Pinot Noir is a black grape, most famous for producing the great red wines of Bourgogne. It is grown in cooler climates and is used widely in the production of sparkling wines. It tends to be used in single varietal wines, due its comparatively delicate flavour profile, which is dominated by red berry fruits.
You can red more about Pinot Noir in Everything You Need to Know About Pinot Noir.
Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley in Portugal. It is a PDO and thus only wines from the region and meeting the relevant regulations may be labelled ‘Port’.
It is typically a sweet red wine, with an alcohol content around 20% abv, although dry and white versions do exist. While over 100 grape varieties are allowed in Port production, in reality, the main five used are Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesca and Touriga Nacional. The wines are fortified before fermentation is complete, producing a sweet but high alcohol wine. They are then aged for varying amounts of time in both barrel and bottle to produce a range of styles.
Premature oxidation is a wine fault where the wine (usually a white wine) has oxidised far more rapidly than you would expect for its age. The wine is typically deeper in colour (a dull, almost murky, yellow) and will possibly have aromas of bruised apples, even tending towards Sherry-like notes. It is most commonly caused by a faulty cork (in the absence of a good seal, more oxygen is allowed into the bottle) or very low sulphur dioxide levels. It can also appear in wines sealed with a screw cap if the cap has been damaged. It was very widely seen in the white wines of Bourgogne in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
A potentially contentious glossary entry! Prosecco DOC is a sparkling white wine made from the grape Glera. It is produced in north eastern Italy (in the Veneto) region and most wines are produced by the Charmat method.
However, in Australia, sparkling wines made from Glera are usually labelled as Prosecco (a synonym for the grape, as well as a DOC). Again, they are typically produced via the Charmat method. This is a source of tension between Australia and Italy as Italy seeks recognised protection for the term Prosecco (similar to that currently enjoyed by Champagne, for example).
Protected Designation of Origin is a geographical indication defined in European Union law intended to protect culturally or regionally significant agricultural products and foods. While the designation is linked principally to location, it also recognises the importance of other factors, such as manufacturing techniques and ingredients.
It applies to wines, although typically each European country has its own way of labelling (for example, France’s Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) which tends to be used in preference.
Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) is a European wide labelling term that indicates that an agricultural product or foodstuff (including wine) comes from, and is at least in part produced in, a specific area and has a quality or property attributable to that region. In general, it is less strict and less prestigious than Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
Reductive winemaking techniques protect the juice and wine from oxygen. This is usually done to maintain the fresh fruit characters associated with the grapes (for example, the bright herbaceous and tropical notes of Sauvignon Blanc). Reductive winemaking is the opposite of oxidative winemaking.
Approaches that are reductive include using air-tight vessels (for example, stainless steel tanks rather than oak), as well as avoiding techniques such as bâtonnage or racking, which can expose a wine to oxygen.
Reductive winemaking can lead to reductive or reduced characters appearing in the finished product – these include rotten egg gas (hydrogen disulphide), struck match, or notes of onion and garlic.
(French: remuage) Riddling is the process by which sediment in a Champagne (or other traditional method wine) bottle is loosened and moved towards the neck so that it can be disgorged. Riddling can be done by hand (which is time and labour intensive – taking four to six weeks) or by gyropalettes, which take cages of wine and can complete the process in just a week. The next stage after riddling is disgorgement.
Rioja is one of two wine regions in Spain with the DOCa classification. The region, in the north of Spain, is divided into three sub-zones: Rioja Alavesa, Rioja Alta and Rioja Oriental. The wines are predominantly red, made from Tempranillo (overwhelmingly the most planted grape variety in the region), Grenache, Mazuelo and Graciano. The whites are made from Viura, Malvasia and Grenache Blanc.
Ageing in oak is important in Rioja and wines are further classified by the time they have spent in oak. The labelling terms Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva indicate that a wine has spent an increasing amount of time in both oak barrels and bottle prior to release.
