Glossary

AVA - American Viticultural Area - a geographic designation for a wine growing region.

Batonage - hand-stirring of the lees, using an instrument shaped like a conductor's baton.

Block - a specific, contiguous section within a vineyard with its own particular terroir or micro-climate; usually identified by particular flavor characteristics deemed to be worthy of separate handling in winemaking.

Bottle shock - also called bottle sickness; a temporary condition that can occur in wines that have just been bottled or have been recently moved too much. Continuous vibrations can upset the elements in wine, as can variations in temperature and light. The physical movement breaks down the polyphenols which take some time to re-form. It leaves the wine flat in aroma and flavor. A rest of up to a few months will usually heal the wine and restore its balance.

Brix - a scale for measuring the concentration of sugars in grapes; grapes for sparkling wines are picked at around 19 degrees Brix and still wines from 22 - 28.

Calcareous soil - composed primarily of limestone, a rock made of calcium carbonate.

Cap management - the cap is the layer of grape solids that floats on the surface during red wine fermentation; it limits exposure of the yeast to oxygen and has to be broken up during fermentation to allow for color and flavor extraction from the skins into the wine.

Clone - a single vine or group of vines obtained by propagation from cuttings or buds from a single "mother vine;" clones are typically identified by numbers or names and each has different attributes and characteristics.

Cuvée - a specific lot of wine.

Délestage or rack and return - a cap management process for aerating the must and optimizing contact between the must and solids during fermentation.

Disgorged - an integral step in the making of sparkling wines, in which the frozen sediment is removed from the neck of each bottle.

Dosage - the final addition of a sugar solution to sparkling wine to provide balance and offset acidity.

Estate wine - wine made entirely from grapes farmed on the winery's own vineyards.

Fermentation - the conversion of sugar to ethanol using yeast under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions; carbon dioxide (CO2) is a by-product. More information at Wikipedia.

Fining - the process of clarifying and stabilizing wine.

Lactic acid - a softer acid that is commonly found in dairy products, it imparts a buttery mouthfeel. More information at Wikipedia.

Lees - the sediment composed of grape seeds, pulp, skins, dead yeast cells and tartrates that are deposited during the making and aging of wine.

Maceration - an important process in red winemaking, the steeping of grape skins and solids in must, where alcohol acts as a solvent to extract color, tannin and aroma from the skins during fermentation.

Malic acid - one of the two principal organic acids that occur naturally in grapes and wines. The other acid is tartaric acid. More information at Wikipedia.

Malolactic fermentation - converts malic acid to lactic acid (lower acidity) and carbon dioxide; decreases overall acidity and adds the buttery characteristic. More information at Wikipedia.

Méthode Champenoise - traditional sparkling wine production method from France.

Must - the mixture of grape juice, stem fragments, grape skins, seeds and pulp that results from crushing grapes to make wine.

pH - a scale of measurement of acidity ranging from 0-14 with 7 neutral, 0 extremely acidic and 14 extremely alkaline. More information at Wikipedia.

Pump over - a cap management process for aerating the must and optimizing the contact between the must and solids during fermentation - the juice is drawn out from the bottom of the container and pumped back into the top of that container.

Punch down - a cap management process for aerating the must and optimizing the contact between the must and solids during fermentation - the skins are literally punched down into the juice.

Reserve wine - superior wines made from grapes grown at the best sites of the winery's vineyards, usually possessing greater concentration and depth.

Riddling - an integral stage in the making of sparkling wines, in which deposits left in the bottle after secondary fermentation are dislodged and shaken into the neck of the inverted bottle; can be done by hand or machine.

Single vineyard wine - wine made entirely from the grapes from one particular vineyard of the winery estate property, instead of blending them with other estate grapes.

Sparkling wine sweetness ratings - many of the sweetest types of sparkling wines have largely fallen out of vogue in recent years with consumers preferring to drink dry or slightly off-dry sparkling wines. Laetitia produces sparkling wines that fall into the Brut and Extra Dry categories.

Brut Natural or Brut Zéro (less than 3 grams of sugar per liter)

Extra Brut (less than 6 grams of sugar per liter)

Brut (less than 15 grams of sugar per liter)

Extra Sec or Extra Dry (12 to 20 grams of sugar per liter)

Sec (17 to 35 grams of sugar per liter)

Demi-Sec (33 to 50 grams of sugar per liter)

Doux (more than 50 grams of sugar per liter)

Tartaric acid - one of the two principal naturally occurring organic acids in grapes and wines. The other acid is malic. Tartaric acid is only partially soluble in wine. More information at Wikipedia.

Terroir - the climate and physical properties of the land where grapes are grown.

Veraison - the beginning of the ripening of grapes when the berries soften and begin to turn color, sugar increases and acidity decreases.