Glossary Terms

Also known as brewer’s yeast or baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is the species of yeast that is instrumental in wine-making. It is considered predictable, ferments vigorously and can tolerate the relatively high levels of alcohol that wine achieves. The must (grape juice) is often inoculated with saccharomyces cerevisiae deliberately, but there are usually other yeasts that are on the skins of the grapes themselves or in the winery air that are also involved in fermentation.

Saignée, from the French for ‘bled’ (saigner – to bleed) is a wine-making process (usually used in red wine making) where a proportion of the juice is drained (or bled) from a tank of crushed grapes. The juice that is drained off (and hence not in contact with skins for as long) is often then used to make rosé wines. The remaining juice then produces a red wine with concentrated colour and tannin – as the proportion of skins to juice has been increased by the draining off.

Sauternes is a sweet wine from the Sauternes region, which is part of Bordeaux, in south western France. The wine is made from predominantly Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes, sometimes with a little Muscadelle, affected by botrytis cinerea (noble rot). The botrytis cinerea allows the grapes to raisin (dry out) but also adds a distinctive flavour (typically dried apricot, but also orange marmalade) to the wines. Yields are low and erratic and production costs, from harvesting onwards, are extremely high which results in expensive wines. Sauternes is part of Bordeaux’s Grand Cru Classé hierarchy, and includes one Premier Cru Supérieur, Chateau d’Yquem.

A process utilised in the production of sparkling wine (most notably in wines produced via the méthode traditionelle) whereby yeast and sugars are added to a still, (usually) dry wine and the bottle is sealed, allowing the carbon dioxide produced to be captured and dissolved back in the wine, creating bubbles on opening. The secondary fermentation increases the alcoholic content of the wine by approximately 1-1.5%. Secondary fermentation is used in other sparkling wine production techniques, such as the transfer method, but it is not employed on a bottle by bottle basis.

Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes (mostly Palomino) that have been grown in the region of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. The wines are produced in a range of styles, ranging from the very light Manzanilla through to the extremely sweet Pedro Ximenez. Aside from fortification, a key part of the production of Sherry is the use of a solera, for both blending and aging the wines.

As Sherry is a protected, registered name, producers in Australia who make Sherry-style wines use the term Apera.

A generic term to indicate that a wine contains sufficient carbon dioxide to cause bubbles. The EU goes so far as to define it as a wine with an excess of 3 standard atmospheres of pressure. Wines are labelled differently depending on region or amount of bubbles – for example, Champagne indicates that wine has been made via the méthode traditionnelle from a particular region of France, and the use of the terms frizzante and spumante on Italian wines indicates the level of fizziness.

Spumante is an Italian labelling term used to indicate that a wine is fully sparkling. It is the generic Italian term for sparkling wine but in the context of labelling, wines labelled spumante must have at least 3 bar of pressure (EU regulations).

Spumante is from the Italiam spumare – to foam.

Sulphur Dioxide (the chemical compound with the formula SO₂, a colourless gas) is used widely in winemaking thanks to its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. This makes it an excellent preservative, and its use helps to prevent processes that create aromas and flavours that are viewed as faults (for example, premature oxidation and the presence of brett).

Super Tuscan is an informal term used to describe the wines of Tuscany that are exceptional but have not historically met the DOCG/DOC labelling requirements. The term was first used in the 1970s with the emergence of cult wines such Sassicaia, and drove the addition of IGT to the Italian wine hierarchy. They are typically red wines which are made using ‘international’ grapes – or grapes that are not typically grown in Tuscany or accepted as part of the DOCG/DOC regulations. Over time, some of these wines (such as Sassicaia) have been awarded DOC or DOCG status.

Tartaric acid is an acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, including grapes. It is also used as a wine-making additive – helping to bolster the acidity levels of lower acid wines (perhaps ones made from grapes that have over-ripened or are naturally lower in acidity). In addition, it lowers the wine’s pH which helps to eliminate undesirable bacteria and has a preservative effect.