"Glossary of business law terms"

The library of the prestigious Institut de management et de communication interculturels (ISIT), formerly the Institut supérieur d'interprétation et de traduction, makes available a whole host of r...

A - Wine Glossary 

Acidity: The sour or tart taste in wine and other food. The primary natural acid in grapes and wine is Tartaric acid; the second most abundant is Malic acid. Sometimes referred to as the "backbone" of a wine, acidity contributes to a wine's aging ability. The sour taste of acidity in wine is often pleasantly counterbalanced by sweetness (from sugar or alcohol).

Aftertaste: The "shadow taste" remaining in your mouth just after swallowing a sip of wine. Important in wine tasting because it can reveal an extra attribute or fault. In general terms the longer the taste lingers the better the wine.

Aging: Term describing the storing of wine under certain specific conditions for the purpose of improving the wine. Aging of wines (usually reds) for long periods in oak barrels adds oak-flavour and makes the wine more complex. After bottling, further aging in sealed bottles develops a pleasing taste and odour characteristic.

Alcohol: Many different compounds in nature are classed as "alcohols" chemically. In wine only one exists in significant amounts - ethanol. Other alcohols, if present, occur only in minute amounts and are usually thought of as flavour components. Alcohol adds a sweetish taste to wines, or hotness if present in too high a concentration. Conversely, if its alcohol content is too low, a wine may be thin, unbalanced and lacking in body.

Aligoté: A white wine grape used in various blends in many countries but best known for its fruity, light wines from Burgundy in France.

Amontillado: A type of Spanish sherry, medium in colour and sweetness between Fino (light and dry) and Olorosso (heavier and sweet). Amontillados are known for a distinctively nutty flavour not possessed by the other Sherry types.

Appellation Contrólée (AC/AOC): French wine laws that dictate which varieties can be planted in specific regions, certain production methods, etc. These tight controls are not a guarantee of quality, unfortunately.

Appellation: A term used to describe the vineyard location where the grapes were grown for a specific wine. It can refer to a broad region, such as Napa Valley in California or Bordeaux in France. Or, it can refer to a more tightly defined sub-region like Oak Knoll within Napa Valley or Médoc within Bordeaux. Wine snobs often proclaim that wines grown within certain highly regarded appellations have a higher quality than similar wines grown elsewhere. Experienced tasters know that this is not necessarily true.
All grapes, as all wines, grown within any certain appellation are not necessarily superb; neither are they necessarily plonk. Nevertheless, wines from certain appellations usually sell at higher prices than do similar wines from "lesser" appellations, regardless of how others might rank them.

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