time prior to degorgement (Champagne)

Question 25

What is a la glace?

Answer 25

Degorgement method involving dipping the neck of the bottle in a freezing brine solution. The bottle is then turned upright. The force of internal pressure will expel the semi-frozen sediment as the crown cap is removed. (Champagne)

Question 26

What is liqueur d’expedition?

Answer 26

Dosage, a liquid mixture of sugar syrup and wine. The amount of sugar in the dosage is determined by the desired style of the wine. (Champagne)

Question 27

What is a muselet?

Answer 27

Wire cage that secures the cork of a bottle (Champagne, sparkling)

Question 28

What is transvasage?

Answer 28

Transfer method that is permitted if the bottle is larger than a Jeroboam and smaller than a half bottle. (Champagne)

Question 29

What is Club Tresors?

Answer 29

Special Club (Champagne)

Question 30

What is methode ancestrale?

Answer 30

Sparkling winemaking method - oldest and most rudimentary. Single fermentation begins in tank, but the wine is transferred to bottle before the process is complete - no liqueur de tirage

Bugey Cerdon
Clairette de Die Methode Dioise Ancestrale
Gaillac Mousseux Methods Gaillacoise

Question 31

What is the charmat method?

Answer 31

Cuve Close/Tank Method

Eugene Charmat

Post primary fermentation, liqueur de tirage is added, occurs in a pressureized nemal-lined tank, or autoclave, over a matter of days.

Asti DOCG
Prosecco

Question 32

What is continuous method?

Answer 32

Russian Continuous Method

Developed in the USSR - base wine is pumped through a series of interconnected (continuous) tanks while undergoing the second fermentation. Liqueur de tirage is consantly added to the wine, and lees accumulate in the first several tanks, offering a higher degree of autolyzed flavors than the standard tank method

German Sekt (Tank or Continuous)

Question 33

What is en provignage? Who uses it?

Answer 33

Layering (also called en foule, meaning “in a crowd”), results in a cramped, slightly unkempt-looking vineyard of seemingly infant vines. In this system, the vine renews itself constantly by layering a previous year’s cane in November. Above the ground, it forms a new fruiting cane, and under the ground it grows its own roots, adding to the thick, zigzagging carpet of roots.

Bollinger