Wine Terms You Might Not Know from A to Z (Part 2 Starts with N)

Tomorrow, we'll be back to our travels, but today, it is our duty to finish the alphabet. Of course, the second half of the alphabet is tougher than the first half. In the first half, the biggest burden is probably the letter J, but in the second half, we are stuck with Q, V, X, and Z. But, we shall persevere.

N is for Negociant -- I've spoken of them frequently. A negociant is simply a wine merchant. They go from vineyard to vineyard, buying grapes or juice, already pressed and they blend them. What is their quality like? Sometimes it's really good; other times, it's really bad. Negociants became a bit of a rage in Burgundy, the two best known being Louis Jadot and Charles Drouhin (you thought they were estates?). In the US, the name that first comes to mind is Charles Shaw, he of two-buack-Chuck.

O is for Oeschle -- In German wines, the law is filled with requirements for Oeschle. While we measure the sugar content of US grapes in brix (many US vignerons choose when to harvest their grapes based on the brix level) and in France on Baumé, there are rarely requirements around them. But, among German pradikatwein, those of the highest quality, there are minimums as to the Oeschle level.

P is for Punt -- Have you ever looked at the bottom of a wine bottle? Of course you have. Unless it's a Riesling, Gewurtzraminer, or other wine associated with the German or Austrian wine regions, it probably has a significant dimple at the bottom. The punt strengthens the glass. When many bottles were hand blown, this was significant. Today, it's mostly for show. However, in bottles of sparkling wine that are bottled under high pressure, having a punt is necessary to limit the likelihood of the pressure exploding the bottle.

Q is for Quinta -- The Portuguese word for farm and sometimes used for estate, some of the finest Portuguese wines carry the label Quinta, including, for example, the port house, Quinta do Noval.

R is for Resveratrol -- On a health kick? Drink wine. The reason is that the grapes skins and therefore most wines, particularly red wines, contain copious amounts of resveratrol Who cares? You do. Numerous studies in refereed journals have found that resveratrol is statistically likely to improve heart health and reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, arthritis, blindess, and Type 2 diabetes. 

S is for Saignée -- The French word for bleeding, the saignée process bleeds juice out of a tank of red must. It serves two purposes -- 1) the resulting juice that has not had much skin contact and produces a Rose style wine (the Provencal will tell you this is not real Rose however) and 2) the remaining juice is far richer and produces a more concentrated wine with more intense flavors.

T is for Tannins -- Tannin is a polyphenol. Tannins make your mouth pucker. They come from seeds, stems, and skins, primarily of red wines. Some people hate them. Tannins give those people a sensation of unpleasantness in their mouths. Others love them as they give people a sense of body and structure in their mouths. In addition to all that, they serve as a natural preservative in wine.

U is for Ullage -- Ullage is the small space in the bottle or barrel for air. Without ullage, a bottle would be filled right to the cork, have no air and neither last nor mature. The ullage allows for oxidation, but too much ullage accelerates the oxidation too much.

V is for Viticulture -- Viticulture is the study, cultivation, and science of grapes and of wine. It's also a worker placement board game from Stonemaier Games that I highly recommend. You use you workers to build a winery, produce wine, sell it, and entertain guests.

W is for Wrattonbully -- Okay, I struggled for an interesting W, but this is just a cool word. It's actually a wine region in South Australia known for the minerality of its wine produced from grapes grown in particuarly limestone-based soils.

X is for Xinomavro -- Xinomavro is particularly dark-skinned grape indigenous to Greece. Translating literally as acid black in contrast to its sibling Xinisteri or acid white, Xinomavro is known to have such high acidity that it is rarely bottled alone, but usually blended with other local grapes.

Y is for Yquem -- In the wine classification of 1855, a small number of French estates were given the classification premier cru, or first estate or first growth. These were the finest wines of all. But, Chateau d'Yquem, and only Yquem, was given the classification premier cru superieur, and the price shows it.

Z is for Zibibbo -- Why not end with another strange sounding name, this time a grape. Zibibbo is what they call Muscat of Alexandria in Sicily. It is usually the grape used to create Sicilian Moscato.