Crémant

Crémant is the term used for French sparkling wines made outside the region of Champagne using the Méthode Champenoise. (Sparkling wine labeled Champagne can only be made within the Champagne region.) Examples of crémant include Crémant d’Alsace and Crémant de Bourgogne (from the Alsace and Burgundy regions, respectively.)

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil)

Méthode Champenoise vs. Charmat

There’s still some effervescence left here in the Wine Word of the Week…

Méthode Champenoise is the method used to make Champagne and other fine sparkling wines. The wine undergoes a secondary fermentation, which creates the bubbles, in individual bottles. This method is more labor-intensive and costly than the Charmat.

The Charmat method involves placing the wine in large, pressurized tanks for its secondary fermentation. This is also known as “bulk process” since it’s a mass-production method for producing bulk quantities of sparkling wine. This method decreases lees contact and produces larger, coarser bubbles. The wine is then filtered under pressure and bottled.

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil and winespectator.com)

Spumante vs. Frizzante

Since we were on the subject of bubbly last week, let’s stay there… but let’s at least take it Italy!

I knew that both spumante and frizzante indicate “sparkling” in Italian, but wasn’t quite sure of the difference.

Spumante, literally “foaming”, is a sparkling wine; perhaps most well-known is the slightly sweet sparkling wine, Asti Spumante. (Though now it’s officially called simply Asti.)
Asti is the name of the town in the Piedmont region from which it comes and it is made primarily with the moscato grape.

Frizzante, on the other hand (or in the other glass, if you prefer) is slightly fizzy, less so than spumante. The Veneto’s prosecco, one of Italy’s most popular sparkling wines, is traditionally frizzante, although some examples can be fully spumante.

Now let’s go get a glass of it to celebrate our newfound knowledge!

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil)

With the holidays and festivities upon us, I thought I’d provide a short primer on the terms used to describe the level of sweetness of Champagne or sparkling wine. (You do know the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine, don’t you?) Most bottles will have one of these terms on the label:

Extra Brut — A very dry Champagne or sparkling wine, with less than .06 percent residual sugar.
Brut — A French term indicating the wine is dry to very dry, with less than 1.5 percent residual sugar.
Extra Dry — This one is a little confusing because it actually refers to a Champagne or sparkling wine that is slightly sweet to dry, with up to 2.0 percent residual sugar.
Demi-Sec — Literally “half-dry” in French, it is used to describe a sparkling wine or Champagne that is moderately sweet.
Sec — This one’s even more confusing! It literally means “dry” in French; however, in relation to wine, it indicates that the wine is medium sweet to sweet.
Doux — Designates the sweetest level of Champagne or sparkling wine.

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil and winespectator.com)

Varietal vs. Variety

Although oftentimes using interchangeably, there actually is a different meaning for each word; albeit a somewhat obscure difference.

Varietal refers to a wine labeled with a single grape variety. Used predominantly in the United States and Australia, the term denotes a wine named after and made from a single grape variety. For varietal bottling, a minimum of 75 percent of that wine must be made from the designated grape variety.

A variety refers to the grape itself, whereas the term varietal refers to the wine made from that grape variety. For example, “Chardonnay is an early-ripening variety.” And, “The popular varietal is served in many restaurants.”

(winespectator.com)

Sulfur (Sulfites)

I’ve chosen this week’s word thanks to a reader who asked about the term contains sulfites on most wine bottle labels, and if it’s something we should be concerned about since it reads like a warning.

Sulfur is a natural chemical element that has been used as a wine preservative for hundreds of years. In all of its forms it is harmless to people except for the very few who are severely allergic to it. (The word “sulfites” on the label is a catchall term for sulfur in all its forms.)

The most common form of sulfur used in winemaking is sulfur dioxide. When it is added to wine it prevents oxidation and bacterial spoilage, and it inhibits the growth of yeasts.

During the last few decades, winemakers have sought to minimize the amount of sulfur dioxide they use, mostly in response to concerns voiced by wine consumers. Nonetheless, it’s pretty much impossible to produce a wine that is entirely sulfur free because a small amount of sulfur dioxide is the by-product of metabolism during fermentation.

United States law mandates that the term contains sulfites appear on all labels of wines that contain more than 10 parts per million of sulfur dioxide (most do), even when the wine has been produced without the addition of sulfur dioxide.

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil)

Alcohol by Volume

It’s a safe assumption you know what this means, but perhaps you weren’t aware that what’s printed on the label isn’t necessarily what’s in the bottle.

The percentage of the alcohol content in wine must appear on the label thanks to U.S. law. However, because alcohol content is difficult to measure precisely, and because wineries usually have to print their labels before the exact content is known, the percentage stated on the label need only be accurate within 1.5 percent. And that’s for a wine that has an alcohol content of no more than 14 percent.

If a wine has alcohol content greater than 14 percent, then the label must be accurate within 1 percent. So, far example, if a wine is labeled as having 12 percent alcohol by volume, then it may contain anywhere from 10.5 to 13.5 percent.

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil)

Pip

I know you’re expecting a quip about Gladys Knight…

I admit, I’m featuring this word this week solely because it’s cute. Like a nickname you’d give your grandmother.

Pip, quite simply, is another term for a grape seed.
(I heard it through the grapevine.)

(winespectator.com)

Pomace

No, not the stone for scraping calluses from your feet. (That would be pumice.)

Pomace is the mashed solid residue of skins, stems and seeds left over after the pressing of grapes (for whites) or after the wine has been drained from the fermentation tank (for reds).

It can be distilled to make grappa (Italy), marc (France), or eau-de-vie (France and the U.S.)

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil and winespectator.com)

Second Wine

Not to be confused with “I’ll have a second glass of wine.”

Sometimes called a “second label”, a second wine is just that: a secondary, and usually less expensive, wine made by a winery. Most wineries that make a second label are highly respected for their primary label and may not want to be known for their second label.

Hawk Crest is the second wine of the more prestigious Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in California.

The wine sold under a second label is not as high quality as the primary, and the grapes may come from younger vines or lesser vineyards.

For example, in California, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars has a second wine called Hawk Crest. In Bordeaux, Château Latour’s second wine is Les Forts de Latour.

(The Wine Bible, Karen MacNeil)