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ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE
Any potable liquid containing from 1% to 75% of ethyl alcohol by volume is called an alcoholic
beverage. It is obtained by the fermentation of sugar based foods or by the distillation of fermented
products.
DEFINITION OF ALCOHOL: alcohol is an odorless liquid containing either ethyl or methyl alcohol
where ethyl alcohol is potable and methyl alcohol is fatal and is used in the industrial purpose only.
All the alcoholic beverages contain ethyl alcohol. Alcohol can be made from grain like barley, rye, corn
or maize; fruits like grape, sugarcane, apple, pear etc.
Alcohol can be obtained by the following methods:
FERMENTATION: in this process the sugar content of the fruit or grain is converted into alcohol by
the action of yeast.

C6H12O6+ YEAST =2C2H5OH+2CO2

(SUGAR)

(ALCOHOL)

(GAS)

DISTILLATION: the fermented mash of fruit or grain is heated. Alcohol, which evaporates at a lower
temperature than water is trapped and condensed to a liquid by cooling. Pure alcohol has no color,
taste or smell. There are two types of distillation processes:
1). Pot Still Method also called as batch distillation method and
2). Patent Still Method also called as Coffey still method or continuous distillation method.
CLASSIFICATION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
All alcoholic beverages are put under three categories;
Fermented alcoholic beverages: these are the alcoholic beverages obtained after the fermentation
process and are called as fermented products. The alcoholic %age varies between 2% to 22%. The
examples are; beer, wine, cider, sake, Perry, mead etc.
Fermented and distilled alcoholic beverage: these are the alcoholic beverages obtained after
distillation of the fermented mash containing alcohol. The alcohol% age varies between 22% and 56%.
Examples are; rum, gin, vodka, whisky, brandy, tequila etc.
Compound alcoholic beverages: the alcoholic beverages that are prepared using either the fermented
or the distilled alcoholic beverages as one major ingredient or as the base. Examples are; cocktails,
liqueurs etc.

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WINES
Definition of wines: wine is an alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of the juices of freshly
gathered grapes. Fermentation is carried out in the district of origin according to the local customs
and traditions.
HISTORY OF WINE MAKING: The history of wine spans thousands of years and is closely
intertwined with the history of agriculture, cuisine, civilization and humanity itself. Archaeological
evidence suggests that the earliest known wine production occurred in Iran and Armenia dated
between 8,000 BC and 6,000 BC, respectively. Evidence of the earliest wine production in Europe has
been uncovered at archaeological sites in northern Greece (Macedonia), dated to 6,500 years ago.
These same sites also contain remnants of the world's earliest evidence of crushed grapes. In Egypt,
wine became a part of recorded history, playing an important role in ancient ceremonial life. Traces of
wild wine dating from the second and first millennium BC have also been found in China.
Wine, tied in myth to Dionysus/Bacchus, was common in ancient Greece and Rome, and many of the
major wine-producing regions of Western Europe today were established with Phoenician and later
Roman plantations. Wine-making technology, such as the wine press, improved considerably during
the time of the Roman Empire; many grape varieties and cultivation techniques were known
and barrels were developed for storing and shipping wine. Wine production gradually increased and its
consumption

became

popularized

from

the

15th

century

onwards,

surviving

the

devastating Phylloxera louse of the 1870s and eventually establishing growing regions throughout the
world.
VITICULTURE:

Viticulture (from

the Latin word

for vine)

is

the science, production and

study

of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used
for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture. It is one branch of the science of horticulture.
Duties

of

the

viticulturist

include:

controlling pests and diseases, fertilizing, irrigation, canopy management,

monitoring

and

monitoring fruit

development and characteristics, deciding when to harvest and vine pruning during the winter
months. Viticulturists are often intimately involved with winemakers, because vineyard management
and the resulting grape characteristics provide the basis from which winemaking can begin.

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VINE DISEASES: following are the diseases which may occur in the growth of grapes which need to be
tackled with to prevent the crop from spoiling.
1. Oidium tuckerii: in the form of powdery mildew which destroys the flowers and can be
prevented by spraying sulphur before and after blossoming.
2. Phylloxera : louse like aphid that eats up the roots thus rendering weak vines and weak fruits.
3. Pernospora: fungal attack on leaves so no good photosynthesis. Copper sulphate salt can be
4.

sprayed to prevent this.

Cochylis: these are moths and caterpillars that eat up the leaves. Arsenic salt and nicotine

can be sprayed.
5. Grey rot (pourriture gris): fungal attack on the fruits causes unpleasant odor.
6. Noble rot (pourriture noble): same fungus that ruptures the skin of the grapes and exposes
the pulp to dry winter air. This results in the loss of water content of the juice resulting in more
concentration of sugar. This helps the wine makers in producing better quality wines. Also
considered as a favorable disease.
Climatic conditions:

Enough sunshine to ripen the grapes,

Moderate winter
Average yearly temperature of 14-15 degree Celsius.

CLASSIFICATION OF WINES: all wines are classified as under:

1. Table wines: also called as still wines include Red, White and Rose wines. They lack
carbonation (no CO2). These are further classified as dry and sweet wines. Dry means there is
either no or very little sugar and they are termed as best meal accompanying wines. Dry is
achieved by natural means when sugar is converted into alcohol after fermentation. The
alcoholic %age varies between 8.5% to 14%.
Examples : Beaujolais, Chablis, montes, chateauneuf du pape, Medoc , tavel rose, blue nun
etc.
2. Sparkling wines: wines that contain CO2 to make them fizzy. This is obtained after
fermentation and retained in the bottle. The alcoholic %age varies between 9%

to 14%.

Champagnes are the best sparkling wines of the world. Generally consumed during festive
occasion and can accompany the meal throughout. Examples: moet n chandon, lanson, cooks,
MDP, spumante (Italian), tattinger etc.

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3. Fortified wines: these are the wines which have been fortified(strength increased) by the
addition of alcohol generally brandy either during or after fermentation. Alcoholic %age may
vary between 15% to 22%. Examples: sherry, port, Madeira, marsala, etc. These wines if taken
before the meals are also called as aperitifs while ones taken after the meals are called as
dessert wines.
4. Aromatized wines: these are the wines which have been first fortified and then aromatized by
the addition of flavoring agents like herbs, barks or other seasonings. Examples: vermouth,
dubonnet and bitters.

PRODUCTION OF TABLE WINES:

Following are the steps taken while the production of table wines.
1. Harvesting: grapes are plucked when the density of bloom(natural yeast on the skin) is
constant on maximum bunches. The grape is fully ripe and has the balance between sugar
and acidity, which gives the wine its taste, is achieved. Plucked in dry weather conditions.
2. Grading: grapes are graded according to the quality.

3. Weighing: to determine the quantity required for the fermentation the grapes are weighed.
4. Removal of stalks: the stalks have a bitter taste because of tannins/ bitter oils present
which may spoil the final taste of the wine. They are plucked off the grapes by the
destalking machines.

5. Crushing: or pressing where the grapes are pressed to extract the juices. This can be done
in the following ways;
Manual method : in this method the grapes are crushed by feet.
Mechanical method: where the machines press the grapes and extract the juice.
Balloon method: in this method the grapes are filled in a large container and insert a
big balloon inside. The tank is sealed. When the air is blown inside the balloon it
expands and the grapes are crushed between the balloon and the wall of the tank.
Carbonic maceration: in this method CO2 is injected in the sealed tank containing the
grapes. This ruptures the skin and the weight of the grapes press the grapes on the
lower level. Thus getting the MUST(juice obtained after crushing).
6. Chaptalisation: an optional step where the specific gravity of must is checked by the wine
makers to denote the sugar levels and thus the potential alcohol. If the sugar level is found

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to be insufficient they may add sugar to improve the sugar level and thus the alcohol
percentage.
7. Sulphuring: the must is ready for fermentation. But before fermentation is started the
sulphur is sprinkled over the must to remove the acetobacter bacteria. Sulphur eats up the
entire oxygen(where acetobacter bacteria survives) from the must and forms the thick layer
of the froth over the must. This prevents the atmospheric oxygen from entering the must
and no more bacteria can grow and must does not get converted into vinegar. This also
helps in killing the wild yeast if any present on the skins of the grapes.

8. Fermentation: process of converting sugar into alcohol where the the yeast called
saccharomyces ellipsoideus is added in a specific quantity (generally 3%-5% of the total
volume of the must). Fermentation may take place from two days to two weeks time(till
sugar is present in the must). The temperature is maintained at 64 degree to 70 degree F
for red wines and 44 degree to 59 degree for the white wines.
9.

Cellaring: after the fermentation is complete the running wine (the top portion of the wine
where there are no skins, seeds, pulps etc as they settle down at the bottom of the tank)
also called as vin-de-goutte is taken out in the casks and send to the cellars for maturation.
The casks must be filled till the top to exclude the air.

10. Second pressing : the remaining wine in the fermentation that is also containing the skins
seeds, pulp is sent for second pressing to extract more color and juice concentration. The
resulting juice is called as vin-de-presse and can be added to vin-de-goutte as it is good in
tannin.
11. Racking: the wine needs to be separate from the lees(the suspended particles, dead yeast,
which settle down during maturation) as they decompose and give bad smell/odor to the
wine. Wine is carefully pumped out into another barrel leaving behind the lees. This
process is called as racking. The left over wine along with the lees is sent for distillation and
is now called as eau-de-vie-de-marc.

12. Finning and filtration: the wine after the racking is cloudy and gives hazy appearance.
This needs to be cleared to convert it into fine wine. Isinglass, white of egg, colloidal silica,
gelatin or bentonite can be added which collects the impurities (protein haze) of the wine
and settles at the bottom. Now the wine is passed through fine filters.
13. Refrigeration: this is done to stabilize the wine.

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14. Blending: done to improve the quality of wine. Wines from different vineyards which may
have matured through different years are blended together to give consistent quality and
taste.
15. Aging: this takes place naturally by allowing the wine to rest in oak barrels for one or two
years to gain maturity and develop a soft mellow character from the oak wood.

16. Bottling: glass bottles are preferred. Some may be colored to prevent light from ruining the
wine. Bottles are cleaned and dried with hot air.
17. Corking: cork is one of the best materials to seal a bottle of wine. Cork is the bark of the
tree which after the age of 40 years develops a thick, spongy and semi hard cork. The corks
mainly come from Portugal and Spain. After putting the corks are inserted in the bottles
they are sealed with Spanish wax.

18. Pasteurization: process to stop the further fermentation in the wine. The bottles are
immersed in the double boilers upside down for two minutes at the temperature of 180
degree Fahrenheit.
19. Maturing: wines are matured to bring good acid and tannin balance. The wines are allowed
to stay in the bottle for the period which may differ from house to house. Bordeaux and
burgundy wines are matured for 3-4 years. Red wines benefit the most from maturation.

20. Labeling:

the bottles are labeled and the label should contain the following information;
Country of origin
Region of the country from where the wine is coming
Appellation or the quality that it qualifies
Name and address of the supplier
Alcohol percentage volume by volume
The net contents of the bottle

Some informations can be optional like

Vintage year
Brand name or chateau name
Source of bottling

21. Storing: wines are stored in the cellars maintaining the temperature of 12.5 degree Celsius
and stored in the shelves depending upon the type of wine.

PRODUCTION OF SPARKLING WINES

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These are the wines which have carbon di oxide in them which makes it fizzy. A sparkling wine
can be made by the following methods;
1. By artificially injecting CO2 in the bottles containing table wine just like we do in
the aerated drinks.
2. By retaining the CO2 that is produced by the fermentation process in the tank also
called as CUVEE CLOSE (CHARMAT) method and transferring it into the bottle
along with the wine.
3. By second fermentation done in the bottle itself also called as CHAMPANOISE
method.
Following are the steps of producing sparkling wine by Champanoise method.
1. HARVESTING: all the steps of harvesting, grading, destalking remain same as for the table
wine making.
2. PRESSING AND FERMENTATION: same as for table wine making.

3. BLENDING: after the primary fermentation the wines from different vineyards are blended
to form a cuvee.
4. BOTTLING: the base wine is bottled in champagne bottles stoutly made to contain the
pressure of the CO2 gas. This pressure is about 90 lbs per square inch. At this stage the
mixture of sugar and yeast (also called as liquor de tirage) is added in the bottle and the
bottle is sealed with the help of mushroom shaped cork and agrafe

(wire arrangement

with a steel cap).

5. SECONDARY FERMENTATION: this happens in the bottles after the addition of liquor de
tirage and form the CO2 bubbles. They remain captive in the bottle along with the wine.
6. MATURING: the bottles are left for maturation undisturbed for a year or two. The bottles
are stored in chalk cellars at around 60-65 degree Fahrenheit.

7. REMUAGE: during long rest in the chalk cellars the wine gives off sediments and the
impurities which are to be removed so that the wine can move for the final stages of
preparation. In this process the bottles are placed in special racks called pupitres which
gives the bottles a slanting angle to collect the sediments and the impurities close to the
neck of the bottle. The objective is to allow the sediments to slide down the side of the bottle
and collect at the bottom of its temporary stopper. At the end of this process the bottles are
completely inverted upside down.

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8. DEGORGEMENT: in this step the bottles necks are dipped in the freezing water. The
sediments and little wine is converted into ice. The cork at this stage is removed and the
frozen wine along with the sediments come out of the bottles as frozen bullets.

9. DOSAGE: the bottle is topped up to make up the loss of wine either by adding champagne
or liqueur de expedition. This liqueur will decide the final taste of the wine which could be
very dry to sweet. Gradation are from the driest to the sweet- brut, extra sec, sec, demi sec,
demi doux or doux.
10. AGING: the bottles are sent for aging after they have been labeled before marketing.

French wine
French wine is produced in several regions throughout France, in quantities between 50 and
60 million hectolitres per year, or 78 billion bottles. France has the world's second-largest total
vineyard area, behind Spain. The wines produced today range from expensive high-end wines sold
internationally, to more modest wines usually only seen within France.
Two concepts central to higher end French wines are the notion of "terroir", which links the style of the
wines to the specific locations where the grapes are grown and the wine is made, and the Appellation
d'Origine Contrle (AOC) system. Appellation rules closely define which grape varieties and
winemaking practices are approved for classification in each of France's several hundred
geographically defined appellations, which can cover entire regions, individual villages or even specific
vineyards.

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History
French

wine

originated

in

the

6th

century

BC,

with

the

colonization

of

Southern Gaul by Greek settlers. Viticulture soon flourished with the founding of the Greek colony
of Marseille. During the Middle Ages, monks maintained vineyards and, more importantly, conserved
wine-making knowledge and skills during that often turbulent period.
The advance of the French wine industry stopped abruptly as first Mildew and then Phylloxera spread
throughout the country, indeed across all of Europe, leaving vineyards desolate. Then came an
economic downturn in Europe followed by two world wars, and the French wine industry didn't fully
recover for decades. Meanwhile competition had arrived and threatened the treasured French "brands"
such as Champagne and Bordeaux. This resulted in the establishment in 1935 of the Appellation
d'Origine Contrle to protect French interests.
Quality levels and appellation system
In 1935 numerous laws were passed to control the quality of French wine. They established
the Appellation d'Origine Contrle system, which is governed by a powerful oversight board (Institut
National des Appellations dOrigine INAO). Consequently, France has one of the oldest systems
for protected designation of origin for wine in the world, and strict laws concerning winemaking and
production.
French law divides wine into four categories, two falling under the European Union's Table Wine
category and two falling under the EU's Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR)
designation.

Table wine:

Vin de Table (11.7%) Carries with it only the producer and the designation that it is from
France.

Vin de Pays (33.9%) Carries with it a specific region within France (for example Vin de Pays
d'Oc from Languedoc-Roussillon or Vin de Pays de Ctes de Gascogne from Gascony), and subject
to less restrictive regulations than AOC wines. For instance, it allows producers to distinguish
wines that are made using grape varieties or procedures other than those required by the AOC
rules. In order to maintain a distinction from Vin de Table, the producers have to submit the wine
for analysis and tasting, and the wines have to be made from certain varieties or blends.

QWPSR:

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Vin Dlimit de Qualit Superieure (VDQS, 0.9%) Less strict than AOC, usually used for
smaller areas or as a "waiting room" for potential AOCs. This category will be abolished at the end
of 2011.

Appellation d'Origine Contrle (AOC, 53.4%) Wine from a particular area with many other
restrictions, including grape varieties and winemaking methods.

Reforms
The wine classification system of France has been under overhaul since 2006, with a new system to be
fully introduced by 2012. The new system consists of three categories rather than four, since there will
be no category corresponding to VDQS from 2012. The new categories are:

Vin de France, a table wine category basically replacing Vin de Table, but allowing grape
variety and vintage to be indicated on the label.

Indication Gographique Protge (IGP), an intermediate category basically replacing Vin de

Pays.

Appellation d'Origine Protge (AOP), the highest category basically replacing AOC wines.

The largest changes will be in the Vin de France category, and to VDQS wines, which either need to
qualify as AOP wines or be downgraded to an IGP category. For the former AOC wines, the move to
AOP will only mean minor changes to the terminology of the label, while the actual names of the
appellations themselves will remain unchanged.
While no new wines will be marketed under the old designations from 2012, bottles already in the
distribution chain will not be relabelled.

Wine styles, grape varieties

All common styles of wine red, ros, white (dry, semi-sweet and sweet), sparkling and fortified are
produced in France.
In many respects, French wines have more of a regional than a national identity, as evidenced by
different grape varieties, production methods and different classification systems in the various
regions. Quality levels and prices vary enormously, and some wines are made for immediate
consumption while other are meant for long-time cellaring.

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Most French wines are developed as wines meant to accompany food, be it a quick baguette, a
simple bistro meal, or a full-fledged multi-course menu. Since the French tradition is to serve wine
with food, wines have seldom been developed or styled as "bar wines" for drinking on their own.
Grape varieties
Numerous grape varieties are cultivated in France, most of the so-called "international varieties" are of
French origin, or became known and spread because of their cultivation in France.
Most varieties of grape are primarily associated with a certain region, such as Cabernet Sauvignon in
Bordeaux and Syrah in Rhne, although there are some varieties that are found in two or more
regions, such as Chardonnay in Bourgogne (including Chablis) and Champagne, and Sauvignon Blanc
in Loire and Bordeaux. Traditionally, many French wines have been blended from several grape
varieties. Varietal white wines have been, and are still, more common than varietal red wines.
White varieties
Ugni Blanc
Chardonnay

Red varieties
Merlot
Grenache

Melon de Bourgogne

Syrah

Smillon

Carignan

Sauvignon Blanc
Chenin Blanc

Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc

Grenache Blanc

Gamay

Viognier

Pinot Noir

Aligot

Grolleau

. Riesling

Pinot Meunier

Terroir
The concept of Terroir, which refers to the unique combination of natural factors associated with any
particular vineyard, is important to Frenchvignerons. It includes such factors as soil, underlying rock,
altitude, slope of hill or terrain, orientation toward the sun, and microclimate(typical rain, winds,
humidity, temperature variations, etc.). Even in the same area, no two vineyards have exactly the same
terroir, In other words: when the same grape variety is planted in different regions, it can produce

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wines that are significantly different from each other. In France the concept of terroir manifests itself
most extremely in the Burgundy region.
Labelling practices
The amount of information included on French wine labels varies depending on which region the wine
was made in, and what level of classification the wine carries. As a minimum, labels will usually state
that classification, as well as the name of the producer, and, for wines above the Vin De Table level,
will also include the geographical area where the wine was made. Sometimes that will simply be the
wider region where the wine was made, but some labels, especially for higher quality wines, will also
include details of the individual village or commune, and even the specific vineyard where the wine
was sourced. With the exception of wines from the Alsace region,
Labels will also indicate where the wine was bottled, which can be an indication as to the quality level
of the wine, and whether it was bottled by a single producer, or more anonymously and in larger
quantities:
"Mis en bouteille ..."

"... au chteau, au domaine, la proprit": these have a similar meaning,

and indicate the wine was "estate bottled", on the same property on which it was grown.

"... par ..." the wine was bottled by the concern whose name follows. This may
be the producing vineyard or it may not.

"... dans la rgion de production": the wine was not bottled at the vineyard but
by a larger business at its warehouse; this warehouse was within the same winemaking region
of France as the appellation.

"... dans nos chais, dans nos caves": the wine was bottled by the business
named on the label.

"Vigneron indpendant" is a special mark adopted by some independent wine-makers,

to distinguish them from larger corporate winemaking operations and symbolize a return to the
basics of the craft of wine-making. Bottles from these independent makers carry a special logo
usually printed on the foil cap covering the cork.

If varietal names are displayed, common EU rules apply:

If a single varietal name is used, the wine must be made from a minimum of 85% of this variety.

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If two or more varietal names are used, only the displayed varieties are allowed.

If two or more varietal names are used, they must generally appear in descending order.

Wine regions of France

The recognized wine producing areas in France are regulated by the Institut National des Appellations
d'Origine INAO. Every appellation in France is defined by INAO, in regards to the individual regions
particular wine "character". If a wine fails to meet the INAO's strict criteria it is declassified into a
lower appellation or even into Vin de Pays or Vin de Table.
Alsace

Bordeaux.

Burgundy

Champagne

Corsica

Loire

Jura

Languedoc-Roussillon

Provence

Rhne

Savoy

South West France

Alsace
Alsace is primarily a white-wine region, though some red, ros, sparkling and sweet wines are also
produced. It is situated in eastern France on the river Rhine and borders Germany, a country with
which it shares many grape varieties as well as a long tradition of varietal labelling. Grapes grown in
Alsace include Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc,Pinot Noir, and Muscat.

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French: Vin d'Alsace) is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily
white. These wines, which for historical reasons have a strong Germanic influence, are produced
under three different Appellations d'Origine Contrles (AOCs): Alsace AOC for white, ros and
Alsatian wine (in

Alsace Grand Cru AOC for white wines from certain classified vineyards and Crmant
d'Alsace AOC for sparkling wines. Both dry and sweet white wines are produced, and are often made
from aromatic grapes varieties. Along with Austria andGermany, it produces some of the most
noted dry Rieslings in the world, but on the export market, Alsace is perhaps even more noted for
highly aromatic Gewrztraminer wines. Because of its Germanic influence, it is the only region in
France to produce mostly varietal wines, typically from similar grapes as used in German wine.
red wines,

The geography of the wine growing area in Alsace is determined by two main factors, the
mountains in the west and the

Vosges

Rhine river in the east. The vineyards are concentrated in a narrow

strip, running in a roughly north-south direction, on the lower eastern slopes of the Vosges, at
altitudes of 175420 m. Those altitudes provide a good balance between temperature, drainage and
sun exposure under Alsace's growing conditions.
Wine styles

Pinot Noir grape which are pale red, often

ros, rarely red (e.g. Rouge d'Ottrott (fr)). Sparkling wines known as Crmant d'Alsace are also
Almost all wines are white, except those made from the

made. Much of the white wines of Alsace are made from aromatic grape varieties, so many
characteristic Alsace wines are aromatic, floral and spicy. Almost all production in Alsace is of AOC
wine.
Bottles
There is a legal requirement for bottling Alsace wine in tall bottles commonly called

fltes

d'Alsace. In the AOC rules, the bottle type is actually called vin du Rhin, i.e., "Rhine wine bottle".
Without being mandated by law, this bottle format is also common and traditional in many German
regions, particularly for Riesling and other traditional white wine varieties.
Grape varieties:

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Riesling

Pinot Noir

Gewrztraminer

Sylvaner

Pinot Gris

Pinot Blanc

Auxerrois Blanc

Chasselas

Producers
Some of the best known producers include

Maison Trimbach,
Domaine Zind-Humbrecht,
Hugel & Fils,
Lon Beyer
Weinbach,

Champagne
Champagne, situated in eastern France, close to Belgium and Luxembourg, is the coldest of France's
major wine regions and home to its major sparkling wine. Champagne wines can be both white and
ros. A small amount of still wine is produced in Champagne (as AOC Coteaux Champenois) of which
some can be red wine.

sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of

the wine to affect carbonation. It is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of
Champagne is a

France, from which it takes its name.

The primary

grapes used in the production of Champagne are Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot

Meunier.

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Champagne and the law

The Champagne winemaking community, under the auspices of the

Comit Interprofessionnel du

Vin de Champagne, has developed a comprehensive set of rules and regulations for all wine
produced in the region to protect its economic interests. They include codification of the most suitable
growing places; the most suitable grape types; and a lengthy set of requirements specifying most

viticulture. This includes pruning, vineyard yield, the degree of pressing, and the time
that wine must remain on its lees before bottling. Only when a wine meets these requirements may it
be labelled Champagne. The rules agreed upon by the CIVC are submitted for the INAO's final
aspects of

approval.
Use of the word "champagne"
There are many sparkling wines produced worldwide, yet most legal structures reserve the term
"champagne" exclusively for sparkling wines from the Champagne region, made in accordance
with

Comit Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne regulations.

Sparkling wines are produced worldwide, and many producers use special terms to define them:

cava, Italy designates it spumante, and South Africa uses cap classique. An Italian
sparkling wine made from the muscat grape uses the DOCG asti. In German, Sekt is a common
Spain uses
sparkling

wine.

Champagne: e.g.,

Other

French

wine

regions

cannot

use

the

name

Burgundy and Alsace produce Crmant.

Production
Mthode Champenoise is the traditional method by which Champagne is produced. After

fermentation and bottling, a second alcoholic fermentation occurs in the bottle. This
second fermentation is induced by adding several grams of yeast (usually Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, although each brand has its own secret recipe) and several grams of rock
sugar. According to the Appellation d'Origine Contrle a minimum of 1.5 years is required to
primary

completely develop all the flavour.

After aging, the bottle is manipulated, either manually or mechanically, in a process called remuage, so
that the

lees settle in the neck of the bottle. After chilling the bottles, the neck is frozen, and the cap

removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the ice containing the lees, and the bottle is quickly
corked to maintain the

carbon dioxide in solution. Some syrup (le dosage) is added to maintain the

level within the bottle.

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Champagne producers
There are more than one hundred Champagne houses and 19,000 smaller vignerons (vine-growing
producers) in Champagne. These companies manage some 32,000 hectares of vineyards in the region.
The type of Champagne producer can be identified from the abbreviations followed by the official
number on the bottle:

NM: Ngociant manipulant. These companies (including the majority of the larger brands) buy
grapes and make the wine

CM: Cooprative de manipulation. Cooperatives that make wines from the growers who are
members, with all the grapes pooled together

RM: Rcoltant manipulant. (Also known as Grower Champagne) A grower that also makes
wine from its own grapes (a maximum of 5% of purchased grapes is permitted). Note that cooperative members who take their bottles to be disgorged at the co-op can now label themselves as
RM instead of RC

SR: Socit de rcoltants. An association of growers making a shared Champagne but who are
not a co-operative

RC: Rcoltant cooprateur. A co-operative member selling Champagne produced by the cooperative under its own name and label

MA: Marque auxiliaire or Marque d'acheteur. A brand name unrelated to the producer or grower;
the name is owned by someone else, for example a supermarket

ND: Ngociant distributeur. A wine merchant selling under his own name

Grape varieties and styles

Appellation d'Origine Contrle. As a general rule, grapes used must be
the white Chardonnay, or the dark-skinned "red wine grapes" Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier. Due
Champagne is a single

to the gentle pressing of the grapes and absence of skin contact during fermentation, the dark-skinned
varieties also yield a white wine. Most Champagnes are made from a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot
Noir, for example 60%/40%. Blanc de blanc ("white from white") Champagnes are made from 100%

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Chardonnay. Possibly the most exquisite of these is grown in a single
Mesnil-Sur-Oger for

Grand cru vineyard in Le

Salon. Blanc de noir ("white from black") Champagne is pressed from Pinot Noir,

Pinot Meunier or a mix of the two.

The dark-skinned Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier give the wine its length and backbone. They are
predominantly grown in two areas the Montagne de Reims and the Vale de la Marne. Chardonnay
gives the wine its acidity and biscuit flavour.
Types of Champagne
Most of the Champagne produced today is "Non- vintage", meaning that it is a blended product of
grapes from multiple vintages. Most of the base will be from a single year vintage with producers
blending anywhere from 1015% (even as high as 40%) of wine from older vintages. If the conditions
of a particular vintage are favourable, some producers will make a "Vintage" wine that must be
composed of at least 85% of the grapes from vintage year. Under Champagne wine regulations, houses
that make both vintage and non-vintage wines are allowed to use no more than 80% of the total
vintage's harvest for the production of vintage Champagne.
Prestige cuve
A cuve de prestige is a proprietary blended wine (usually a Champagne) that is considered to be the

Louis Roederer's Cristal, Laurent-Perrier's

Grand Sicle, Mot & Chandon's Dom Prignon, Duval-Leroy's Cuve Femme and Pol
Roger's Cuve Sir Winston Churchill. Perhaps the original prestige cuve was Mot & Chandon's Dom
top of a producer's range. Famous examples include

Prignon, launched in 1936 with the 1921 vintage.

Blanc de noirs
A French term (literally "white of blacks") for a white wine produced entirely from black grapes. Black,
or red, grapes have a white flesh and grape juice obtained after minimal possible contact with the
skins produces white wine, the colour often described as white-yellow, white-grey, or silvery.
Blanc de blancs
A French term that means "white of whites", and is used to designate Champagnes made exclusively
from Chardonnay grapes. A famous example is

Ruinart.

Ros Champagne

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ros wines of Champagne (also known as Pink Champagne) are produced either by leaving the
clear juice of black grapes to macerate on its skins for a brief time (known as the saigne method) or,
The

more commonly, by adding a small amount of still Pinot noir red wine to the sparkling wine cuvee.
Ros Champagne is one of the few wines that allows the production of Ros by the addition a small
amount of red wine during blending.
Sweetness
The amount of sugar (dosage) added after the second fermentation and aging varies and will dictate
the sweetness level of the Champagne.

Brut Natural or Brut Zro (less than 3 grams of sugar per litre)

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

Brut (less than 12 grams of sugar per litre)

The most common is Brut, although throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century
Champagne was generally much sweeter than it is today.

Champagne bottles

Side-by-side comparison of Champagne bottles. (L to R) On ladder: Magnum (1.5 litres), full (0.75
litre), half (0.375 litre), quarter (0.1875 litre). On floor: Balthazar (12 litres), Salmanazar (9
litres), Methuselah (6 litres), Jeroboam (3 litres)
Champagne corks

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Champagne corks are built from several sections and are referred to as aglomerated corks. The
mushroom shape that occurs in the transition is a result of the bottom section, which is in contact
with the wine, being composed of two stacked discs of pristine cork, cemented to the upper portion
which is a conglomerate of ground cork and glue. Prior to insertion, a sparkling wine cork is almost
50% larger than the opening of the bottle. The aging of the Champagne post disgorgement can to some
degree be told by the cork, as the longer it has been in the bottle the less it returns to its original
cylinder shape.
Champagne is usually served in a

Champagne flute, whose characteristics include a long stem with

a tall, narrow bowl, thin sides and an etched bottom. Champagne is always served cold, its ideal
drinking temperature at 7 to 9 C (45 to 48 F). Often the bottle is chilled in a bucket of ice and water
before opening, which also ensures the champagne is less gassy and can be opened without spillage.
Opening Champagne bottles
To reduce the risk of spilling or spraying any Champagne, open the Champagne bottle by holding the
cork and rotating the bottle at an angle in order to ease out the stopper. This method, as opposed to
pushing the cork out, prevents the cork from flying out of the bottle at speed.

sabre can be used to open a Champagne bottle with great ceremony. This technique is
called sabrage (the term is also used for simply breaking the head of the bottle).
A

Loire Valley (wine)

Loire valley is a primarily white-wine region that stretches over a long distance along the Loire River in
central and western France, and where grape varieties and wine styles vary along the river. Four subregions are situated along the river:

Upper Loire is known for its Sauvignon Blanc, producing wines such as Sancerre AOC, but also
consisting of several VDQS areas;

Touraine produces cold climate-styled white wines (dry, sweet or sparkling) from Chenin
Blanc in Vouvray AOC and red wines from Cabernet Franc in Bourgueil AOC and Chinon AOC;

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Anjou-Saumur is similar to the Tourain wines with respect to varieties, but the dry Savennires
AOC and

sweet Coteaux

du

Layon

AOC are

often

more

powerful

than

their

upstream

neighbours. Saumur AOC and Saumur-Champigny AOC provides reds; and

Pays Nantais is situated closest to the Atlantic, and Muscadet AOC produces white wines from
the Melon de Bourgogne grape.

Climate and geography

The Loire river has a significant effect on the mesoclimate of the region, adding the necessary extra
few degrees of temperature that allows grapes to grow when the areas to the north and south of the
Loire Valley have shown to be unfavorable to viticulture. The area has a continental climate that is
influenced heavily by the Loire River and the Atlantic ocean at the western edge of the region. The
climate can be very cool with spring time frost being a potential hazard for the vines. During
the harvest months rain can cause the grapes to be harvested under ripe but can also aid in the
development of Botrytis cinerea for the region's dessert wines.[3]
Vineyard in the Loire Valley
With over 185,000 acres (750 km2) planted under vine, the Loire Valley is about two-thirds the size of
the Bordeaux wine region. Due to its location and marginal climate, the overall quality of a vintage has
a dramatic effect on the quality of the region's wines-more so than with other French wine regions.
The most common hazard is that the cool climate will prevent the grapes from ripening fully and
developing the sugars needed to balance the naturally high acidity of the grapes. During these cool
vintages the Sauvignon blanc based wines are lighter in color, less fruity and have more
pronounced mineral notes. The Cabernet franc based wines are also lighter in color .
Winemaking in the Loire is characterized by a general avoidance of barrel aging and malolactic
fermentation. However some winemakers have begun experimenting with both. Chaptalization is
permitted here and can help wine makers compensate for the under ripeness of the grapes in some
years. For red wines there has been more emphasis on extending the maceration time of skin contact
in order to bring out more color and tannins into the wine. Temperature control is also an important
consideration with the cold autumn weather sometimes requiring that the must be heated in order to
complete fermentation fully.
Wine regions

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The Loire Valley is often divided into three sections. The Upper Loire includes the Sauvignon blanc
dominated areas of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fum. The Middle Loire is dominated by more Chenin blanc
and Cabernet franc wines found in the regions around Touraine, Saumur, Chinonand Vouvray.
The Lower Loire that leads to the mouth of the river's entrance to the Atlantic goes through the
Muscadet region which is dominated by wines of the Melon de Bourgogne grape. There are two generic
designation that can be used across the whole of the Loire Valley. The Crmant de Loire which refers to
any sparkling wine made according to the traditional method of Champagne. The Vin de Pays du
Jardin de la France refers to any varietally labeled wine, such as Chardonnay, that is produced in the
region outside of an AOC designation.
Sancerre & Pouilly-Fum
Sauvignon blanc is the principle grape of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fum.
Sauvignon blanc and Pinot noir are the principle grapes of this region that is centered around the
appellation of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fum.
Pouilly-Fum only produces white wines while Sancerre produces red, white and ros wines. The white
Sauvignon blanc based wines from this region has characteristic gooseberry and grapefruit flavors
with the Pouilly-Fum version typically being more full bodied and rich in texture. The red Pinot noir
wines are very light in both body and color .
Anjou-Saumur
Many Loire Valley wines are released in Burgundy style wine bottles.
The Anjou region of the Middle Loire is situated around the town of Angers and is known primarily for
the ros wines based on the Cabernet franc grape-including the Ros d'Anjou and the Cabernet
d'Anjou. White wine made from the Chenin blanc is known as Anjou Blanc while Anjou Rouge is often
made from Gamay. Some of the higher quality wines are often labeled with the AOC designation AnjouVillages. The area around Saumur is the third largest sparkling wine appellation in France after the
Champagne

region

and

the Crmant

d'Alsace

AOC with

more

than

12

million

bottles

of

Saumur Mousseux produced each year. Unlike Champagne which is made with Chardonnay, Pinot
noir and Pinot Meunier, Saumur sparkling wine is based on the Chenin blanc grape.
Vouvray and Touraine

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Winemakers in the region build underground wine caves out of tuffeau limestone, as in the
Champagne region, in order to store wine at an ideal temperature and humidity.
The region around Vouvray, Montlouis-sur-Loire and Touraine has some of the most diverse plantings
of all the Loire region and makes a wide variety of white, red and ros wines. For white wines the main
grape is Chenin blanc but Sauvignon blanc and (to a smaller extent) Chardonnay is also planted. For
red wines the main grape is Cabernet franc with some smaller plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon,
Gamay and Malbec. The ros wines are made from an assortment of Gamay, Pineau d'aunis, Pinot
gris and Pinot noir. The wines can vary in sweetness from bone dry (often appearing as sec on
the wine label) to very sweet moelleux wines that are often infected by noble rot.
For years the Touraine region would compete with the Beaujolais region for the release of an early
bottling of Gamay that would rival the Beaujolais nouveau. The soil around the Touraine area is a
variety of limestone with excellent drainage that is known astuffeau which is the same material used
to build many of the famous Loire Valley Chteaux.
Chinon & Bourgueil
The area around Chinon produces the majority of the Loire Valley's red wine based on the Cabernet
franc grape-known in this areas as Breton. The wines of the Chinon area are the softest and rich
expression of the grape while the Bourgueil area produces more tannic and firm wines.
Muscadet
The Muscadet region is located at the westernmost edge of the Loire Valley near the city of Nantes. In
the 17th century, Dutch wine merchants laid the foundation for the Muscadet style by encouraging the
villagers of Nantes to plant the early ripening Melon de Bourgogne grape to use in the production of
their brandewijn-distilled wine with brandy added to it. The area's four appellation all produces white
wine made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape.[5] The appellations are

Muscadet-Svre et Maine

Muscadet-Ctes de Grand Lieu

Muscadet-Coteaux de la Loire

Muscadet- A generic appellation covering the whole of the Loire-Atlantique department.

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The wines of the Muscadet-Svre et Maine and Muscadet-Ctes de Grand Lieu appellation are often
bottled sur lie straight from the tank that they are fermented in without any racking or filtering. This
create wines that can be very cloudy and require decanting to remove sediments but also produces
wines that can be fuller bodied and show extra dimensions of freshness.

Rhne wine
Rhone Valley is primarily a red-wine region in south-eastern France, along the Rhne River.
The Rhne wine region in Southern France is situated in the Rhne river valley and produces
numerous wines under various Appellation d'origine contrle (AOC) designations. The region's major
appellation in production volume is Ctes du Rhne AOC.
The Rhne is generally divided into two sub-regions with distinct vinicultural traditions, the Northern
Rhne and the Southern Rhne. The northern sub-region produces red wines from the Syrah grape,
sometimes blended with white wine grapes, and white wines from Viognier grapes. The southern subregion produces an array of red, white and ros wines, often blends of several grapes such as
in Chteauneuf-du-Pape.

Production
The various AOC wines of the Rhne Valley region are produced by over 6,000 wine growing properties
including 1,837 private wineries and 103 cooperatives. Those vineyard owners which do not vinify their
wines themselves deliver their grapes in bulk either to a winemaking cooperative, of which there are
103 in the region, or sell them to one of the 51 ngociants (wine producers and merchants) who blend,
distribute, and export on an industrial scale.
Northern Rhne
The northern Rhne is characterised by a continental climate with harsh winters but warm summers.
Its climate is influenced by the mistral wind, which brings colder air from the Massif Central. Northern
Rhne is therefore cooler than southern Rhne, which means that the mix of planted grape varieties
and wine styles are slightly different.

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Syrah is the only red grape variety permitted in red AOC wines from this sub-region. For wines bearing
the Cornas AOC designation, Syrah must be used exclusively, whereas other reds from the northern
Rhne

sub-region

may

be

blended

with

white

wine

grapes,

either

Viognier

or Marsanne and Roussanne, depending on the appellation.

Viognier by itself is used for white wines from Condrieu and Chteau-Grillet. Marsanne and
Roussanne are in turn used for the whites from Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, Saint Joseph,
and Saint Pray.

Southern Rhne
The southern Rhne sub-region has a more Mediterranean climate with milder winters and hot
summers. Drought can be a problem in the area, but limited irrigation is permitted. The differing
terroirs, together with the rugged landscape which partly protects the valleys from the Mistral,
produce microclimates which give rise to a wide diversity of wines. A feature of the cultivation of the
region is the use of large pebbles around the bases of the vines to absorb the heat of the sun during
the day to keep the vines warm at night when, due to the cloudless skies, there is often a significant
drop in temperature.
The southern Rhne's most famous red wine is Chteauneuf-du-Pape, a blend containing up to 13
varieties of wine grapes (eight red and five white) as permitted by the Chteauneuf-du-Pape AOC
rules. Lirac AOC, Tavel AOC and Vacqueyras AOC may contain even more varieties in the blend. The
reds from the left bank are full bodied, rich in tannins while young, and are characterized by their
aromas of prune, undergrowth, chocolate and ripe black fruit. The right bank reds are slightly lighter
and fruitier.
White wines from the southern Rhne sub-region, such as in Chteauneuf-du-Pape whites, are also
typically

blends

of

several

wine

grapes.

These

may

include Ugni

Blanc,

Roussanne,Bourboulenc, Picpoul, and Clairette. Since about 1998 Viognier is increasingly being used
and is also appearing as a single varietal.
Tavel AOC, produced in the special microclimate of the sillon rhodanien is an elite ros only, which has
been referred to as 'the wine of kings".

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Fortified wines (vin doux naturel) are made in the Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise AOC and Rasteau
AOCs.
Classification
Rhne does not have an official classification using "Grand cru" or similar terms, in difference
to Bordeaux or Burgundy. There is however a difference between the Rhne AOCs as to the
geographical delineation and naming practices of the various AOCs, which provide a classification into
four categories of AOCs:

Ctes du Rhne only displays the region, and may be used in the entire wine region, in 171
communes. For some communes, this is the only allowed AOC. It is therefore the lowest
classification for Rhne AOC wine.

Ctes du Rhne-Villages is an AOC allowed for 95 communes, with a higher minimum

requirement for grape maturity than basic Ctes du Rhne. It is therefore a higher classification.
In general, the appellation does not allow the village name to be displayed.

Ctes du Rhne-Villages together with village name is allowed for 19 communes.

Cru are the 15 named appellations which display only the name of the cru, and not Ctes du
Rhne. These include the most famous Rhne wines, such as Hermitage, Cte-Rtie and
Chteuneuf-du-Pape.

Burgundy wine
Burgundy or Bourgogne in eastern France is a region where red and white wines are equally
important. Probably more terroir-conscious than any other region, Burgundy is divided into the largest
number of appellations of any French region. The top wines from Burgundy's heartland in Cte
d'Or command high prices. The Burgundy region is divided in four main parts:

The Cote de Nuits (from Marsannay-La-Cote down to Nuits-Saint-Georges)

The Cote de Beaune (from north of Beaune to Santenay)

The Cote Chalonnaise

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The Maconnais

Two parts of Burgundy that are sometimes considered as separate regions are:
Beaujolais in the south, close to the Rhne Valley region, where mostly red wines are made in a

fruity style that is usually consumed young. "Beaujolais Nouveau" is the only wine that can be
legally consumed in the year of its production (Third week end of November)
Chablis, halfway between Cte d'Or and Paris, where white wines are produced on chalky soil

giving a more crisp and steely style than the rest of Burgundy.
There are two main grape varieties used in Burgundy Chardonnay for white wines, and Pinot Noir for
red. White wines are also sometimes made from Aligot, and other grape varieties will also be found
occasionally.
The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines
made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from Chardonnay grapes. Red and white wines are
also made from other grape varieties, such as Gamay and Aligot respectively.
Burgundy has a higher number of appellations d'origine contrle (AOCs) than any other French
region, and is often seen as the most terroir-conscious of the French wine regions. The various
Burgundy AOCs are classified from carefully delineated Grand Cru vineyards down to more nonspecific regional appellations
CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHY
The Burgundy region runs from Auxerre in the north down to Mcon in the south, or down to Lyon if
the Beaujolais area is included as part of Burgundy. Chablis, a white wine made from Chardonnay
grapes, is produced in the area around Auxerre. Other smaller appellations near to Chablis
include Irancy, which produces red wines and Saint-Bris, which produces white wines from Sauvignon
Blanc.
Some way south of Chablis is the Cte d'Or, where Burgundy's most famous and most expensive wines
originate, and where all Grand Cru vineyards of Burgundy (except for Chablis Grand Cru) are situated.
The Cte d'Or itself is split into two parts: the Cte de Nuits which starts just south of Dijon and runs
till Corgoloin, a few kilometers south of the town of Nuits-Saint-Georges, and the Cte de
Beaune which starts at Ladoix and ends at Dezize-les-Maranges. The best wines - from "Grand Cru"
vineyards - of this region are usually grown from the middle and higher part of the slopes, where the

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vineyards have the most exposure to sunshine and the best drainage, while the "Premier Cru" come
from a little less favourably exposed slopes.
Burgundy experiences a continental climate characterized by very cold winters and hot summers. The
weather is very unpredictable with rains, hail, and frost all possible around harvest time. Because of
this climate, there is a lot of variation between vintages from Burgundy.
Wine characteristics and classification
The main levels in the Burgundy classifications, in descending order of quality, are: Grand
crus, Premier crus, village appellations, and finally regional appellations:

Grand Cru wines are produced from the small number of the best vineyard sites in the Cte
d'Or, as strictly defined by the AOC laws. Grand Cru wines make up 2% of the production at
35 hectoliters per hectare. These wines are generally produced in a style meant for cellaring,
and typically need to be aged a minimum of 57 years. The best examples can be kept for more
than 15 years. Grand Cru wines will only list the name of the vineyard as the appellation such as Corton or Montrachet - on the wine label, plus the Grand Cru term, but not the village
name.

Premier Cru wines are produced from specific vineyard sites that are still considered to be of
high quality, but not as well regarded as the Grand Cru sites. Premier Cru wines make up 12% of
production at 45 hectoliters/hectare. These wines often should be aged 35 years, and again the
best wines can keep for much longer. Premier Cru wines are labelled with the name of the village of
origin, the Premier cru status, and usually the vineyard name, for example, "Volnay 1er Cru Les
Caillerets". Some Premier Cru wines are produced from several Premier Cru vineyards in the same
village, and do not carry the name of an individual vineyard.

Village appellation wines are produced from a blend of wines from supposedly lesser vineyard
sites within the boundaries of one of 42 villages, or from one individual but non-classified
vineyard. Wines from each different village are considered to have their own specific qualities and
characteristics. Several villages in Burgundy have appended the names of their Grand Cru
vineyards to the original village name - hence village names such as "Puligny-Montrachet" and
"Aloxe-Corton".

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Regional appellation wines are wines which are allowed to be produced over the entire region,

or over an area significantly larger than that of an individual village. These appellations can be
divided into three groups:
AOC Bourgogne, the standard or "generic" appellation for red or white wines made

anywhere throughout the region, and represent simpler wines which are still similar to the
village. These wines are typically intended for immediate consumption, within 3 years after the
vintage date.
Sub-regional (sous-rgional) appellations cover a part of Burgundy larger than a village.

Examples are Bourgogne Hautes-Ctes de Beaune, Bourgogne Hautes-Ctes de Nuits and

Mcon-Villages.
Wines of specific styles or other grape varieties include white Bourgogne

Aligot (which

is

primarily

made

with

the Aligot grape),

red Bourgogne

Passe-Tout-

Grains (which can contain up to two thirds Gamay) and sparkling Crmant de Bourgogne.
Chablis wines are labeled using a similar hierarchy of Grand Cru, Premier Cru and Village wines, plus
Petit Chablis as a level below Village Chablis, whereas wines from Beaujolais are treated differently
again.

Bordeaux wine
Bordeaux is a large region on the Atlantic coast, which has a long history of exporting its wines
overseas. This is primarily a red wine region, famous for the wines Chteau Lafite-Rothschild, Chteau
Latour, Chteau Mouton-Rothschild, Chteau Margaux and Chteau Haut-Brion from the Mdoc subregion; Chteau Cheval Blanc and Chteau Ausone in Saint-milion; and Chteau Ptrus and
Chteau Le Pin in Pomerol. The red wines produced are usually blended, from Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot and sometimes Cabernet Franc. Bordeaux also makes dry and sweet white wines, including
some of the world's most famous sweet wines from the Sauternes appellation, such as Chteau
d'Yquem.
A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France. Average vintages produce
over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to
some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. 89% of wine produced in Bordeaux is

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red (called "claret" in Britain), with notable sweet white wines such as Chateau d'Yquem, dry whites,
ros and sparkling wines (Crmant de Bordeaux) all making up the remainder.
Bordeaux wine is made by more than 8,500 producers or chteaux. There are 60 appellations of
Bordeaux wine.

Climate and geography

The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent environment
for growing vines. The geological foundation of the region is limestone, leading to a soil structure that
is heavy in calcium. The Gironde estuary dominates the regions along with its tributaries,
the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers, and together irrigate the land and provide an Atlantic Climate,
also known as an oceanic climate, for the region.
These rivers define the main geographical subdivisions of the region:
"The right bank", situated on the right bank of Dordogne, in the northern parts of the region,

around the city of Libourne.

Entre-deux-mers, French for "between two waters", the area between the rivers Dordogne and

Garonne, in the centre of the region.

"The left bank", situated on the left bank of Garonne, in the west and south of the region,

around the city of Bordeaux itself. The left bank is further subdivided into:

Graves, the area upstream of the city Bordeaux.

Mdoc, the area downstream of the city Bordeaux, situated on a peninsula between
Gironde and the Atlantic.

In Bordeaux the concept of terroir plays a pivotal role in wine production with the top estates aiming to
make terroir driven wines that reflect the place they are from, often from grapes collected from a single
vineyard. The soil of Bordeaux is composed of gravel, sandy stone, and clay.

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Grapes
Red Bordeaux, which is traditionally known as claret in the United Kingdom, is generally made from a
blend

of

grapes.

Permitted

grapes

are Cabernet

Sauvignon, Cabernet

Franc, Merlot, Petit

Verdot, Malbec and Carmnre.

White Bordeaux is predominantly, and exclusively in the case of the sweet Sauternes, made
from Smillon, Sauvignon

Blanc andMuscadelle -

Typical

blends

are

usually

80% Smillon,

20% Sauvignon Blanc. As with the reds, white Bordeaux wines are usually blends, most commonly of
Smillon and a smaller proportion of Sauvignon Blanc. Other permitted grape varieties are Ugni
Blanc,Colombard, Merlot Blanc, Ondenc and Mauzac.
Viticulture and winemaking
Viticulture
Bordeaux is a relatively humid region. Thus it is a place rife with diseases and other problems that
afflict vines, compared with many of the world's other wine regions, such as dry Chile or Australia. In
Bordeaux, the pruning of the vine happens almost always as cane-pruning (as opposed to spurpruning). The use of chemicals and fertilizers has dropped in the recent decades in Bordeaux. 40 years
ago, using fertilizers and different herbicides and fungicides were common, and made work easier for
the manager. It also lowered the quality of the grapes, however.
Bordeaux has seen a rise in the use of green harvesting, where unripe bunches are cut off in the
summer in order to channel more of the plant's strength to the remaining bunches.
In Bordeaux, hand picking is now common among the more prestigious chteaux. But while handpicking is foremost, some classified chteaux still harvest by machine. Mechanical harvesting also has
its advantages, such as flexibility: it makes possible harvesting at night, which is preferable during hot
weather.
Winemaking
In Bordeaux, almost all wines are blended. Only a few producers make single-variety wines, though
the lack of varietal names on labels masks the fact. The typical blend consists ofMerlot and Cabernet
Sauvignon (and/or Cabernet Franc), with small additions of Petit Verdot and Malbec. Merlot is favored

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on the right bank of the Garonne River, and Cabernet Sauvignon on the left. Today, winemaking in
Bordeaux is a highly controlled process, with widespread use of stainless steel vats for fermentation,
cooling apparatus, and a high degree of hygienic discipline. In 1951, chaptalization (adding sugar)
became legal (it had likely taken place illegally prior to 1951). The use of chaptalization is common in
Bordeaux, except in the warmest of vintages, and especially on the left bank, where Cabernet
Sauvignondominates and ripens later than Merlot.
Fermentation usually takes place in stainless steel vats, a technique introduced in the 1960s to
improve hygiene and control over the fermentation process (especially of temperature). During the
1980s, some producers began reintroducing wooden fermentation vats. There are pros and cons with
all types of vats, and their role in winemaking seems less important than other elements in the
process.
After fermentation comes the pressing. Bordeaux, along with other regions, has switched from
horizontal presses to the pneumatic press, where a pneumatic bladder filled with air results in a more
gentle pressing of the wine. A third type of press is the vertical or hydraulic press. This is the most
traditional, and also a gentle, type of press. However, is a very labour-intensive process.
In Bordeaux, most serious wines undergo barrel-ageing, although white wines can be an exception.
Usually, six months of in-barrel ageing is required, but some chteaux barrel-age for as much as 18
20 months. The number of new barrels (usually considered the best) can vary from vintage to vintage,
just as the duration of barrel-ageing.[32] Only recently, addition ofoak chips (to add an oaky flavor to the
wine) has been made legal in Bordeaux. During barrel-ageing, the wine needs to be racked in order to
clear it of lees. But ageing on the lees can also add some richness to the wine.
Wine label
Bordeaux wine labels generally include:
1. The name of estate
2. The estate's classification This can be in reference to the 1855 Bordeaux classification or one of
the Cru Bourgeois.
3. The appellation -( Appellation d'origine contrle laws dictate that all grapes must be harvested
from a particular appellation in order for that appellation to appear on the label. The

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appellation is a key indicator of the type of wine in the bottle. With the image example, Pauillac
wines are always red, and usually Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape.
4. Whether or not the wine is bottled at the chateau (Image example: Mis en Bouteille au
Chateau) or assembled by a Ngociant.
5. The vintage
6. Alcohol content
********************

German wine
German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries,
with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of the German
wine production is situated in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions
(Anbaugebiete) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 102,000hectares (252,000 acres or
1,020 square kilometers) of vineyard, which is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in Spain,
France or Italy. The total wine production is usually around 9 million hectoliters annually,
corresponding to 1.2 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth largest wine-producing
country in the world. White wine accounts for almost two thirds of the total production.
Germany for some experts is associated with the world's most elegant and aromatically pure white
wines while other see the country mainly as the source of cheap, mass-market semi-sweet wines such
as Liebfraumilch. Germany's reputation is primarily based on wines made from the Riesling grape
variety, which at its best is used for aromatic, fruity and elegant white wines that range from very crisp
and dry to well-balanced, sweet and of enormous aromatic concentration. While primarily a white wine
country, red wine production was also started in the 1990s and early 2000s, primarily because of
domestic demand, and the proportion of the German vineyards devoted to the cultivation of darkskinned grape varieties. For the red wines, Sptburgunder, the domestic name for Pinot Noir, is in the
lead.

Wine styles
Germany produces wines in many styles: dry, semi-sweet and sweet white wines, ros wines, red wines
and sparkling wines, called Sekt. (The only wine style not commonly produced is fortified wine.)

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The wines have historically been predominantly white, and the finest made from Riesling. Many wines
have been sweet and low in alcohol, light and unoaked. Historically many of the wines (other than late
harvest wines) were probably dry (trocken), as techniques to stop fermentation did not exist. Recently
much more German white wine is being made in the dry style again. Much of the wine sold in
Germany is dry, especially in restaurants.
Red wine has always been hard to produce in the German climate, and in the past was usually light
coloured, closer to ros or the red wines of Alsace. However recently there has been greatly increased
demand and darker, richer red wines (often barrique aged) are produced from grapes such as
Dornfelder and Sptburgunder, the German name for Pinot Noir.
Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of German wines is the high level of acidity in them, caused
both by the lesser ripeness in a northerly climate and by the selection of grapes such as Riesling
which retain acidity even at high ripeness levels.German wine from Franken in the characteristic
round bottles (Bocksbeutel).

Geography and climate

The German wine regions are some of the most northerly in the world. The main wine-producing
climate lies below the 50th parallel, which runs through the regions Rheingau and Mosel. Above this
line the climate becomes less conducive to wine production, but there are still some vineyards above
this line.
Because of the northerly climate, there has been a search for suitable grape varieties (particularly frost
resistant and early harvesting ones), and many crosses have been developed, such as Mller-Thurgau
in the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute. Recently there has been an increase in plantings of
Riesling as local and international demand has been demanding high quality wines.
The wines are all produced around rivers, mainly the Rhine and its tributaries, often sheltered by
mountains. The rivers have significant microclimate effects to moderate the temperature. The soil is
slate in the steep valleys, to absorb the sun's heat and retain it overnight. On the rolling hills the soil
is lime and clay dominated. The great sites are often extremely steep so they catch the most sunlight,
but they are difficult to harvest mechanically. The slopes are also positioned facing the south or southwest to angle towards the sun.
The vineyards are extremely small compared to new world vineyards. This makes the lists of wines
produced long and complex, and many wines hard to obtain as production is so limited.

Regions
German wine regions
There are 13 defined regions ("Anbaugebiete") in Germany

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1. Ahr - a small region along the river Ahr, a tributary of Rhine, that despite its northernly location
primarily produces red wine from Sptburgunder.
2. Baden - in Germany's southwestern corner, across river Rhine from Alsace. This region has higher
minimum required maturity of grapes and less chaptalisation allowed. Noted for its pinot wines - both
red and white.
3. Franconia or Franken - around portions of Main river, and the only wine region situated in
Bavaria. Noted for growing many varieties on chalky soil and for producing powerful dry Silvaner
wines.
4. Hessische Bergstrae (Hessian Mountain Road) - a small region in the federal state Hesse
dominated by Riesling.
5. Mittelrhein - along the middle portions of river Rhine, primarily between the regions Rheingau and
Mosel, and dominated by Riesling.
6. Mosel - along the river Moselle (Mosel) and its tributaries, the rivers Saar and Ruwer. The Mosel
region is dominated by Riesling grapes and slate soils, and the best wines are grown in dramaticlooking steep vineyards directly overlooking the rivers. This region produces wine that is light in body,
crisp & of high acidity.
7. Nahe - around the river Nahe where volcanic origins give very varied soils. Mixed grape varieties but
the best known producers primarily grow Riesling, and some of them have achieved world reputation
in recent years.
8. Palatinate or Pfalz - the second largest producing region in Germany, with production of very
varied styles of wine (especially in the southern half), where red wine has been on the
increase.Specializes in powerful Riesling wines in a dry style. Warmer than all other German wine
regions.
9. Rheingau - a small region situated at a bend in river Rhine .It is the region where many German
wine making practices have originated, such as the use of Prdikat designations, and where many
high-profile producers are situated. Dominated by Riesling with some Sptburgunder.
10. Rheinhessen or Rhenish Hesse - the largest production area in Germany. Once known as
Liebfraumilch land. Mixed wine styles and both red and white wines. The best Riesling wines are
similar to Palatinate Riesling - dry and powerful.
11. Saale-Unstrut - one of two regions in former East Germany, situated along the rivers Saale and
Unstrut, and Germany's northernmost wine growing region.
12. Saxony or Sachsen - one of two regions in former East Germany, in the southeastern corner of the
country, along the river Elbe in the federal state of Saxony.

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13. Wrttemberg - a traditional red wine region, where grape varieties Trollinger (the region's
signature variety), Schwarzriesling and Lemberger outnumber the varieties that dominate elsewhere.

Grape varieties
Overall nearly 135 grape varieties may be cultivated in Germany - 100 are released for white wine
production and 35 for red wine production. Germany is regarded to be a region for white wine
production. Since the 1980s the demand for German red wine has constantly increased and this has
resulted in a doubling of the vineyards assigned for the production of red wine.

Common grape varieties in Germany

Riesling
Mller-Thurgau
Silvaner
Grauburgunder
Weiburgunder
Kerner
Bacchus
Scheurebe
Chardonnay
Chasselas
Gewrztraminer
Sauvignon Blanc

white
white
white
white
white
white
white
white
white
white
white
white

Sptburgunder
Dornfelder
Blauer Portugieser
Trollinger
Lemberger
Merlot

red
red
red
red
red
red

Common white wine grapes

White grape varieties account for 63% of the area planted in Germany. Principal varieties are listed
below.

Riesling is the benchmark grape in Germany and cover the most area in the German vineyard.

It is an aromatic variety with a high level of acidity that can be used for dry, semi-sweet, sweet and
sparkling wines. Grapes take 130 days for ripening.

Mller-Thurgau is an alternative grape to Riesling that growers have been using, and which is

one of the so-called "new crossings". Unlike the long ripening time of Riesling, this grape variety only
requires 100 days to ripen, can be planted on more sites, and is higher yielding.

Silvaner is another fairly neutral, but quite old grape variety that was Germany's most planted

until the 1960s and after that has continued to lose ground. It has however remained popular in
Franconia and Rheinhessen, where it is grown on chalky soils to produce powerful dry wines with a
slightly earthy and rustic but also food-friendly character.

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Kerner

Bacchus

Scheurebe

Gewrztraminer

Grauer Burgunder or Rulnder (Pinot Gris)

Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc)

Common red wine grapes

Red wine varieties account for 37% of the plantations in Germany.

Sptburgunder (Pinot Noir) - a much-appreciated grape variety that demands good sites to

produce good wines and therefore competes with Riesling. It is considered to give the most elegant red
wines of Germany.

Dornfelder - a "new crossing" that has become much appreciated in Germany since it is easy to

grow and gives dark-coloured, full-bodied, fruity and tannic wines of a style which used to be hard to
produce in Germany.

Portugieser

Trollinger

Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier)

Lemberger

Viticultural practices
Many of the best vineyards in Germany are steep vineyards overlooking rivers, where mechanisation is
impossible and a lot of manual labour is needed to produce the wine.
Since it can be difficult to get ripe grapes in such a northernly location as Germany, the sugar
maturity of grapes (must weight) as measured by the Oechsle scale have played a great role in
Germany.
Many wines in Germany are produced using organic farming or biodynamic methods.
Winemaking practices
Chaptalization is allowed only up to the QbA level, not for Prdikatswein and all wines must be
fermented dry if chaptalised. In order to balance the wine, unfermented grape juice, called
Sssreserve, may be added after fermentation.

German wine classification

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German wine classification is sometimes the source of confusion. However, to those familiar with the
terms used, a German wine label reveals much information about the wine's origin, minimum ripeness
of the grapes used for the wine as well as the dryness/sweetness of the wine.
Ripeness Classifications of German wines (any grape varietal): In general, the ripeness
classifications of German wines reflect minimum sugar content in the grape (also known as "potential
alcohol" = the amount of alcohol resulting from fermenting all sugar in the juice) at the point of
harvest of the grape. They have nothing to do with the sweetness of the wine after fermentation, which
is one of the most common mis-perceptions about German wines.
Deutscher Tafelwein (German table wine) is mostly consumed in the country and not

exported. Generally used for blended wines that cannot be Qualittswein.

Deutscher Landwein (German country wine) comes from a larger designation and again

doesn't play an important role in the export market.

Qualittswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA) wines from a defined appellation with the

exception of Liebfraumilch, which can be blended from several regions and still be classified as
Qualittswein.
Prdikatswein, recently (August 1, 2007) renamed from Qualittswein mit Prdikat (QmP)

wines made from grapes of higher ripeness. As ripeness increases, the fruit characteristics and price
increase.

Categories

within

Prdikatswein

are

Kabinett

Sptlese, Auslese,

Beerenauslese,

Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein. Wines of these categories cannot be chaptalized. All these
categories within Prdikatswein are solely linked to minimum requirements of potential alcohol. While
these may correlate with harvest time, there are no legally defined harvest time restrictions anymore.

Kabinett wines are made from grapes that have achieved minimum defined potential alcohol
levels. Those minimum requirements differ by region and grape varietal. Essentially, Kabinett is

the first level of reserve grape selection.

Sptlese wines ("late harvest") are made from grapes that have achieved minimum defined
potential alcohol levels. Those minimum requirements differ by region and grape varietal.

Essentially, Spatlese is the second level of reserve grape selection.

Auslese wines ("select harvest") are made from grapes that have achieved minimum defined
potential alcohol levels. Those minimum requirements differ by region and grape varietal.

Essentially, Auslese is the third level of reserve grape selection.

Beerenauslese wines ("berry selection") are made from grapes that have . The concentration of
the grape juice may have been facilitated by a fungus Botrytis, which perforates the skin of the
grape forcing water to drip out and all remaining elements to concentrate. Due to the high
potential alcohol level required for this category of ripeness, these wines are generally made

into sweet wines and can make good dessert wines.

Eiswein (ice wine) wine is made grapes that freeze naturally on the vine and have to reach the
same potential alcohol level as Beerenauslese. The grapes are harvested and pressed in the

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frozen state. The ice stays in the press during pressing and hence a concentrated juice flows off
the press leading to higher potential alcohol levels which in turn generally result in sweet wines

due to the high potential alcohol.

Trockenbeerenauslese wines ("dry berries selection") are made from grapes of an even higher
potential alcohol level. The grapes used for Trockenbeerenauslese have reached an even more
raisin-like state than those used for Beerenauslese. Due to the high concentration of sugar in
the raisin-like grape, these wines can only be made in a sweet style and make extremely sweet,
concentrated and usually quite expensive wines.

On wine labels, German wine may be classified according to the residual sugar of the wine. Trocken
refers to dry wine. These wines have less than 9 grams/liter of residual sugar. Halbtrocken wines are
off-dry and have 9-18 grams/liter of residual sugar. "Feinherb" wine are slightly more sweet than
halbtrocken wines.
Terms to identify the grower and producers of the wine.

Weingut refers to a wine producing estate.

Weinkellerei refers to a bottling facility, a bottler or shipper.

Winzergenossenschaft refers to a winegrowers' co-operative wine.

Gutsabfllung refers to a grower/producer wine that is estate bottled.

Abfller refers to a bottler or shipper.

The ten biggest German producers

Juliusspital, Wrzburg (Franken) 170 ha

Weingut Heinz Pfaffmann, Walsheim (Palatinate) 150 ha

Hessische Staatsweingter Eltville (Rheingau) 140 ha

Markgraf von Baden Salem (Baden) 140 ha

Bischfliche Weingter Trier (Mosel) 130 ha

Staatlicher Hofkeller Wrzburg (Franconia) 120 ha

Weingut Anselmann Edesheim (Palatinate) 115 ha

Brgerspital zum Heiligen Geist Wrzburg (Franconia) 110 ha

Weingut Lergenmller Hainfeld (Palatinate) 110 ha

Weingut Friedrich Kiefer Eichstetten am Kaiserstuhl (Baden) 110 ha

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AP NUMBER (AMTLICHE PROFUGSNUMMER)

EXAMPLE- A.P.NO.-4 382 129 3 86

NUMBER ASSIGNED TO EXAMINATION BOARD

382

COMMUNITY NO.WHERE VINEYARD IS

129

ASSIGNED NO. OF PRODUCER

BOTTLER OR PRODUCERS LOT, OR

86

YEAR OF THE EXAMINATION (NOT VINTAGE)

NAMING SYSTEM OF GERMAN WINES

REGIONAL WINES AFTER REGION EX-MOSEL-SAAR RUWER

DISTRICT NAME GIVEN WHEN WINE IS MADE BY GATHERING GRAPES FROM DIFFERENT
VINEYARDS

ACCORDING TO GRAPE VARIETY OR VARIETIES LIKE WEHLENER-RIESLING

PROPRIETORS NAME

FEW BRAND NAMES OF GERMAN WINES:

RIESLING

MULLER-THURGAU

WEISSBURGUNDER

KERNER

SILVANER

SCHEUREBE

TROLLINGER

GEWURITRAMINER

DORNFELDER

PORTUGIESAR

LEMBERGER

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******************

Italian wine
Italy is one of the world's foremost producers, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine
production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and have market share of over
10% in most Asian countries like India. Wine is extremely popular in Italy. Italians lead the world in
wine consumption by volume with 70 litres per capita consumption. More than 1 million vineyards are
under cultivation.
Depending on the vintage, modern Italy is the world's largest or second largest wine producer. In 2005,
production was about 20% of the global total, second only to France, which produced 26%.
Italian appellation system
Italy's classification system has four classes of wine, with two falling under the EU category Quality
Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR) and two falling under the category of 'table wine'. The four
classes are:
Table Wine:

Vino da Tavola (VDT) - Denotes simply that the wine is made in Italy. The label usually
indicates a basic wine, made for local consumption.

Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) - Denotes wine from a more specific region within Italy.
This appellation was created in 1992 for wines that were considered to be of higher quality
than simple table wines, but which did not conform to the strict wine laws for their region.
Before the IGT was created, "Super Tuscan" wines such as Tignanello were labeled Vino da
Tavola.

QWPSR:

Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)

Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)

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Both DOC and DOCG wines refer to zones which are more specific than an IGT, and the permitted
grapes are also more specifically defined. The DOC system began to establish a method of both
recognizing quality product and maintaining the international and national reputation of that product.
The main difference between a DOC and a DOCG is that the latter must pass a blind taste test for
quality and conforming to the strict legal requirements to be designated as a wine from the area. Other
rules for DOCG entry, are limiting the production of grapes per hectare and minimum natural alcohol
levels, among others. The overall goal of the system is to encourage producers to focus on quality wine
making.
Italian wine regions
Italy's 20 wine regions correspond to the 20 administrative regions. Understanding of Italian wine
becomes clearer with an understanding of the differences between each region; their cuisines reflect
their indigenous wines, and vice-versa. Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello di Montalcino (colloquially
known as the "Killer B's").

Aosta Valley (Valle D'Aosta)

Piedmont (Piemonte)

Liguria

Lombardy (Lombardia)

Trentino-Alto Adige/Sdtirol

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Veneto

Emilia-Romagna

Tuscany (Toscana)

Marche (Le Marche)

Umbria

Lazio

Abruzzo

Molise

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Campania

Basilicata

Apulia (Puglia)

Calabria

Sicily (Sicilia)

Sardinia (Sardegna)

Super Tuscans
The term "Super Tuscan" describes any Tuscan red wine that does not adhere to traditional blending
laws for the region. For example, Chianti Classico wines are made from a blend of grapes with
Sangiovese as the dominant varietal in the blend. Super Tuscans often use other grapes, especially
cabernet sauvignon, making them ineligible for DOC(G) classification under the traditional rules.
Because these wines did not conform to strict DOC(G) classifications, they were initially labeled as
vino da tavola, meaning "table wine," a term ordinarily reserved for lower quality wines. The creation of
the Indicazione Geografica Tipica category (technically indicating a level of quality between vino da
tavola and DOCG) helped bring Super Tuscans "back into the fold" from a regulatory standpoint. Since
the pioneering work of the super-Tuscans there has been a rapid expansion in production of highquality wines throughout Italy that do not qualify for DOC or DOCG classification, as a result of the
efforts of a new generation of Italian wine producers and, in some cases, flying winemakers.

Vino cotto
Vino cotto (literally cooked wine) is a form of wine from Le Marche and Abruzzo in central Italy. It is
typically made by individuals for their own use, rather than commercially. The must, from any of
several local varieties, is heated in a copper vessel where it is reduced in volume by up to a half. After
fermentation, it is aged in cask for a few years, a little new wine being added each year to make up
losses due to evaporation. It is a ruby-coloured wine, somewhat similar to Madeira, being slightly
sweet with an alcohol content of about 14%.
Grape Varieties
Italy grows varietals that are grown nowhere else (well, almost nowhere, although Sangiovese has
become fashionable among New World winemakers wanting to do Something Different) in the world.

Nebbiolo (in Barolo, Barbaresco, and elsewhere in Piedmont)

Sangiovese (Chianti, "Super Tuscans" and others)

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Aglianico

Barbera (Barbera d'Asti and others)

Dolcetto

Malvasia

Montepulciano (not to be confused with Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, which is actually

Sangiovese)

Moscato (which the French grow as Muscat)

Tocai Friulano

Trebbiano (all over the place, and in balsamic vinegar)

The Wine
What follows is a very non-exhaustive list of the more common types of Italian wine you're likely to
encounter.
Chianti (Tuscany)

Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany)

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (Tuscany)

Barolo (Piedmont)

Barbaresco (Piedmont)

Moscato d'Asti (Piedmont)

Asti (Piedmont)

Soave (Veneto)

Barbera (mostly Piedmont and Lombardy)

Super-Tuscan (Tuscany)

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Spanish wine
Spain has over 2.9 million acres plantedmaking it the most widely planted wine producing nation
but it is only the third largest producer of wine in the world, the largest being France followed
by Italy. This is due, in part, to the very low yields and wide spacing of the old vines planted on the
dry, infertile soil found in many Spanish wine regions. The country is ninth in worldwide
consumptions with Spaniards drinking, on average, 10.06 gallons (38 liters) a year.
The main grapes used are: Tempranillo, Albario, Garnacha, Palomino, Macabeo, Parellada,
and Monastrell.
Major Spanish wine regions include the Rioja and Ribera del Duero ; Jerez, the home of the fortified
wine Sherry; Ras Baixas and Catalonia which includes the Cava and still wine producing regions of
the Peneds as well the Priorat region.

Classification
Denominacin de Origen (DO) system in 1932. The system shares many similarities with the
hierarchical Appellation d'origine contrle (AOC) system of France, Portugal's Denominao de Origem
Controlada (DOC) and Italy's Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) system.
Denominacin de Origen Calificada (DOC) status for DOs that have a consistent track record for
quality. Each DO has a Consejo Regulador that enforces the DO regulations and standards
involving viticultural and winemaking practices. Like what types of grapes that are permitted to be
planted, the maximum yields that can be harvested, the minimum length of time that the wine must
be aged and what type of information is required to appear on the wine label.
The five-tier classifications, starting from the bottom, include:

Vino de Mesa (VdM) - These are wines that are the equivalent of most country's table
wines and are made from unclassified vineyards or grapes that have been declassified through
"illegal" blending.

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Vinos de la Tierra (VdlT) - This level is similar to France's vin de pays system, normally

corresponding to the larger comunidad autonma geographical regions and will appear on the label
with these broader geographical designations like Andalucia, Castilla La Mancha and Levante.
Vino de Calidad Producido en Regin Determinada (VCPRD) - This level is similar to

France's Vin Dlimit de Qualit Suprieure (VDQS) system and is considered a stepping stone
towards DO status.
Denominacin de Origen (Denominaci d'Origen in Catalan - DO)- This level is for the

mainstream quality-wine regions which are regulated by the Consejo Regulador who is also
responsible for marketing the wines of that DO.
Denominacin de Origen Calificada (DOCa/DOQ - Denominaci d'Origen Qualificada in

Catalan)- This designation, which is similar to Italy's Denominazione di Origine Controllata e

Garantita (DOCG) designation, is for regions with a track record of consistent quality and is meant
to be a step above DO level. Rioja was the first region awarded with this designation in 1991 and
was followed by Priorat in 2003, and Ribera del Duero in 2008.

Spanish labeling laws

Spanish wines are often labeled according to the amount of ageing the wine has received. When the
label says vino joven ("young wine") or sin crianza, the wines will have undergone very little, if any,
wood ageing. Depending on the producer, some of these wines will be meant to be consumed very
young - often within a year of their release. Others will benefit from some time ageing in the bottle. For
the vintage year (vendimia or cosecha) to appear on the label, a minimum of 85% of the grapes must
be from that year's harvest. The three most common ageing designations are

Crianza red wines are aged for 2 years with at least 6 months in oak. Crianza whites and ross
must be aged for at least 1 year with at least 6 months in oak.

Reserva red wines are aged for at least 3 years with at least 1 year in oak. Reserva whites and
ross must be aged for at least 2 years with at least 6 months in oak.

Gran Reserva wines typically appear in above average vintages with the red wines requiring at
least 5 years ageing, 18 months of which in oak and a minimum of 36 months in the
bottle. Gran Reserva whites and ross must be aged for at least 4 years with at least 6 months
in oak.

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Winemaking
Spain, winemakers often use the Spanish word elaborar (to elaborate) rather than fabricar (to
produce/make)

when

describing

the

Spanish

winemaking philosophy.

Crushing

and fermentation would take place in earthenware jars known astinajas. Afterwards the wine was
stored in wooden barrels or pig skin bags lined with resin known as cueros.
The advent of temperature control stainless steel fermentation tanks radically changed the wine
industry in warm climate regions like Andalucia, La Mancha and the Levante, allowing winemakers to
make fresher and fruitier styles of wine-particularly whites. The use of oak has a long tradition in
Spanish winemaking, dating back even centuries before the French introduced the small 59 gallon
(225 liter) barrica style barrels. Most DOs require some minimum period of barrel ageing which will be
stipulated on the wine label by the designations-Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva depending on
how long it spends in the barrel. The tradition of long barrel and bottle ageing has meant that most
Spanish wines are ready to drink once they hit the market.
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain.
In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez.
Spanish law, all wine labeled as "sherry" must legally come from the Sherry Triangle, which is an area
in the province of Cdiz between Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa
Mara. In 1933 the Jerez Denominacin de Origen was the first Spanish denominacin to be officially
recognized in this way, officially namedD.O. Jerez-Xeres-Sherry and sharing the same governing
council as D.O. Manzanilla Sanlcar de Barrameda.
After fermentation is complete, sherry is fortified with brandy. Because the fortification takes place
after fermentation, most sherries are initially dry, with any sweetness being added later. In
contrast, port wine (for example) is fortified halfway through its fermentation, which stops the process
so that not all of the sugar is turned into alcohol.
Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as finos to darker and
heavier versions known as olorosos, all made from the Palomino grape. Sweet dessert wines are also
made, from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes.
Production
Climate
The Jerez district has a predictable climate, with approximately 70 days of rainfall and almost 300
days of sun per year. The rain mostly falls between the months of October and May, averaging 600

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l/m. The summer is dry and hot, with temperatures as high as 40 C (104 F), but winds from the
ocean bring moisture to the vineyards in the early morning and the clays in the soil retain water below
the surface. The average temperature across the year is approximately 18 C (64 F).
Soil
Albariza: the lightest soil, almost white, and best for growing Palomino grapes. It is

approximately 40-50 per cent chalk, the rest being a blend of limestone, clay and sand. Albariza
preserves moisture well during the hot summer months.

Barros: a dark brown soil, 10 per cent chalk with a high clay content.

Arenas: a yellowish soil, also 10 per cent chalk but with a high sand content.

Grapes
Before the phylloxera infestation in 1894, there were estimated to be over 100[13] varieties of grape used
in Spain for the production of Sherry, but now there are only three white grapes grown for Sherrymaking:

Palomino: the dominant grape used for the dry sherries. Approximately 90 per cent of the
grapes grown for Sherry are Palomino. As 8varietal table wine, the Palomino grape produces a
wine of very bland and neutral characteristics. This neutrality is actually what makes Palomino an
ideal grape because it is so easily enhanced by the Sherry winemaking style.[12]

Pedro Ximnez: used to produce sweet wines. When harvested these grapes are typically dried
in the sun for two days to concentrate their sugars.

Moscatel: used similarly to Pedro Ximnez, but it is less common.

Sherry-style wines made in other countries often use other grape varieties.
Fermentation
The Palomino grapes are harvested in early September, and pressed lightly to extract the must. The
must from the first pressing, the primera yema, is used to produce Fino and Manzanilla and the
must from the second pressing, the segunda yema will be used for Oloroso ; the product of additional
pressings is used for lesser wines, distillation and vinegar. The must is then fermented in stainless
steel vats until the end of November, producing a dry white wine with 11-12 percent alcohol content.
Fortification

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Immediately after fermentation, the wine is sampled and the first classification is performed. The
casks are marked with the following symbols according to the potential of the wine:
/

a single stroke indicates a wine with the finest flavour and aroma, suitable for fino or
amontillado. These wines are fortified to about 15 percent alcohol to allow the growth of flor.

/.

a single stroke with a dot indicates a heavier, more full-bodied wine. These wines are fortified to
about 17.5 percent alcohol to prevent the growth of flor, and the wines are aged oxidatively to
produce oloroso.

//

a double stroke indicates a wine which will be allowed to develop further before determining
whether to use the wine for amontillado or oloroso. These wines are fortified to about 15 percent
alcohol.

/// a triple stroke indicates a wine that has developed poorly, and will be distilled.
The Sherry is fortified using destilado, made by distilling wine. The distilled spirit is first mixed with
mature Sherry to make a 50/50 blend known as mitad y mitad (half and half), and then the mitad y
mitad is mixed with the younger Sherry to the proper proportions. This two-stage procedure is
performed so the strong alcohol will not shock the young Sherry and spoil it.
Aging
The fortified wine is stored in 500-litre casks that are made of North American oak, which is less
porous than French or Spanish oak. The casks, or butts, are filled five-sixths full, leaving "the space of
two fists" empty at the top to allow flor (a dense froth) to develop on top of the wine.
Sherry is then aged in the solera system where new wine is put into wine barrels at the beginning of a
series of three to nine barrels. Periodically, a portion of the wine in a barrel is moved into the next
barrel down, using tools called the canoa (canoe) and rociador (sprinkler) to move the wine gently and
avoid damaging the layer of flor in each barrel. At the end of the series only a portion of the final barrel
is bottled and sold. Depending on the type of wine, the portion moved may be between five and thirty
percent of each barrel. This process is called "running the scales" because each barrel in the series is
called a scale.
So the age of the youngest wine going into the bottle is determined by the number of barrels in the
series, and every bottle also contains some much older wine. Sherry is aged in the solera for a
minimum of 3 years.
Storing and drinking
Once bottled, sherry does not benefit from further aging and may be consumed immediately, though
the sherries that have been aged oxidatively may be stored for years without losing their flavor. Bottles
should be stored upright to minimize the wine's exposed surface area. As with other wines, sherry
should be stored in a cool, dark place.

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Fino and Manzanilla are the most fragile types of sherry and should usually be drunk soon after
opening. In Spain, finos are often sold in half bottles, with any remaining wine being thrown out if it is
not drunk the same day it is opened. [14] Amontillados and olorosos will keep for longer, while sweeter
versions such as PX, and blended cream Sherries, are able to last several weeks or even months after
opening, since the sugar content acts as a preservative.
Sherry is traditionally drunk from a copita, a special tulip-shaped Sherry glass.
Recently, young people drink it mixed with lemonade soft-drink and ice. It is called Rebujito, although
it was popular in the Victorian age, known as sherry-cobbler.

Sherry has many categories:

Fino Sherry is a very light and delicate Sherry. These wines are characterized by flor. It often
contains 15 to 18% of alcohol.

Manzanilla Sherry comes from the Sanlucar district along the sea coast. The sea air leads the
Sherry to develop a salty taste. These wines also have flor. This wine is produced using exactly the
same process than Fino, but as weather conditions are very different in Sanlucar district it
develops into a slightly different kind of wine. It often contains 15 to 19% of alcohol.

Amontillado Sherry is similar to Fino. However, it does not have as much flor development.It is
deeper in colour and drier than Fino and is left in the barrel longer. It often contains 16 to 22% of
alcohol.

Oloroso Sherry is deeper/darker in color and has more residual sugar. It is more fortified, and
often contains 17 to 22% of alcohol.

Cream Sherry is very rich and can be a good dessert-style wine. It often contains 15.5 to 22%
of alcohol.

Pedro Ximnez Sherry is very rich and is a popular dessert-style wine. It's made
from raisins of Pedro Ximenez grapes dried in the sun. It often contains around 18% of alcohol.

Palo Cortado Sherry is very rare, as it is an Oloroso wine that ages in a different, natural way
not achievable by human intervention. It often contains 17 to 22% of alcohol.

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Cava
Cava

is a

Spanish sparkling

wine

made in

the traditional method of the French sparkling

wine Champagne. It originated in the Catalonia region at the Codornu Winery in the late 19th
century. The wine was originally known as Champaa until Spanish producers officially adopted the
term "Cava" (cellar). White grape varieties like Macabeo, Parellada and Xarello used for sparkling wine
production. Some producers are experimenting with the use of the Champagne wine grapes of
Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

Solera System
Definition: Various fortified wines go through a solera system for adequate aging. This
system is essentially a blending system of casks that hold wines of varying ages. The oldest
casks are the ones that are bottled in a given year and the next casks are arranged in such a
way that the youngest Fortified wines (Sherry, Marsala, etc.) are blended into a series of
casks holding progressively older wines. The blending off of younger wine into older wine
results in very consistent, high quality wines that all share a portion of the oldest, original
vintage of wine made at the estate. This is why many fortified wines do not have a vintage
date, per se, as they are really a blend of many years.
Solera process
The history of aging wine in a solera dates back to the early Spaniards. It is an age-old blending and
maturation system used to maintain a style consistency in some fortified wines. It is used most
notably in Spain's sherry industry. What is solera? The solera system consists of a stock of wine in
barrels, each of a different year of development. The final stage of finished wine is called the solera.
The supporting steps, or scales, are called criaderas (Spanish for nursery). At bottling, 10 to 30% of
the wine is drawn from the solera, which is replaced by wine from earlier barrels, which are a little
younger and less complex. You never completely empty the solera; there is always wine from preceding
years left inside the barrel. With this process, the old wine infuses the younger wine with depth and
character. From there, you continue to transfer wine from the younger barrels to the older barrels until
the youngest criadera is refreshed with new wine. (This is usually done yearly). There can be

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differences in the number of scales from the starting criadera to the solera. This is largely dependent
on the style of the finished wine the wine maker wishes to produce. For example: eight barrels can be
used instead of 6. We at Tackitt Family Vineyards have adopted this aging process to produce our
Dream Tyme Dessert Wine. We use late harvest Zinfandel grapes grown west of HWY 101 near
Templeton, California and add a splash of Petite Syrah for that added touch of color. Dream Tyme was
established in 2002 by dessert winemaker Scott English. As the years continue to pass by, the solera
will only increase in its complexity and depth. Currently, our solera consists of 6 barrels, or 5
criaderas and one solera. As Tackitt Family Vineyards grows, so will our solera with new criaderas
being added each year.

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Aging
The age of product from the first bottling is the number of containers times the aging interval. For
instance, suppose the solera consists of four barrels of wine, and half of each barrel is transferred
once a year. At the end of the fourth year (and each subsequent year), half the fourth barrel is bottled.
This first bottling is aged four years. The second bottling will be half four years old and half five years
old (the wine left in the last barrel at the previous cycle), for an average age of four and a half years.
The third bottling will be: one fourth wine that was six years in the fourth barrel, one fourth wine that
was four years in the third barrel and one year in the fourth barrel, one fourth that was three years in
the third barrel and two years in the fourth barrel, and one fourth that was two years in the second
barrel, one year in the third, and one year in the fourth: average age five years. After 20 years, the
output of the solera would be a mix of wine from 4 to 20 years old, averaging slightly under 7 years.
The average age asymptotically converges on seven years as the soleracontinues.
The output of the solera is the fraction of the last container taken off for bottling each cycle.

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*******************

Portuguese wine
Portuguese wine is the result of traditions introduced to the region by ancient civilizations, such as
the Phoenicians,Carthaginians, Greeks, and mostly the Romans. Portugal started to export its wines
to Rome during the Roman Empire. Modern exports developed with trade to England after
the Methuen Treaty in 1703. From this commerce a wide variety of wines started to be grown in
Portugal. And, in 1758, the first wine-producing region of the world, the Regio Demarcada do
Douro was created under the orientation of Marquis of Pombal, in the Douro Valley. Portugal has two
wine producing regions protected by UNESCO as World Heritage: the Douro Valley Wine Region (Douro
Vinhateiro) and Pico Island Wine Region (Ilha do Pico Vinhateira). Portugal has a large variety of native
breeds, producing a very wide variety of different wines with distinctive personality.
The Demarcated regions, are:
Vinhos Verdes Bucelas -

Porto/Douro -

Do -

Colares -

Setubal -.

Alentejo -

Madeira -.

Tejo

Carcavelos -.
Algarve -.

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Bairrada -

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Appellation system
The appellation system of the Douro region was created nearly two hundred years before that
of France, in order to protect its superior wines from inferior ones. The quality and great variety of
wines in Portugal are due to noble castas, microclimates, soils and proper technology.
Official designations:
Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR) or VQPRD - Vinho de Qualidade

Produzido em Regio Demarcada

These are the most protected wine and indicates a specific vineyard, such as Port Wine,

Vinhos Verdes, and Alentejo Wines. These wines are labeled D.O.C. (Denominao de Origem
Controlada) which secures a superior quality.
Wines that have more regulations placed upon them but are not in a DOC region fall under the

category

of Indicao

de

Provenincia

Regulamentada (IPR,

Indication

of

Regulated

Provenance)

Regional Wine - Vinho Regional Carries with it a specific region within Portugal.

Table Wines - Vinho de Mesa carries with it only the producer and the designation that it's
from Portugal.

Port
Port wine vines need to grow in schist rich soil and require a specific micro-climate. It is produced
through a unique vinification method. The red varietals are the most common. The wine is produced in
the beautiful landscape of the Douro Valley in Alto Douro region, a region that is classified as World
Heritage by UNESCO. The wine is exported from the city of Porto, thus acquiring the name Porto (or
"Port" in English-speaking countries). There are several varieties of Port wine: some of the most
popular are the Tawny, White, Ruby, and Late Bottled Vintage (L.B.V.).
Moscatel wines
Moscatel is a liqueurous wine from the Setbal Peninsula. Although the region has produced wines
since the dawn of nationality, it was in 1797 that the wines of Setbal were first mentioned. There is
another variety of Moscatel wine, the "Moscatel de Favaios", in the Regio Demarcada do Douro, it is
made from a different casta, and the "Galego" (white), while Moscatel Roxo is made upon a casta with
the same name as the wine.

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Some Portuguese wine terms

Adega: Winery

Branco: White

Casta: Grape variety

Colheita: Vintage year

Espumante: Sparkling wine

Garrafeira: A reserva red wine aged at least two years in a barrel and one year in a bottle; a
white wine aged at least six months in a barrel and six months in a bottle.

Maduro: Mature (in opposition to verde). Mature wines are Portuguese wines produced in all
regions except the ones produced in Vinho Verde region; due to this, the term "maduro" rarely
appears on bottles.

Quinta: Vineyard

Reserva: Superior quality wine of a single vintage

Seco: Dry

Tinto: Red

Verde: Green (in opposition to maduro). Wines produced in Vinho Verde region with a
distinctive method.

Vinho: Wine

Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern
provinces of Portugal.[1] It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in
dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.

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Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region.[5] The wine
produced is then fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente in order to
stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content. The
fortification spirit is sometimes referred to as brandy . The wine is then stored and aged, often
in barrels stored in a cave (pronounced "ka-ve" and meaning "cellar" in Portuguese), before being
bottled. The wine received its name, "port", in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city
of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River.
Grapes
Five varities of grapes Tinta Barroca, Tinta Co, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa,
and Touriga Nacional) are widely cultivated and used.[7] Touriga Nacional is widely considered the most
desirable port grape but the difficulty in growing it and the small yields cause Touriga Francesa to be
the most widely planted grape.[7] White ports are produced the same way as red ports, except that they
use

white

grapes Donzelinho

Branco, Esgana-Co, Folgaso,

Gouveio, Malvasia

Fina, Rabigato and Viosinho. Grapes grown for port are generally characterised by their small, dense
fruit which produce concentrated and long-lasting flavours, suitable for long aging. While the grapes
used to produce port produced in Portugal are strictly regulated by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto,
wines from outside this region which describe themselves as port may be made from other varieties.
Properties
Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and possesses a higher alcohol content than most other
wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits (aguardente similar to brandy) to fortify
the wine and halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol and results in a wine that is
usually either 19.5% or 20% alcohol.
Port is commonly served after meals as a dessert wine, often with cheese; commonly stilton. White and
tawny ports are often served as an apritif.

Styles
Port from Portugal comes in several styles, which can be divided into two broad categories:

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Wines that have matured in sealed glass bottles, with no exposure to air, and experience what
is known as "reductive" aging. This process leads to the wine losing its colour very slowly and
produces a wine which is smoother on the palate and less tannic.

Wines that have matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of
exposure to oxygen, and experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose colour, but
at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is
slightly more viscous.

Barrel-aged ports
Tawny port
Tawny ports are wines, made from red grapes, that are aged in wooden barrels, exposing them to
gradual oxidation and evaporation. As a result, they gradually mellow to a golden-brown colour. The
exposure to oxygen imparts "nutty" flavours to the wine, which is blended to match the house style.
Tawny ports are sweet or medium dry and typically consumed as a dessert wine.
When a port is described as tawny, without an indication of age. The official categories are 10, 20, 30
and over 40 years.
Colheita
A tawny port from a single vintage is called Colheitas. Instead of an indication of age (10, 20...) the
actual vintage year is mentioned. Colheita may have spent 20 or more years in wooden barrels before
being bottled and sold.
Garrafeira
Garrafeira is an unusual and rare intermediate vintage dated style of port made from the grapes of a
single harvest that combines the oxidative maturation of years in wood with further reductive
maturation in large glass demijohns. The dark green demijohns, affectionately known as bon-bons,
hold approximately 11 litres each.

Bottle-aged ports
Ruby port
Ruby port is the cheapest and most extensively produced type of port. After fermentation, it is stored
in tanks made of concrete or stainless steel to prevent oxidative aging and preserve its rich claret color.
The wine is usually blended to match the style of the brand to which it is to be sold. The wine
is fined and cold filtered before bottling and does not generally improve with age.

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Rose port
Rose port is a very recent variation on the market, first released in 2008 by Pocas and by Croft, part of
the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a ruby port, but fermented in a similar manner to
a ros wine, with a limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rose colour.
White port
White port is made from white grapes and can be made in a wide variety of styles. Ordinary white
ports make an excellent basis for a cocktail while those of greater age are best served chilled on their
own. There are a range of styles of white port, from dry to very sweet. When white ports are matured in
wood for long periods, the colour darkens.
Late bottled vintage (LBV)
Late bottled vintage (often referred to simply as LBV) was originally wine that had been destined for
bottling as vintage port. Over time it has become two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled
between four and six years after the vintage, but one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while
the other is not.
The filtered wine has the advantage of being ready to drink without decanting and is usually bottled in
a stoppered bottle that can be easily resealed.
Unfiltered wines are mostly bottled with conventional driven corks and need to be decanted. After
decanting they should be consumed within a few days.
Crusted
Crusted port is usually a blend of port wine from several vintages, although single vintage crusted
ports have sometimes been made in the past. Unlike vintage port, which has to be sourced from grapes
from a single vintage, crusted port affords the port blender the opportunity to make best use of the
varying characteristics of different vintages.
Crusted port is bottled unfiltered, and sealed with a driven cork. Like vintage port it needs to be
decanted before drinking.
Vintage port
Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year and accounts for about two
percent of overall port production. Not every year is declared a vintage in the Douro. The decision on
whether to declare a vintage is made in the spring of the second year following the harvest. The
decision to declare a vintage is made by each individual port house, often referred to as a "shipper".

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Vintage ports are aged in barrels for a maximum of two and a half years before bottling, and generally
require another ten to forty years of aging in the bottle before reaching what is considered a proper
drinking age. Since they are aged in barrels for only a short time, they retain their dark ruby colour
and fresh fruit flavours..
Single quinta vintage port
Single quinta vintage ports are wines that originate from a single estate, unlike the standard bottlings
of the port wine houses which can be sourced from a number of quintas.
Storing and serving
Port, like other wine, should be stored in a cool, dark location (as light can damage the port), with a
steady temperature (such as a cellar), laying the bottle on its side if the bottle has a cork, or standing
up if stoppered. With the exception of white port, which can be served chilled, port should be served at
between 15 to 20 degrees Celsius (59 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Tawny port may also be served slightly
cooler.
Once opened, port generally lasts longer than unfortified wine but is still best if consumed within a
short period of time.Those with stoppers can be kept for a couple of months in a dark place, but if it
has a cork it must be consumed sooner. Typically, the older the vintage, the quicker it must be
consumed.

Madeira wine
Madeira is a fortified Portuguese wine made in the Madeira Islands. Madeira is produced in a variety
of styles ranging from dry wines which can be consumed on their own as an aperitif, to sweet
wines more usually consumed with dessert. On the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to
excessive heat and movement which transformed the flavour of the wine as the wine producers of
Madeira found out when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the islands after a round trip. Today,
Madeira is noted for its unique winemaking process which involves heating the wine up to
temperatures as high as 60 C (140 F) for an extended period of time and deliberately exposing the
wine to some levels of oxidation. Because of this unique process, Madeira is a very robust wine that
can be quite long lived even after being opened.

Grape varieties

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There are four major types of Madeira, named according to the grape variety used. Ranging from the
sweetest to the driest style they are: Malvasia (also known as Malmsey or Malvazia), Bual (or
Boal), Verdelho, and Sercial.

Terrantez, Bastardo and Moscatel varieties, are used, Tinta Negra

Mole and Complexa is the workhorse variety on the island .Of these, Bastardo and Tinta Negra Mole
are red grape varieties, the rest are all white.
Other varieties planted on the island, though not legally permitted for Madeira production,
include Arnsburger, Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaking
The initial winemaking steps of Madeira start out like most other wines with the grapes being
harvested, crushed, pressed and then fermented in either stainless steel or oak casks. The grape
varieties destined for sweeter wines, Boal and Malvasia, are often fermented on their skins
to leach more phenols from the grapes to balance the sweetness of the wine. The more dry wines made
from Sercial, Verdelho and Tinta Negra Mole are separated from their skins prior to fermentation.
Depending on the level of sweetness desired, fermentation of the wine is halted at some point by the
addition of neutral grape spirits. Producers of cheaper Madeira will usually ferment the wine
completely dry, regardless of grape variety, and then fortify the wine so as not to lose any alcohol
to evaporation during the estufagem aging. The wines are then artificially sweetened and coloured.

Sercial is nearly fermented completely dry with very little residual sugar (0.5 to 1.5 on
the Baum scale). This style of wine is characterized with high-toned colours, almond flavours and
high acidity.

Verdelho has it fermentation halted a little earlier than Sercial when its sugars are between 1.5
to 2.5 Baum. This style of wine is characterized by smokey notes and high acidity.

Boal has its fermentation halted when its sugars are between 2.5 to 3.5 Baum. This style of
wine is characterized by its dark colour, medium rich texture with raisin flavours.

Malmsey has its fermentation halted when its sugars are between 3.5 to 6.5 Baum. This style
of wine is characterized by its dark colour, rich texture with coffee-caramel flavours. Like other
Madeiras made from the noble grape varieties, the Malvasia grape used in Malmsey production
has naturally high levels of acidity in the wine which balances with the high sugar levels so that
the wines do not taste cloying sweet.

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Estufagem
What makes Madeira wine production unique is the estufagem aging process meant to duplicate the
effect of a long sea voyage of the aging barrels through tropical climates.
Three main methods used to heat age the wine, used according to the quality and cost of the finished
wine.
Cuba de Calor

used for low cost Madeira, is bulk aging in low stainless steel or concrete tanks

surrounded by either heat coils or piping that allows hot water to circulate around the container. The
wine is heated to temperatures as high as 130 F (55 C) for a minimum of 90 days as regulated by the
Madeira Wine Institute.
Armazm de Calor only used by the Madeira Wine Institute, involves storing the wine in large
wooden cask in a specially designed room outfitted with steam producing tanks or pipes that heat the
room, creating a type of sauna. This process more gently exposes the wine to heat and can last from
six months to over a year.
Canteiro is used for the highest quality Madeiras aged without the use of any artificial heat, being
stored by the winery in warm rooms left to age by the heat of the sun. In cases like vintage Madeira,
this heating process can last for from 20 years to 100 years.
This practice,

Hastens the mellowing of the wine.

Check secondary fermentation in as much as it is, in effect, a mild kind of pasteurization.

The wine is deliberately exposed to air, causing it to oxidize.

The resulting wine has a colour similar to a tawny port. Colourings such as caramel coloring have
been used in the past as a colouring to give some consistency.
Styles

Reserve (5 years) - This is the minimum amount of aging that a wine labeled with one of the
noble varieties is permitted to have.

Special Reserve(10 years) - At this point the wines are often aged naturally without any
artificial heat source.

Extra Reserve (over 15 years) - This style is rare to produce with many producers extending
the aging to 20 years for a vintage or producing a "colheita". It is richer in style than a Special
Reserve Madeira.

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Colheita or Harvest - This style includes wines from a single vintage but aged for a shorter

period than true Vintage Madeira. The wine can be labeled with a vintage date but include the
word "colheita" on it.

Vintage or Frasquiera - This style must be aged at least 20 years.

Marsala DOC
Marsala is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala
wine first received Denominazione di origine controllata, or DOC, status in 1969.
While the city's natives sometimes drink "vintage" Marsala, the wine produced for export is universally
a fortified wine similar to Port. Originally, Marsala wine was fortified with alcohol to ensure that it
would last long ocean voyages, but now it is made that way because of its popularity in foreign
markets.
Characteristics and types
Marsala is produced using the Grillo, Inzolia, and Catarratto white grape varietals, among others.
Marsala wine was traditionally served as an aperitif between the first and second courses of a meal.
Contemporary diners will serve chilled with Parmesan (stravecchio), Gorgonzola, Roquefort, and other
spicy cheeses, with fruits or pastries, or at room temperature as a dessert wine. Marsala is sometimes
discussed with another Sicilian wine, Passito di Pantelleria (Pantelleria Island's raisin wine).
Different Marsala wines are classified according to their color, sweetness and the duration of their
aging. The three levels of sweetness are secco (with a maximum 40 grams of residual sugar per liter),
semi secco' (41-100 g/l) and sweet (over 100 g/l). The color and aging classifications are as follows:

Oro has a golden color.

Ambra has an amber color. The coloring comes from the mosto cotto sweetener added to the
wine.

Rubino has a ruby color.

Fine has minimal aging, typically less than a year.

Superiore is aged at least two years.

Superiore Riserva is aged at least four years.

Vergine e/o Soleras is aged at least five years.

In cooking
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Marsala wine is frequently used in cooking, and is especially prevalent in Italian restaurants in the
United States. A typical Marsala sauce, for example, involves reducing the wine almost to a syrup with
onions or shallots, then adding mushrooms and herbs. One of the most popular Marsala recipes is
Chicken Marsala, in which flour-coated pounded chicken breast halves are braised in a mixture of
Marsala, butter, olive oil, mushrooms, and spices. Marsala is also used in some risotto recipes, and is
used to produce rich Italian desserts such as zabaglione, tiramisu and shortcake.
Malaga (wine)
Malaga is a sweet fortified wine originating in the Spanish city of Mlaga made from Pedro Ximnez
and Moscatel grapes. The winemaking history in Malaga and the nearby mountains is one of the oldest
in Europe. There is now a recent surge in interest in these sweet wines, and Malaga wines are finding
their place on the world stage. The main wine villages of this beautiful appellation include Frigiliana
and Velez. There are many red and white varietals grown, but the only ones used for dessert wines are
the Pedro Ximnez and Moscatel.
HOW TO SERVE WINES
7 Steps to Serving Wine in a Restaurant
Step 1: Set up wine glasses ahead of time. Make sure there is a glass for everyone who will be drinking
wine. Make sure you have the proper glasses for the wine (red, white, or sparkling wines require
different glasses). If you are not sure about the glass, go to my website and see my wine glass types
page for a guide on which glass should be used with which wine (this is important!).
Step 2: Bring the wine up to the table. Present it to the person who ordered it with the label facing
them. Announce the wine to them. For example, say "the 2003 Chateau Latour Pauillac, sir". This is
just so the person can verify that you brought them the correct bottle.
Step 3: Hold the bottle in one hand and use your wine key to remove the cork. Try to take out the cork
without it making a pop. If it is champagne or sparkling wine, definitely do not pop the cork and shoot
it across the room (even though it is fun)!
Step 4: Present the cork to the person who ordered the wine. Some people want to inspect it or sniff it
to make sure it has not dried out.
Step 5: Pour a small amount into the glass of the head of the table (the person that ordered the
bottle). Let him or her test it out to make sure it is OK.
Step 6: Fill up the glasses of the other guests, ladies first, in a clockwise order. Fill the host's glass
last. Only fill the glasses about half full.

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Step 7: If there is any wine left in the bottle, leave it on the edge of the table (if it is a red wine) or in a
chiller (if it is a white wine). The guests will then refill their own glasses as necessary.

***********************************

NEW WORLD WINES

Australian wine
The Australian Wine Industry is the fourth largest exporter of wine around the world, with
760 million litres a year to a large international export market and contributes $5.5 billion per annum
to the nation's economy. Australian wine accounts for a very large imported wine market share in
South Asian countries and is the second largest imported wine in India with a market share of 16%.
With the major varieties being predominantly Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot,
Semillon, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Wines are often labeled with the name of their
grape variety, which must constitute at least 85 percent of the wine.
Grape varieties
Major grape

varieties are Shiraz, Cabernet

Sauvignon,

Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon

Blanc, Smillon, and Riesling. The country has no native grapes, and Vitis vinifera varieties were
introduced from Europe and South Africa in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some varieties
have been bred by Australian viticulturalists, for example Cienna and Tarrango.
RED
Shiraz
Cabernet Sauvingnon
Merlot
Pinot Noir
Grenache
Mouvedre

WHITE
Chardonnay
Smillon
Sauvignon Blanc
Riesling

GSM blends

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GSM is a name commonly used in Australia for a red wine consisting of a blend of Grenache, Shiraz
(a.k.a. Syrah), and Mourvdre. Grenache is the lightest of the three grapes, producing a pale
red juice with soft berry scents and a bit of spiciness. As a blending component, it contributes alcohol,
warmth and fruitiness without added tannins. Shiraz can contribute full-bodied, fleshy flavors of black
fruits and pepper. It adds color, backbone and tannins and provides the sense of balance such blends
require. Mourvdre contributes elegance, structure and acidity to the blend.

Production
Australia's most famous wine is Penfolds Grange. The vintage of 1971 won first prize in Syrah/Shiraz
at the Wine Olympics in Paris. The 1990 vintage was named 'Red Wine of the Year' by the Wine
Spectator magazine in 1995.
Australia has almost 2000 wine producers, most of whom are small winery operations. The market is
dominated by a small number of major wine companies. After several phases of consolidation, the
largest Australian wine company by sales of branded wine was Foster's Group in 2001-2003 and then
in

2004

and

2005,

Hardy

Wine

Company.

Hardys,

part

of

the

world's

biggest

wine

company Constellation Brands, had the largest vineyard area and the largest winegrape intake in the
years 2001 - 2005.
Major wine regions
Some well-known wine-producing regions include:
South Australia wine

Victoria wine regions

regions

New

South

Wales

wine regions

Adelaide Hills

Barossa

Alpine

Hunter Valley

Orange

Riverina

Western Australia wine

regions

Greater Perth

Valleys

Valley

Clare Valley

Goulburn
Valley

Yarra Valley

King Valley

Swan

Valley

New England

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South
Australia

Western

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Coonawarra

Eden Valley

Padthaway

Riverland

Southern

Blackwood

Highlands

Valley
Alb

any

Manjimup

Margaret
River

Indian wine
Indian wine is wine made in India. Per capita consumption of wine in India is 9 milliliters.
Viticulture in

India

has

long

history

dating

back

to

the

time

of

the Indus

Valley

civilization when grapevines were believed to have been introduced from Persia. Winemaking has
existed throughout most of India's history but was particularly encouraged during the time of
the Portuguese and British colonization of the subcontinent.
History
Viticulture was believed to have been introduced to India by Persian traders sometime in the 4th
millennia BC. During the Vedic period of the 2nd and 1st millennia, the Aryans tribes of the region
were known for their indulgence of intoxicating drink and it seems probable that wine was a present
beverage. The first known mentioning of grape-based wines was in the late 4th century BC writings
of Chanakya who was the chief minister of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.
Climate and geography
Many of India's wine regions also fall within the tropical climate band. Vineyards are then planted at
higher altitudes along slopes and hillsides to benefit from cooler air and some protection from wind.

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The altitude of India's vineyards typically range from around 660 ft (200 m) in Karnataka, 984 ft (300
m) in Maharashtra, 2,600 ft (800 m) along the slopes of the Sahyadri to 3,300 ft (1000 m) in Kashmir.
Summertime temperature can get as hot as 113 F (45 C) and wintertime lows can fall to 46F (8C).
During the peak growing season between June and August, rainfall averages 2560 inches (6251,500 mm).
Wine regions

The major wine regions of India highlighted.

Vineyards in India range from the more temperate climate of the northwestern state of Punjab down to
the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Some of India's larger wine producing areas are located in
Maharashtra,

Karnataka

Maharashtra

region,

near Bangalore and Andhra

vineyards

are

found

on

Pradesh near Hyderabad.

the Deccan

Within

Plateau and

the

around

Baramati, Nashik, Pune, Sangli and Solapur. The high heat and humidity of the far eastern half of the
country limits viticultural activity.
Viticulture and wine
The heat and humidity of India's wine region dictates many of the viticultural choices that are made in
the vineyards. Vines are often trained on bamboo and wire in a pergola to increase canopy cover and to
get the grapes off the ground where they would be more prone to fungal diseases. The canopy protects
the grapes against sunburn and rows are spaced wide to help with aeration between the vines.
Irrigation is essential in many of India's wine regions and since the 1980s, drip irrigation has been
widely used. The tropical conditions often promote high yields which requires frequent pruning
throughout the year. Harvest normally takes place in September and is usually done by hand. In the
very warm wine regions of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, grapevines can produce a
crop twice a year.
Grape varieties

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India is home to several indigenous table grape varieties that can also be used in wine production
with Anabeshahi, Arkavati and Arkashyam being the most common. Popular non-native grapes
include the Bangalore Blue (Isabella) and Gulabi (Black Muscat). The Turkish grape Sultana is the
most widely planted grape in India, cover more than half of the 148,000 acres(60,000 ha) planted in
the country. In addition to the imported French varieties that Chateau Indage planted, Sauvignon
blanc, Zinfandel, Chenin blanc and Clairette have started to establish a presence in the Indian wine
industry.
The wine brands of India are slowly gaining an entry into the list of the good wine brands in the
foreign markets. Standing as a testimony to this is the fact that Grover Vineyards' (a Bangalore based
Winery) premier red wine, La Reserve, has been named as one of the top-ranking wine brands in the
world market by the Decanter magazine. Given below are the best wine brands of India

Top Wine Brands in India

Indage Wines
Indage, based in Narayangaon - on the Pune-Nashik Road, is counted amongst the leading Indian wine
brands, both in volume as well as valuation. Marquise de Pompadour brand of Indage was launched
in 1986, while the famous Chantilli came out in the year 1989.
Grover Vineyards
Grover Vineyards, the Bangalore-based winery, was established in the year 1989. One its premier red
wine brands, La Reserve (a Cabernet Shiraz), was declared the best new world red wine in the August
1995.
Sula Wines
Sula Wines, launched in the year 2000, was the brainchild of Rajiv Samant. It was the first marketingsavvy wine company in India and had initially positioned itself in the premium segment, giving high
quality and selling at high price.
Sankalp Wines
The first winery to be established under the 'Grape Processing Industrial Policy 2001' was Sankalp
Wines. The company is situated in the Vinchur Wine Park, on the outskirts of the Nashik city of
Maharashtra. It launched its brand Vinsura Wines in 2003, which is now available throughout the
country.
ND Wines
ND Wines, situated in the suburbs of Nashik, claims the distinction of being amongst the five largest
wineries in India. However, the winery sells majority of its produce to Sula Wines. Only a small portion
of the wines are sold under its own label.
Vintage Wines

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Vintage Wines, yet another winery situated near Nashik, has been given the credit of producing one of
the best wines in India today. Its Chenin Blanc, Syrah, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon Wines,
which have been sold under the Reveilo label, have won critical acclaim throughout the world.

New Zealand wine

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New Zealand wine is largely produced in ten major wine growing regions spanning latitudes 36 to 45
South

and

extending

1,600 kilometres

(1,000

south Northland, Auckland, Waikato/Bay

miles).

They

are,

of

from

north

to

Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's

Bay,Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury/Waipara and Central Otago.

Climate and soil

Wine regions are mostly located in free draining alluvial valleys (Hawke's Bay, Martinborough, Nelson,
the Wairau and Awatere valleys of Marlborough, and Canterbury) with notable exceptions (Waiheke
Island, Kawarau Gorge in Central Otago). The alluvial deposits are typically the local sandstone
called greywacke, which makes up much of the mountainous spine of New Zealand.
Varieties, styles and directions
Red blends and Bordeaux varieties
New Zealand red wines are typically made from a blend of varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and
much less often Cabernet Franc,Petit Verdot and Malbec), or Pinot Noir. Recently, in Hawkes Bay, there
have

been

wines

made

from Syrah,

either

as Tempranillo, Montepulciano and Sangiovese.

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solely

or

blends,

as

well

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In general New Zealand red wine tends to be forward and early maturing, fruit-driven and with
restrained oak. No definitive regional characteristics have developed in New Zealand, the principal
differences between wines being determined by the vintage, vineyard and wine-maker's philosophy.
However,

some

preliminary

trends

are

worth

commenting

on. Central

Otago

wines particularly Bannockburn pinot noir can have distinct earthy, mineral and wild thyme notes.
Hawkes Bay bordeaux blends have greater body than other New Zealand reds. Marlborough Pinot Noirs
are notable for their ripeness and fruitiness.
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is a grape variety whose importance in New Zealand is greater than the weight of planting.
the Canterbury region has witnessed the development of Pinot Noir as the dominant red variety. The
sub-region Waipara has some interesting wines. Producers include Pegasus Bay, Waipara Springs,
Muddy Water, Omihi Hills and Black Estate.
The next region to excel with Pinot Noir was Martinborough on the southern end of the North Island.
Several vineyards including Palliser Estate, Martinborough Vineyards, Murdoch James Estate and Ata
Rangi consistently produced interesting and increasingly complex wine from Pinot Noir at the end of
the 1980s and into the 1990s.
White
In white wines Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc predominate in plantings and production. Typically
Chardonnay planting predominate more the further north one goes, however it is planted and
produced in Central Otago. Individual wine makers and the particular qualities of a vintage are more
likely to determine factors such as malolactic fermentation or the use of oak for aging.
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has been described by some as "alive with flavors of cut grass and fresh
fruits", and others as "cat's pee on a gooseberry bush" (but not necessarily as a criticism).
Other white varietals commonly include (in no particular order) Riesling, Gewrztraminer, and Pinot
Gris, and less commonly Chenin Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Mller-Thurgau and Viognier.
Sparkling wine
Excellent quality Methode Traditionelle sparkling wine is produced in New Zealand. Typically, it was
Marlborough that was the commercial birthplace of New Zealand Methode Traditionelle sparkling wine.
Marlborough still produces a number of high quality sparkling wines, and has attracted both
investment from Champagne producers (Deutz) and also champanois wine-makers (Daniel Le Brun).
Other sparkling wines from Marlborough include Pelorus (from Cloudy Bay), and the now venerable
Montana/Pernod Ricard brand, Lindauer.

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Wine regions of New Zealand
Northland
The most northerly wine region in New Zealand, and thus closest to the equator.
Auckland
This region lies around New Zealand's largest city.
Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island is east of Auckland in the Hauraki Gulf. For New Zealand it has a dry and warm mesoclimate. Its red wine is significantly riper and more full bodied.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty
This area is also known for growing kiwifruit and apples.
Gisborne
A small wine region to the north of Hawkes Bay. Noted for its Chardonnay and Gewrztraminer. It is
also the worlds most easterly vineyard.
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay, along with Marlborough, is the centre of gravity for the New Zealand wine industry; it is
New Zealand's oldest wine producing area and is the country's second largest wine production region.
Wellington/Wairarapa
The Wellington/Wairarapa wine-growing region is one of New Zealand's smallest, with several subregions, which include Gladstone, Martinborough, Masterton, and Opaki. Martinborough was the
original area planted, on the basis of careful scientific study, in the 1970s, which identified its soils
and climate as perfectly suited to the cultivation of Pinot Noir.
Martinborough
Martinborough is a small wine village located at the foot of New Zealands North Island, in the South
Wairarapa, just 1.5 hours drive from Wellington, the capital city.
Nelson
Many people believe Nelson has the best climate in New Zealand, as it regularly tops the national
statistics for sunshine hours, with an annual average total of over 2400 hours.[3]

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Marlborough including Wairau Valley
In many respects, the Wairau Valley and the districts surrounding Blenheim are the home of the
modern New Zealand wine industry. It is the largest wine district in terms of production and area
under vines. It has a number of sub-regions including the Waihopai valley, Renwick and the Spring
Creek area.
Central Otago
The most southerly wine producing region in the world. The vineyards are also the highest in New
Zealand at 200 to 400 metres above sea level on the steep slopes of lakesides and the edges of deep
river

gorges,

often

also

in

glacial

soils. Central

Otago is

sheltered

inland

area

with

a continental microclimate characterised by hot, dry summers, short, cool autumns and crisp, cold
winters.

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SOUTH AFRICAN WINE

South African wine has a history dating back to 1659, and at one time Constantia was considered
one of the greatest wines in the world. Production is concentrated around Cape Town, with major
vineyard

and

production

centres

at Paarl, Stellenbosch and

Worcester.

There

are

about

60 appellations within the Wine of Origin (WO) system, which was implemented in 1973 with a
hierarchy of designated production regions, districts and wards. WO wines must be made 100% from
grapes from the designated area. "Single vineyard" wines must come from a defined area of less than 5
hectares. An "Estate Wine" can come from adjacent farms, as long as they are farmed together and
wine is produced on site. A ward is an area with a distinctive soil type and/or climate, and is roughly
equivalent to a European appellation.
Climate and geography
South Africa is located at the tip of the African continent with most wine regions located near the
coastal influences of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. These regions have mostly a Mediterranean
climate that is marked by intense sunlight and dry heat. Winters tend to be cold and wet with potential
snowfall at higher elevations. A strong wind current, known as the Cape Doctor, brings gale force
winds to the wine regions along the Cape which has the positive benefit of limiting the risk of various
mildew and fungal grape disease as well as tempering humidity but can also damage grape vines that
are not protected.
During the harvest months of February and March, the average daily temperatures in many South
African wine regions is 23 C (73 F)with spikes up to 40 C (104 F) not uncommon in the warm
inland river valleys.
Wine of Origin
Drafted in 1973, the "Wine of Origin" (WO) program legislates how wine regions of South Africa are
defined and can appear on wine labels. While some aspects of the WO is taking from the
French Appellation d'Origine Contrle (AOC) system, the WO is primarily concerned with accuracy in
labeling and does not place any additional regulations on wine regions.

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Wine regions

General location of some South African wine regions

Constantia
The boundaries of this ward include the historic Constantia estate, though the ward and the three
wine estates later built upon the 750 hectares (1,853 acres) estate are separate entities. The
Constantia ward is located south of Cape Town on the Cape Peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic
ocean. Because of this location, the wine region receives oceanic influences on each side that creates a
cooling effect that contributes to a long, slow ripening period in the summer where average daily
temperatures fall between 1819 C (6466 F). Winters are often moderate and mild but wet with
annual precipitation usually over 1,000 millimetres (39.37 in). The soil of the region is composed
primarily of Table Mountain sandstone with high concentrations of loam and granite. The area grows a
wide range of grapes with Sauvignon blanc being particularly noted.
Stellenbosch
The Stellenbosch district is the second oldest wine region in South Africa, after Constantia, and is
responsible for around 14% of the country's annual wine production. First planted in 1679,
Stellenbosch is located 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of Cape Town. The seven wards of StellenboschBanghoek, Bottelary, Devon
Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch are

Valley, Jonkershoek
well

known

for

Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai

their

red

wine

production

demonstrate terroir distinction-particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotageand Shiraz.

Paarl

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For most of the 20th century, Paarl was for all practical purposes the heart of the South African wine
industry. The fortified wine produced in Paarl and nearby Tulbagh can be designated with the unique
WO of Boberg relating to its proximately to theBerg river.
Franschhoek Valley
The Franschhoek Valley was founded by Huguenot settlers who brought with them from their
native France their traditions and winemaking expertise. The ward includes some higher elevation
vineyard sites which can produced full flavoured white wines with noticeable acidity levels.
Breede River Valley
The Breede River Valley, located east of the Drakenstein Mountains, is a warm climate region that can
be very dry and arid in some places. The river itself provides easy access to irrigation which makes
bulk wine production of high yield varieties commonplace.
Overberg
The cool climate Overberg region has been the site of the most recent interest and development in the
South African wine industry, particularly with increased plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot noir. The
entire area received very little attention until the late 20th century and was not even classified in 1973
within the original "Wine of Origins" program. The maritime climate of Walker Bay and the cool, higher
elevation vineyards of Elgin located east of Cape Town have had success producing these varietals as
well as Sauvignon blanc.
Winemaking and wines
The winemaking traditions of South Africa often represent a hybridization of Old World wine making
and the new. Since the end of Apartheid, many producers have been working on producing more
"international"

styles

of

wine

that

can

be

successful

on

the

world

market. Flying

winemakers from France, Spain and California have brought new techniques and styles to South
Africa. In the 1980s, the use of oak barrels forfermentation and aging became popular. The use
of chaptalization is illegal in South Africa as the country's warm climate makes attaining
sufficient sugar and alcohol levels for wine production non-problematic. Winemakers more often have
problems with low acidity levels which require supplementation with additional acids like tartaric acid.
Today the focus in the South African wine industry has been on increasing the quality of wine
production-particularly with the more exportable and fashionable red grape varieties. Traditionally
South African red wines had a reputation for being coarse in texture with rustic flavors.
TheAfrikaans word dikvoet used to describe these wines meant literally "thick foot". In the vineyards,
growers focused yield control for better ripeness while winemakers used modern techniques to create

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softer,

fleshier

wines. Temperature

control

fermentation

as

well

as

controlledmalolactic

fermentation were more widely used as well as less dependency on filtration as a means
of stabilization.
Cape port-style wine
The South African wine industry has a long history of fortified wine production producing wines
known colloquially as "Cape port" (though the term "Port" is protected in the European Union to refer
to only the wines from the Douro region of Portugal). These wines are made from a variety of grapes,
such

as Shiraz and Pinotage,

as

well

as

Portuguese

varieties

like Tinta

Barroca, Touriga

Nacional, Souzo and Ferno Pires. The minimum alcohol level for these wines must be 16.5-22%. The
many styles of "Cape port" closely parallel their Portuguese counterparts and include:

Cape White port-Can be made from any white grape varieties (such as Chenin blanc,
Colombard or Ferno Pires) except for Muscats. Required to be aged in wood barrels for at least six
months.

Cape Ruby port-Usually a blend of several fruity, full bodied wines that have been aged for at
least six months in wood for each wine and at least a year total for the entire blend.

Cape Tawny port-A blend that has been aged in wood long enough to acquire a tawny
color with a smooth, slightly nutty flavor. Blending Ruby and White ports to create Tawny port is
prohibited.

Cape Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) port-A wine composed of grapes harvested in a single vintage
that is aged at least two years in oak and three to six years total before being bottled. South Africa
wine laws require that the term "Late Bottled Vintage" or "LBV" appear on the wine label along with
the vintage and bottling year.

Cape Vintage port-A wine composed of grapes harvested in a single vintage, aged in wood and
released with the words "Vintage port" and the vintage year on the label.

Other fortified and dessert wines

In addition to port-style wine, South African wine makers also produce "sherry-style" wines produced
in a solera system and a unique vin de liqueur made from Muscat known as Jerepigo (or Jerepiko).
With Jerepigo the brandy is added to the must prior to fermentation which leaves the wine with
a residual sugar (RS) level of at least 160 grams per liter. South Africa's long history of late
harvest dessert wines include the modern day Edel Laat-oes wines infected with noble rot (known
locally as Edelkeur) and containing at least 50 grams of residual sugar per liter. Wine labeled simply

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as Laat-oes are from grapes harvested late but not infected with botrytis. These wines must have an
alcohol content of at least 10% and residual sugar levels between 10-30 grams per liter. Wines above
30 grams RS maybe called Spesiale Laat-oes or "special late harvest" which may imply that some
grapes infected with botrytis were used.
Sparkling wines
Sparkling wines in South Africa are produced with both the Charmat and the traditional "Champagne
Method". To distinguish South African sparkling wines (and to now comply with European Union
regulations protecting the term "Champagne" and champenois), wines made in this traditional bottled
fermented method are labeled as Cap Classique. These wines have been traditionally made using
Sauvignon blanc and Chenin blanc but in recent years have seen more of the traditional "Champagne
grapes" of Chardonnay and Pinot noir being used. Red sparkling wine made from Pinotage can also be
found.
Labeling laws
South African labeling law focus largely on geographical origins, falling under the purview of the "Wine
of Origin" legislation. Single vineyard designated wine can be produced, provided that the vineyard is
registered with the government and all the grapes used in the production of the wine was grown in
that vineyard. While the term "estate" no longer qualifies as a designation of geographic origins,
wineries can still label "estate wines" provided that all the grapes were grown and the wine vinified and
bottled on the same property. Under this certification process, vintage dated wine must be composed
of at least 85% grapes that were harvested that vintage year. Varietal wines must also be composed of
at least 85% of the listed varietal. Blends, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage blend, can have
both varietals listed on the label provided that the two wines were vinified separately.
Grape varieties
Grape

Vineyards[9]

Chenin Blanc

18%

Cabernet Sauvignon

12%

Colombard

11%

Shiraz

9.8%

Sauvignon Blanc

9%

Chardonnay

8%

Merlot

6.5%

Pinotage

6%

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Pinotage
Pinotage, a crossing of Pinot noir and Cinsaut, has seen its plantings rise and fall due to the current
fashion of the South African wine industry. Today it is the second most widely planted red grape
variety in South Africa. It is a required component (30-70%) in "Cape blends". Here it is made into the
full range of styles, from easy-drinking quaffing wine and ros to barrel-aged wine intended for
cellaring. It is also made into a fortified 'port' style, and even a red sparkling wine.

ARGENTINE WINE
The Argentine wine industry is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. Argentine wine, as with
some aspects of Argentine cuisine, has its roots in Spain. During the Spanish colonization of the
Americas, vine cuttings were brought to Santiago del Estero in 1557, and the cultivation of the grape
and wine production stretched first to neighboring regions, and then to other parts of the country.

Wine regions
Mendoza
San Juan & La Rioja.
Northwestern regions
Patagonia

Grape varieties and wines

Under Argentine wine laws, if a grape name appears on the wine label, at least 80% of the wine must
be composed that grape variety.[3]The backbone of the early Argentine wine industry was the high
yielding, pink skin grapes Cereza, Criolla Chica and Criolla Grande which still account for nearly 30%
of all vines planted in Argentina today. Malbec arose to greater prominence and is today the most
widely planted red grape variety followed by Bonarda, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Tempranillo.
The

variety

of

Italian

varietals

with

sizable

plantings

throughout

Argentina-including

Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, Lambrusco, Nebbiolo, Raboso and Sangiovese.

The Pedro Gimnez grape (a different but perhaps closely related relative of Spain's Pedro Ximnez) is
the most widely planted white grape varietal with more than 36,300 acres (14,700 hectares) planted
primarily in the Mendoza and San Juan region. Sauvignon blanc and other white grape varieties found

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in

Argentina

include Chenin

blanc, Pinot

gris, Riesling, Sauvignonasse, Semillon, Ugni

blanc and Viognier.

CALIFORNIA WINE
California wine is wine made in the U.S. state of California. Nearly three-quarters the size of France,
California accounts for nearly 90 percent of entire American wine production. The production in
California alone is one third larger than that of Australia. If California were a separate country, it
would be the world's fourth-largest wine producer.
The state's viticultural history dates back to the 18th century when Spanish missionaries planted the
first vineyards to produce wine for Mass.

History
The state of California was first introduced to Vitis vinifera vines in the 18th century by the Spanish,
who

planted

vineyards

with

each mission they

established.

The

wine

was

used

for

religious sacraments as well as for daily life. The vine cuttings used came from Mexico and were the
descendant of the "common black grape" (as it was known) brought to the New World by Hernn
Corts in 1520. The grape's association with the church caused it to become known as the Mission
grape, which was to become the dominant grape variety in California until the 20th century.
Climate and geography
California is very geologically diverse region and is equally varied in the range of climates
and terroirs that can be found. Most of the state's wine regions are found between the Pacific coast and
the Central Valley. The Pacific Ocean and large bays, like San Francisco Bay serve as tempering
influences to the wine regions nearby providing cool winds and fog that balance the heat and
sunshine.[3] While drought can be a viticultural hazard, most areas of California receive sufficient
amounts of rainfall with the annual rainfall of wine regions north of San Franciscobetween 24-

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45 inches (6151150 mm) and the more southern regions receiving 13-20 inches. Winters are mild
with little threat of frost damage though springtime frost can be a hazard. To curb the threat of frost,
vineyard owners will often employ the use of wind machines, sprinklers and smudge pots to protect
the vines.
Wine regions
California has over 427,000 acres (1,730 km2) planted under vines mostly located in a stretch of land
covering over 700 miles (1,100 km) from Mendocino County to the southwestern tip of Riverside
County.

There

are

over

107

American

Viticultural

Areas

(AVAs),

including

the

well

known Napa, Russian River Valley, Rutherford and Sonoma Valley AVAs. The Central Valley is
California's largest wine regionstretching for 300 miles (480 km) from the Sacramento Valley south to
the San Joaquin Valley. This one region produces nearly 75% of all California wine grapes and
includes many of California's bulk, box and jug wine producers like Gallo, Franzia and Bronco Wine
Company.
The wine regions of California are often divided into 4 main regions

North Coast - Includes most of North Coast, California, north of San Francisco Bay. The
large North

Coast

Valley and Sonoma

AVA covers

most

County and

the

of

the

smaller

region.
sub

Notable

AVAs

wine

within

regions

include Napa

them. Mendocino and Lake

County are also part of this region.

Central Coast - Includes most of the Central Coast of California and the area south and west
of San Francisco Bay down to Santa Barbara County.

South Coast - Includes portion of Southern California, namely the coastal regions south of Los
Angeles down to the border with Mexico.

Central Valley - Includes California's Central Valley and the Sierra Foothills AVA. Notable wine
regions in this area include the Lodi AVA.

Grapes and wines

Over a hundred grape varieties are grown in California including French, Italian and Spanish
wine varietals as well as hybrid grapes and new vitis vinifera varieties developed at the UC Davis
Department of Viticulture and Enology. The seven leading grape varieties are:

Cabernet Sauvignon

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Chardonnay

Merlot

Pinot noir

Sauvignon blanc

Syrah

Zinfandel

Other

important

red

wine

grapes

include Barbera, Cabernet

franc,

Carignane, Grenache, Malbec, Mouvedre, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot andSangiovese. Important white
wine

varietals

include Chenin

blanc, French

Colombard, Gewrztraminer, Marsanne, Muscat

Canelli, Pinot blanc,Pinot gris, Riesling, Roussane, Smillon, Trousseau gris, and Viognier.

Sparkling and dessert wines

California sparkling wine traces its roots to Sonoma in the 1880s with the founding of Korbel
Champagne

Cellars.

The

Korbel

brothers

made

sparkling

wine

according

to

the mthode

champenoise from Riesling, Chasselas, Muscatel and Traminer. Today most California sparkling wine
is largely made from the same grapes used in Champagne-Chardonnay, Pinot noir and some Pinot
meunier. Some wineries will also use Pinot blanc, Chenin blanc and French Colombard. The premium
quality producers still use the mthode champenoise (or traditional method) while some low cost
producers, like Gallo's Andre brand or Constellation Brands' Cook's, will use the Charmat method.

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Algerian wine
Algerian wine is wine made from the North African country of Algeria. While not a significant force on
the world's wine market today, Algeria has played an important role in the history of wine.
Algeria's viticultural history dates back to its settlement by the Phoenicians and continued under
Algeria's rule by the Roman empire. Just prior to the Algerian War of Independence, Algerian wine
(along with the production of Moroccoand Tunisia) accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total
international wine trade. With as much land under vine as the countries of Germany and South
Africa, Algeria continues to maintain a wine industry with over 70 wineries in operation.

History
The roots of Algerian winemaking can be traced to the settlement of the Phoenicians and the
influences of nearby Carthage. Under Roman rule, winemaking continued until the Muslim
conquests of North Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries. During this time the wine industry was
severely limited due to the prohibition of alcohol under Islamic dietary laws. When Algeria came
under French rule in 1830 vineyards were replanted in order to serve the needs of the local pied-noir.

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When the phylloxera epidemic destroyed the French vineyards in the mid-19th century, Algerian wine
exports into France filled the void. An influx of winemakers from the German wine region
of Baden brought with them more modern winemaking techniques and helped to increase the overall
quality of Algeria wine. Even after the French resumed normal levels of wine production, Algerian wine
was still widely used in regions like the Languedoc as a blending component that added color and
strength to the wines.
Climate and wine regions
All of Algeria's vineyards are located in the Hauts Plateaux region extending towards the Moroccan
border. Bordering the sea, this region has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and dry,
hot summers and is very similar to the southern wine regions of Spain. Rainfall averages around 600
millimetres (24 in) in the regions east of Algiers to 400 millimetres (16 in) in the western regions closer
to

Morocco.

The

main

wine

producing

Tmouchent, Mascara, Mostaganem, Sidi

Bel

areas

are

located

Abbs and Tlemcen.

in

the

provinces

Algeria's Office

of An

National

de

Commercialisation des Produits Viti-vinicoles (ONCV) list seven quality wine production zones that may
appear on Algerian wine labels.

Coteaux de Tlemcen

Monts du Tessalah

Coteaux de Mascara

Dahra hills

Coteaux du Zaccar

Mda

An Bessem Bouria

Grapes and wine

During

the

peak

of

Algerian

was Carignan, Cinsaut and Alicante

wine

production,

Bouschet.

Despite

85

the

main

grapes

not

having Pinot

of
noir or

the

region

otherwise

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resemblingBurgundian wine, blends of these grapes were often labeled as burgundy. In recent
times, Clairette and Ugni blanc have become the dominate grape varieties with some smaller plantings
of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Mouvedre and Syrah. Algerian wines are characterized by
their

overripe fruit,

high alcohol and

low acidity.

The

grapes

short fermentation process and are bottled after little to no oak aging.

often

go

through

[1]

CHILEAN WINE
Chilean

wine is wine made

long viticultural history

for

in

the South

a New

World

American country
wine region

dating

of Chile.

The

region

to

16th

century

the

has

when

the Spanish conquistadors brought Vitis vinifera vines with them as they colonized the region. In the
mid-19th century, French wine varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were introduced. In
the early 1980s, a renaissance began with the introduction of stainless steel fermentation tanks and
the use of oak barrels for aging. Wineexports grew very quickly as quality wine production increased.
The number of wineries has grown from 12 in 1995 to over 70 in 2005. Chile is now the fifth largest
exporter of wines in the world, and the ninth largest producer. The climate has been described as

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midway between that of California and France. The most common grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot and Carmenre. So far Chile has remained free of phylloxera louse which means that the
country's grapevines do not need to be grafted.

History
European Vitis vinifera vines were brought to Chile by Spanish conquistadors and missionaries in the
16th century around 1554. Local legend states that the conquistador Francisco de Aguirre himself
planted the first vines. The vines most likely came from established Spanish vineyards planted
in Peru which included the "common black grape", as it was known, that Hernn Cortsbrought
to Mexico in 1520. This grape variety would become the ancestor of the widely planted Pais grape that
would be the most widely planted Chilean grape till the 21st century. [1] Jesuit priests cultivated these
early vineyards, using the wine for the celebration of the Eucharist. By the late 16th century, the early
Chilean

historian Alonso

de

Ovalle described

widespread

plantings

of

"the

common

black

grape", Muscatel, Torontel, Albilho and Mollar.

During the Spanish rule, vineyards were restricted in production with the stipulation that the Chilean
should purchase the bulk of their wines directly from Spain itself. In 1641, wine imports
from Chile and the Viceroyalty of Peru into Spain were banned, severely damaging the wine industry in
the colony. The market loss caused the huge surplus of grapes to be made into pisco and aguardiente.
In the 18th century, Chile was known mostly for its sweet wines made from the Pais and Muscatel
grapes. To achieve a high level of sweetness the wines were often boiled which concentrated the
grape must.

Climate and geography

Chile is a long, narrow country that is geographically and climatically dominated by the Andes to the
east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile's vineyards are found along an 800-mile stretch of land
from Atacama Region to the Bio-Bio Region in the south. The climate is varied with the northern
regions being very hot and dry compared to the cooler, wetter regions in the south. In the Valle
Central around Santiago, the climate is dry with an average of 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain and
little risk of springtime frost. This cool drop in temperature is vital in maintaining the
grapes' acidity levels.

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The

vineyards

of

Chile

fall

between

the latitudes of

32

and

38 s which,

in

the Northern

Hemisphere would be the equivalent of southern Spain and North Africa. However the climate in
Chile's wine regions is much more temperate than those regions, comparing more closely
to California and Bordeaux. Overall, it is classified as a Mediterranean climate with average summer
temperatures of 59-64F (15-18C) and potential highs of 86F (30C).
Wine regions

Atacama

Coquimbo

Aconcagua

Valle Central

Southern Chile,

Winemaking
Chile has benefited from an influx of foreign investment and winemaking talent that begin in the late
20th century. Flying winemakers introduced new technology and styles that helped Chilean wineries
produce more international recognized wine styles. One such improvement was the use of oak.
Historically Chilean winemakers had aged their wines in barrels made from rauli beechwood which
imparted to the wine a unique taste that many international tasters found unpleasant. Gradually the
wineries began to convert to French and American oak or stainless steel tanks for aging.
Financial investment manifested in the form of European and American winemakers opening up their
own wineries or collaborating with existing Chilean wineries to produce new brands. These include:

Robert Mondavi, collaboration with Via Errzuriz to produce Sena

Miguel A. Torres, Catalan winemaker opened Miguel Torres Chile in 1979

Chteau Lafite Rothschild, collaboration with Los Vascos

Bruno Prats, Owner of Chteau Cos d'Estournel, and Paul Pontallier, technical director
of Chateau Margaux, opened Domaine Paul Bruno

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Chteau Mouton Rothschild, collaboration with Concha y Toro Winery to produce Almaviva

Wine laws
Chile's wine laws are more similar to the US appellation system than to France's Appellation d'origine
contrle that most of Europe has based their wine laws on. Chile's system went into effect in 1995
and established the boundaries of the country's wine regions and established regulations for wine
labels. There are no restrictions of grape varieties, viticultural practices or winemaking techniques.
Wines are required to have at least 75% of a grape variety if it is to be listed on the label as well as at
least 75% from the designated vintage year. To list a particular wine region, 75% is also the minimum
requirement of grapes that need to be from that region. Similar to the United States, the
term Reserve has no legal definition or meaning.

Grapes and wines

Red wine varieties include CabernetSauvignon Merlot, Carmnre, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Cabernet
franc, Pinot noir, Syrah, Sangiovese,Barbera, Malbec, and Carignan. White wine varieties include
Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Sauvignon vert, Smillon, Riesling, Viognier,Torontel, Pedro Ximnez,
Gewrztraminer and Muscat of Alexandria.

Wine and food pairing: Basic Guidelines

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In general, dry wines are served prior to sweet wines.

White wines are served before red wines.

Red Bordeaux is served before red burgundies, but white burgundies are served before white
Bordeaux.

Young red wines are served before older red wines.

Lower alcohol wines are served before higher alcohol wines.

Consider the food and the wine to be one dish. Rich foods are best served with full-bodied
wines, while light or tangy dishes are best served with a wine of similar characteristics.

Generally speaking light bodied wines go best with steamed or poached foods and full bodied
wines go best with roasted or baked dishes.

The wine served with dessert should be as sweet as the dish, or sweeter.

Acidic wines go best with salty or fatty foods.

Salty foods obscure the sweetness and emphasize the fruitiness of sweet wine.

Do not serve only white wines with fish and chicken, or only red wines with beef. This is an
outdated rule.

Try to choose foods and wines from the same geographical region.

Its easier to plan a menu once youve chosen the wine than it is to try to find a suitable wine
for an existing menu.

Sometimes its best to just forget all of the rules and choose your favorite wine.

Pairing Food and Wine

Salads go best with dry Rose or Riesling.

Shellfish and rich fish dishes are good alongside Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

White meats and chicken are complimented by light red or dry white wine. Good choices
include Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Burgandy, Pinot Blanc, Merlot, Chardonnay,
Vin Gris, or Riesling. Chicken dishes are versatile, and wine pairing should take other
ingredients present in the dish into account.

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Italian food should, obviously, be paired with an Italian wine. Most Italian dishes go well with
Chianti or Pinot Grigio. Dishes that include cream sauce as a main ingredient pair nicely with
an Italian Chardonnay. Pizza goes well with Barbera or Sangiovese.

Red meat is best served with a full red wine, such as Bordeaux, Merlot, Cabernet, or Burgandy
wines. Pinot Noir or Zinfandel also go well with roast beef.

Duck and goose are accompanied well by Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Rioja,
or Merlot. Some professionals feel that duck goes excellently with Rose sparkling wine.

Ham pairs well with Asti Spumanti, Vin Gris, or Beaujolais. Most other pork dishes should be
served with Chardonnay, Chianti, or Merlot.

Spicy food is good when coupled with Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Vin Gris, Chenin
Blanc, Merlot, or Gruner Veltliner.

Sweet desserts are complimented by a semi-sweet or sweet white wine. Chocolate goes well with
Cabernet Savignon, Syrah, and Zinfandel.

Cider
Cider or cyder is a fermented beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from
2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and
America, cider may be termed "apple wine".
Although cider can be made from any variety of apple, certain cultivars are known as cider apples.
Cider is popular in the United Kingdom, especially in South West England and East Anglia. The United
Kingdom has the highest per capita consumption of cider.
The beverage is also popular and traditional in Ireland; Argentina is a cider-producing and drinking
country, especially the provinces of Ro Negro and Mendoza. Australia produces cider, too, particularly
on the island of Tasmania which has a strong apple-growing tradition.
Appearance and types of cider
The flavour of cider varies. Ciders can be classified from dry to sweet. Their appearance ranges from
cloudy with sediment to completely clear, and their colour ranges from light yellow through orange to
brown. The variations in clarity and colour are mostly due to filtering between pressing and

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fermentation. Modern, mass-produced ciders closely resemble sparkling wine in appearance. It is
typically strong (7-8% ABV) and inexpensive.

Cider production
Scratting and pressing
Apples grown for consumption are suitable for cider making, though some regional cider-makers prefer
to use a mix of eating and cider apples (as in Kent, England), or exclusively cider apples (as in the West
Country, England). There are many hundreds of varieties of cultivars developed specifically for cider
making.
Once the apples are gathered from trees in orchards they are scratted (ground down) into what is
called pomace or pommage. The pulp is then transferred to the cider press and built up in layers
known as cheeses into a block.
Traditionally the method for squeezing the juice from the cheese involves placing sweet straw or hair
cloths between the layers of pomace. The set is then subjected to increasing degrees of pressure, until
all the 'must' or juice is squeezed from the pomace. This juice, after being strained in a coarse hairsieve, is then put into either open vats or closed casks.

Fermentation
Fermentation is carried out at a temperature of 416 C (4060 F). This is low for most kinds of
fermentation, but is beneficial for cider as it leads to slower fermentation with less loss of delicate
aromas.
Shortly before the fermentation consumes all the sugar, the liquor is racked (siphoned) into new vats.
This leaves dead yeast cells and other undesirable material at the bottom of the old vat. At this point it
becomes important to exclude airborne acetic bacteria, so vats are filled completely to exclude air. The
fermenting of the remaining available sugar generates a small amount of carbon dioxide that forms a
protective layer, reducing air contact. This final fermentation creates a small amount of carbonation.
Extra sugar may be added specifically for this purpose. Racking is sometimes repeated if the liquor
remains too cloudy.
The cider is ready to drink after a three-month fermentation period, though more often it is matured
in the vats for up to two or three years.[9]
Blending and bottling

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For larger-scale cider production, ciders from vats produced from different varieties of apple may be
blended to accord with market taste. If the cider is to be bottled, usually some extra sugar is added for
sparkle. Higher quality ciders can be made using the champagne method, but this is expensive in time
and money and requires special corks, bottles, and other equipment.
List of commercial brands of cider
Cider is an alcoholic beverage made exclusively from the juice of specially grown varieties of apples.
This is not to be confused with perry which is made from specially grown varieties of pears. The
following is a list of cider brands.

Aspall Cider

Blackthorn Cider

Brothers Cider,

Burrow Hill Cider

Crispin Cider

Druids Celtic Cider

Fizz,

Fox Barrel Cider,

Frosty Jack Cider

Perry
Perry is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears. Perry has been common for centuries in
Britain, particularly in the Three Counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and
in parts of south Wales; and France, especially Normandy and Anjou.
As with apples specifically grown to make cider, special pear cultivars are used: in the UK the most
commonly used variety of perry pear is the Blakeney Red. They produce fruit that is not of eating
quality, but that produces superior perry.
Perry pears

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The majority of perry pear varieties in the UK originate from the counties of Gloucestershire,
Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the west of England. Of these, most originate in parishes
around May Hill on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border.
Making perry
Traditional perry making is broadly similar to traditional cider making, in that the fruit is picked,
crushed to make pomace, and pressed to extract the juice, which is then fermented using the
wild yeasts found on the fruit's skin. The principal differences between perry and cider are that pears
must be left for a critical period to mature after picking, and the pomace must be left to stand after
initial crushing to lose tannins, a process analogous to wine maceration. After initial fermentation,
the drink undergoes a secondary malolactic fermentation while maturing.
Perry pears often have higher levels of sugar than cider apples. They also have a very different tannin
content to cider apples, with a predominance of astringent over bitter flavours.
"Pear cider" has in recent years been used as an alternative name to perry. The use of the term "pear
cider", instead of perry, has given a new commercial lease of life to a drink that was practically extinct;
in two years sales of the drink increased from 3.4 million pounds to 46 million pounds.

Mead
Mead also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution
of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain
mash; the mash is strained off immediately after fermentation. Depending on local traditions and
specific recipes, it may be flavored with spices, fruit, or hops (which produce a bitter, beer-like flavor).
The alcoholic content of mead may range from about 8% ABV to 18%. It may be still, carbonated, or
sparkling, and it may be dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

Varieties
Mead can have a wide range of flavors depending on; the source of the honey, additives (also known as
"adjuncts" or "gruit"), including fruit and spices, the yeast employed during fermentation, and aging
procedure.
A

mead

that

also

contains spices (such

as cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg),

as oregano, hops, or even lavender or chamomile), is called ametheglin .

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A mead that contains fruit (such as raspberry, blackberry or strawberry) is called a melomel, which
was also used as a means of food preservation, keeping summer produce for the winter. A mead that
is fermented with grape juice is called a pyment.
Mulled mead is a popular drink at Christmas time, where mead is flavored with spices (and sometimes
various fruits) and warmed.
Historically, meads were fermented by wild yeasts and bacteria residing on the skins of the fruit or
within the honey itself. Mead yeasts are better suited to preserve the delicate honey flavors than a wine
or beer yeast.
Mead can be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. A version of this called "honey jack" can be made
by partly freezing a quantity of mead and pouring off the liquid without the ice crystals (a process
known as freeze distillation), in the same way that applejack is made from cider.
Mead variants

Acerglyn A mead made with honey and maple syrup.

Balche A Native Mexican version of mead.

Bochet A mead where the honey is caramelized or burned separately before adding the
water. Gives toffee, chocolate, marshmallow flavors.

Braggot Originally brewed with honey and hops, later with honey and malt .

Black mead A name sometimes given to the blend of honey and blackcurrants.

Capsicumel A mead flavored with chili peppers.

Cyser A blend of honey and apple juice fermented together; see also cider.

Great mead Any mead that is intended to be aged several years. The designation is meant to
distinguish this type of mead from "short mead" (see below).

Melomel Melomel is made from honey and any fruit.

Sack mead This refers to mead that is made with more honey than is typically used. The
finished product contains a higher than average ethanol concentration (meads at or above 14%

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ABV are generally considered to be sack strength) and elevated levels of sweetness, although it is
possible to have dry (no residual sweetness) sack meads.
Short mead Also called "quick mead." Short mead shares some qualities found in cider (or

even light ale): primarily that it is effervescent, and often has a cidery taste. It can also be
champagne-like.
Show mead A term which has come to mean "plain" mead: that which has honey and water

as a base, with no fruits, spices or extra flavorings.

Sima - a quickly fermented low-alcoholic Finnish variety, seasoned with lemon and associated

with the festival of vappu.

Tej Tej is an Ethiopian mead, fermented with wild yeasts (and bacteria), and with the

addition

of gesho.

Recipes

vary

from

family

to

family,

with

some

recipes

leaning

towardsbraggot with the inclusion of grains.

Trjniak(TSG) A Polish mead, made using two units of water for each unit of honey.

White mead A mead that is colored white, either from herbs or fruit used or sometimes egg
whites.

Sake
Sake is a rice-based alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin. It is sometimes spelled sak to show the
pronunciation more clearly.
This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese, sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. The
Japanese term for this specific beverage is Nihonshu meaning "Japanese alcohol".
Alcohol content of undiluted sake is 1820% alcohol, although this is often lowered to around 15% by
diluting the sake with water prior to bottling.
Ingredients
Rice
The rice used for brewing sake is called shuzo kotekimai (sake rice). The grain is larger, stronger, and
contains less protein and lipid than the ordinary rice eaten by Japanese. The rice has a starch
component called shinpaku in the center of the grains. Since sake made from rice containing purely
starch has a superior taste, the rice is polished to remove the bran.

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Water
Water is one of the important ingredients for making sake. The water used is almost always
groundwater or well water. Urban breweries usually import water from other areas, because of the
difficulty of getting water of sufficient quality locally.
Brewing
Sake is produced by the multiple parallel fermentation of rice. The rice is first polished to remove
the protein and oils from the exterior of the rice grains, leaving behind starch. Thorough milling leads
to fewer congeners and generally a more desirable product.
Newly polished rice is allowed to "rest" until it has absorbed enough moisture from the air so that it
will not crack when immersed in water. After this resting period, the rice is washed clean of the rice
powder produced during milling and then steeped in water. The length of time depends on the degree
to which the rice was polished, ranging from several hours or even overnight for an ordinary milling to
just minutes for highly polished rice.
After soaking, the rice is boiled in a large pot or steamed on a conveyor belt. The degree of cooking
must be carefully controlled; overcooked rice will ferment too quickly for flavors to develop well and
undercooked rice will only ferment on the outside. The steamed rice is then cooled and divided into
portions for different uses.
The main mash then ferments, which takes two to six weeks. With high-grade sake, fermentation is
deliberately slowed by lowering the temperature to 10 C (50 F) or less.
After fermentation, sake is pressed to separate the liquid from the solids. For some types of sake, a
small amount of distilled alcohol, called brewer's alcohol, is added before pressing in order to extract
flavors and aromas. Next, the remaining lees (a fine sediment) are removed, and the sake is carbon
filtered and pasteurized. The sake is allowed to rest and mature and then usually diluted with water to
lower the alcohol content from around 20% to 15% or so, before finally being bottled.
Tji
Tji is the job title of the sake brewer. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society.

Maturing
The process during which the sake grows into a quality product during storage is called maturing.
New sake is not liked because of its rough taste, whereas mature sake is mild, smooth and rich.
However, if it is too mature, it also develops a rough taste. Nine to twelve months are required for sake
to mature.

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Aging is caused by physical and chemical factors such as oxygen supply, the broad application of
external heat, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes and amino acids.

Varieties
Special-designation sake
There are two basic types of sake: Futs-shu (Ordinary sake) and Tokutei meish-shu ) .Futs-shu is
the equivalent of table wine and accounts for the majority of sake produced. Tokutei meish-shu refers
to premium sakes distinguished by the degree to which the rice has been polished and the added
percentage of brewer's alcohol or the absence of such additives.
Different handling after fermentation

Namazake is sake that has not been pasteurized. It requires refrigerated storage and has a
shorter shelf-life than pasteurized sake.

Genshu is undiluted sake. Most sake is diluted with water after brewing to lower the alcohol
content from 18-20% down to 14-16%, but genshu is not.

Muroka means unfiltered. It refers to sake that has not been carbon filtered, but
which has been pressed and separated from the lees, and thus is clear, not cloudy.

Nigorizake is cloudy sake. Before serving, the bottle is shaken to mix the sediment and turn
the sake white or cloudy.

Seishu "clear/clean sake", is the Japanese legal definition of sake and refers to sake in which
the solids have been strained out, leaving clear liquid.

Koshu is "aged sake". Most sake does not age well, but this specially made type can age for
decades, turning yellow and acquiring a honeyed flavor.

Taruzake is sake aged in wooden barrels or bottled in wooden casks.

Comparing sake with water, sake which is heavier than water is called "-", and sake which is lighter
than water is called "+". So "+10" is very dry, and "-10" is very sweet.

Serving sake

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Sake can be served in a wide variety of cups; here is a sakazuki (a flat, saucer-like cup), an ochoko (a
small, cylindrical cup), and a masu (a wooden, box-like cup).
In Japan sake is served chilled, at room temperature, or heated, depending on the preference of the
drinker, the quality of the sake, and the season. Typically, hot sake is a winter drink, and high-grade
sake is not drunk hot, because the flavors and aromas will be lost. Sake is usually drunk from small
cups called choko, and poured into the choko from ceramic flasks called tokkuri. Saucer-like cups
called sakazuki are also used.

Storage & consumption

In general, it is best to keep sake refrigerated in a cool or dark room, as prolonged exposure to heat or
direct light will lead to spoilage. Sake stored at room temperature is best consumed within a few
months after purchase.
After opening a bottle of sake, it is best consumed within 2 or 3 hours. It is possible to store sake in
the refrigerator, but it is recommended to finish the sake within 2 days. This is because once premium
sake is opened it begins to oxidize, which affects the taste. If the sake is kept in the refrigerator for
more than 3 days, it will lose its "best" flavor.
At the New Year many Japanese people drink a special sake called toso. Toso is a sort of iwai-zake
made by soaking tososan, a Chinese powdered medicine, overnight in sake.

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Wine & liquor terminology

S.N.
1.

Word
Abboccato

Meaning
Italian term for semidry wines.

2.

Acetaldehyde

Formed during final stages of fermentation, found in most wines, recognizable at

3.

Acetic acid

higher concentration as sherry aroma.

Colorless volatile acid found in all the wines formed by the action of acetobacter

4.

Acetobacter

bacteria.
Air borne aerobic microorganisms, become active during fermentation.

Acidic
Aeration

Responsible for converting wines into vinegar.

Having the quality of sharpness to the taste due to presence of acids.
Allowing the wine to come in contact with air by decantation process or by

5.
6.

swirling the wine in the glass so that the wine releases its aromas and flavors to
7.

Aerobic

be enjoyed more.
Fermentation conducted in the presence of oxygen.

8.

fermentation
Aging

Allowing the wine to mature and develop in a barrel/bottle so that it develops

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Agrafe
Aguardente
Albariza
Amarone
American oak

character and palatability.

A traditional metal clasp used to secure the cork in the bottle of sparkling wines.
Grape spirit used to fortify the port and Madiera wines.
White chalky soil in vineyards of Jerez region in Spain.
An extremely full bodied Italian full bodied red wine from Veneto region.
Oak having more aromas of vanillin and related compounds than oak from

14.

Amphora

Europe.
Ancient vessel made of ceramic or earthenware usually with two handles used as

15.
16.
17.

Amylase
Anthocyanins
Arenas

container for wines.

Enzyme that converts starch into sugar.
Compound present in the red grapes that gives red wine its color.
Type of soil found in sherry region of Spain and contains 80% of sand with

18.

Aspersion

alumina, silica and clay. Is red yellow in color.

Continual misting of the grapes with water so that they are protected from

19.

Assemblage

damage by frost.
Blending of wines from different vineyards/varietals or vintages.

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20.
21.

Aszu
Autovinification

Late harvest or botrytis affected form of wine Tokaji. (Hungarian term)

Process used for portos where crushed grapes are placed in a sealed stainless
steel containers. The carbon di oxide gas pressure causes more extraction of color

22.
23.
24.

Baked

tannins and flavor.

A negative smell or flavor in wine- warm, cooked, or roasted-often resulting from

Balthazer
Barrel aging

extremely ripe grapes grown in hot climates.

Oversize champagne bottle, equal to 16 bottles of 750 ml capacity or 12 ltrs.
A process of mellowing wine through extraction, as the alcohol dissolves flavoraffecting chemicals present in the wooden barrel. The wine extracts certain aroma

25.
26.
27.

Barrique
Batonnage
Baume

and flavor elements present in the wood.

French small oak barrel, approx. 60 gallons.
Stirring of the lees back in the wines to impart creamy flavor to the wine.
Term used to measure the level of unfermented sugar present in the grapes or

28.

Beads

must.
The chain of tiny bubbles found in sparkling wines, formed by the presence of

Bocksbeutel
Body

carbon dioxide.
German term for short flat sided, flask shaped bottles.
Tactile sensation of weight or fullness on the palate, usually from a combination

31.

Bouchon

of alcohol, extracts, glycerin, tannins and other physical components in wine.

Final cork used in a finished bottle of sparkling wines.

32.

dexpedition
Bouchon de tirage

Temporary cork sometimes used to close the bottle during the second

33.

Bouquet

fermentation of sparkling wines.

Various fragrances noted by smell, created by a wines development and imparted

Breathing

to the wine from the fermentation and aging process, whether in barrel or bottle.
Allowing wine to come in contact with air by uncorking and pouring it. Dispels

Brick
Brix

unpleasant odors and bring out aroma and bouquet.

Shade of red-brown often found in aged red wines.
Measurement in degrees, of the sugar content of the grapes, used generally in new

37.

Capsule

world wine producing countries.

Cover placed over the cork to protect the wine and improve the appearance of the

38.

Carbonic

bottle. Can be made of plastic, lead or aluminium.

Intracellular fermentation where whole uncrushed clusters of grapes are placed in

maceration

a stainless steel fermenter and the tank is filled with carbon dioxide and sealed.

29.
30.

34.
35.
36.

Lack of oxygen causes skin cells to die, releasing an enzyme inside the grape that
converts sugar into alcohol. This process produces a light bodied, light colored,
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

Cava
Cellar
Chai
Claret

less tannin and fruity wine which is consumed young.

Spanish term for sparkling wine made by the methode champanoise.
Storage or aging facility for alcoholic beverages, generally underground.
French term for aboveground area for storing and aging wines.
British name for Bordeaux red wines. Derived from the French term meaning wine

Cloudy

that was clear, light and bright.

Descriptive term for wines containing excess colloidal material or sediments in
suspension.

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44.

Corked/corky.

Unpleasant odor or flavor found in wines caused due to mold development on the

45.
46.
47.

Delicate
Demi-muid
Depth

cork.
Wines that are pleasingly light in style.
Medium sized barrels used for aging.
Intense, complex wine flavors that seem to fill the mouth from back to front.

48.

Dosage

Layers of flavours that are long lasting.

Addition of sugar syrup or brandy to champagne before recorking after

49.
50.
51.
52.

Estufa
Faded
Feuillette
Finning

degorgement.
Large heating chambers or ovens used for heating madiera.
Wine that has lost its bouquet, character and definition due to aging.
French term meaning 132 ltr cask often used to age wines from Chablis.
Process of clarifying wines which are cloudy or hazy to brilliance by adding a

53.

Flor

colloidal agent.
Spanish term for yeast like substance that forms a white layer on the surface of

Fruity

the sherries.
Describes wines which have a definite pleasant aroma and flavors of grapes or

55.

Full bodied

other fresh fruits.

Describes mouth filling capacity of the beverage generally having high levels of

56.

Glycerin

glycerin.
By-product of the fermentation of grapes into wines. Gives wines a soft, almost

Grappa
Hogshead
Hydrometer

oily tinge on the tounge.

Italian pomace brandy made from the skins, seeds, pulp and stems of the wine.
Barrel used in many wine producing countries.
Instrument used for measuring specific gravity of must thus determining content

Imperial
Irrigation

of sugar.
Oversized Bordeaux bottle with capacity of 6 liters (equivalent to 1.58 gallons)
Controlled system that applies right amount of water at the right time to the

62.
63.

Isinglass
Jeroboam

grapevines.
Protein based fining agent derived from dried sturgeon air bladder.
Oversized bottle with the capacity of four standard 750 ml bottles in champagne

64.

Jug wine

and six standard 750 ml bottles from Bordeaux.

Inexpensive wine of no particular type or quality that is usually sold in large boxes

65.
66.
67.
68.

Kicker
Lagare
Leakage
Leathery

or large glass containers.

Term for an expensive wine outside the hot zone of a wine list.
Trough used for foot pressing of grapes in Portugal.
Loss of wine through the cork due to improper storage or a faulty cork.
Odor occasionally found in red wines rich in tannin; similar to the smell of

69.

Lees

rawhide.
Dead yeast cells and, in case of red wines, pulp, skins, seeds and other solids that

Legs

settle to the bottom of a barrel or tank during and after fermentation.

Trails or streaks of liquid that visibly run downward on the inner walls of a wine

54.

57.
58.
59.
60.
61.

70.

or brandy glass after it has been swirled. Substantial legs indicate higher levels of
71.

Light

glycerin and relatively high alcohol content.

Descriptive term used to describe a pleasant, refreshing wine, lacking in body,

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72.

Limousine oak

color or alcohol.
Soft oak with loose grain, used to make barrels for wine made from wood grown in

73.

Liqueur dexpedition

the limousine forest near Limoges, France.

Final dosage in the champagne making that determines the relative dryness.

74.

Liqueur dtirage

Usually consists of the wine and sugar.

Mixture of yeast and sugar added to still wines to begin secondary fermentation

75.

Lively

for making sparkling wines.

Describes white wine that are young and fresh with plenty of zestiness, acidity

76.
77.
78.

Luscious
Magnum
Maitre de chais

and fruit with a small amount of spritz.

Soft sweet fat and fruity
Bottle of wine with the capacity of 1.5 litres.
Employee in charge of the cellar who is responsible for the vinification and aging

79.

Malolactic

of all wines.
Bacterial fermentation converting malic acid while releasing carbon dioxide.

80.

fermentation
Manzanilla

Spanish term for palest and driest fino sherry, produced or aged in sanlucar de

81.
82.

Marc
Mature

barrmeda.
Distillate made from the stems, seeds, pulp, skins and seeds of grapes.
Stage in the aging of wines when they have developed all of their characterstic

83.
84.

Meniscus
Meritage

qualities in harmony.
Curved upper surface of a column of the liquid. The rim of the wine in wine glass.
Wines made in the United States predominantly from a blend of any of the
traditional Bordeaux grape varieties: Cabernet, Sauvignon, Merlot, Franc, Petit
Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenere for red wine; Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and

Methode

Muscadelle for white.

Technique in which fermented wine is bottled with yeast cells and sugar to induce

champenoise

a secondary fermentation. When fermentation is complete, the wine is aged, and

86.

Methuselah

the yeast sediment is removed.

Oversized champagne bottle with a capacity of eight 750-milliter bottles, or 6 liters

87.
88.
89.

Mildew
Millesime
Mistral

(equivalent to 6 quarts)
Any of a fungal diseases that attack grapevines in rainy or damp seasons.
Term is mostly used to indicate a vintage champagne.
Powerful cold winds that sweep through the Rhne valley and can blow hard

90.
91.

Moelleux
Moldy

enough to strip vines of their shoots, leaves and fruit.

Term used to describe sweet wines, especially in the Loire valley.
Term used to describe the indication, usually by smell, of bacterial spoilage in a

92.
93.

Mousse
Must

wine .
Froth or foam on the surface of a glass of a sparkling wine .
Unfermented juice or any mixture of juice, pulp, skins, and seeds from fruit,

Musty
Mutage

berries or grapes. The must is fermented to make wine.

Describes odor or flavor in wine similar to a moldy smell.
Process of retarding fermentation of grape juice by adding brandy or other

Negociants-eleveurs

distilled spirits.
Merchants who may purchase grapes or wines from growers for the production

85.

94.
95.
96.

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Noble rot
Nose
Nouveau
Nutty

and/ or aging of wines that will be aged and bottled in the merchants, cellars.
Botrytis cinerea, a gray, hairy mold present in most vineyards.
Aroma and bouquet of a wine.
New wine, usually first wine of the vintage.
Describes odor and flavor of Madeira, Marsala, Sherry or other oxidized, fortified

.
101

Oak

wines.
Species of hardwood tree used for aging wine.

.
102

Oaky

Describes the odor or taste of wines fermented or aged in oak.

.
103

Oidium

Powderly mildew that can prove fatal to grape vines if not prevented or controlled.

.
104

Organic wine

Wine made from organically grown grapes, vinified naturally with minimal

.
105

Oxidation

addition of sulfites.
Chemical change in wine due to exposure to oxygen during any phase of

.
106

Passito

production, aging, or storage.

Sweet wine made from grapes that have been allowed to dry in the sun or on

.
107

Peppery

drying racks indoors, increasing sugar levels.

Describes a smell or taste, usually in full-bodied red wines reminiscent of black

.
108

Perfume

pepper, herbs, or spices.

Refers to floral smells encountered in the aroma and bouquet of some white

.
109

pH

wines.
A measure of the relative acidity or alkalinity of grape musts and finished wines.

.
110

Phylloxera vastatrix

Aphidlike insect, a plant louse. Lives on any grapevine, but kills vitis vinifera

111

Pomace

varieties when the insects waste is injected into the vines root system.
Skins, stems, and seeds remaining after the grapes have been pressed. A very

.
112

Porriturre Noble

compact mass often referred to as a cake.

French for Botrytis cineria .

.
113

Powdery Mildew

Fungal diseases that retards grapevine growth and interferes with winter

.
114

Pradikat

hardiness.
Special attribute reserved for German and Austrian wines made from grapes with

97.
98.
99.
100

.
115

higher sugar levels. There are 6 levels of Pradikat, all based on different levels of
Press Wine

sugar at harvest.
Portion of wine that is pressed from the skins and pulp of red grapes under
pressure, after the free-run wine has been drained off. Concentration of color,
flavor and harshness is found in this wine, which, if used at all, is used for

116

Primary

blending.
First stage of fermentation, in which the yeast begins to metabolize the sugar,

.
117

fermentation
Pruning

converting it into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Removal of most of the previous years growth to leave a predetermined number of

buds on the canes of the vines. The number of buds will determine the number of
grape bunches produced in the current year.

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118

Pumping over

During fermentation of red wines, the cap of red skins must be redistributed with
the juice, in order to release carbon dioxide and to allow for optimal extraction of
flavors, tannins, and pigmentation from the skins. The wine is pumped from the

Punt

bottom of the tank over the cap several times a day. In France called remontage.
Dome shaped indentation found on the bottom of some wine bottles. Serves to

.
120

Racking

strengthen the bottle. Most pronounced in Champagne bottles.

Moving wine from one container to another in order to separate wine from

121

Rape

sediment that has fallen to the bottom of the container.

A system of grape selection and / or wine declassification used to insure that the

119

less ripe grapes are not made into wine. Inferior products may be distilled as
122
123

Recently disgorged

alcohol .
After extra aging on its lees, a bottle of sparkling wine or champagne undergoes

Recioto

disgorging shortly before release, often resulting in richer, fuller flavors.

Dry or sweet red wine, or sweet white wine made in the Veneto province of
northeastern Italy from the recie or ears of the grape bunches, the ripest grape
one the bunch. The ears are usually allowed to dehydrate on drying racks to

124

Refractometer

concentrate sugar and flavors.

Instrument that measures sugar ratio in juice by refracting light. The degree of

125

Remuage

refraction is an indicator of the density of the juice, indicating the sugar content.
Process used as the part of the methode champenoise to move sediment from the
side of the bottle into the neck of the bottle after the second fermentation and the

Residual sugar

aging have been completed.

Natural grape sugar intentionally left in the wine after fermentation to make a

127
128

Robust
Rose

sweeter wine.
Describes flavor and mouth feel of wine.
Wine made from the juice of the red grapes that has limited contact with the skin.

129

Rough

Wine made from a combination of both red and white wines.

Describes young, immature wines that are unbalanced and very astringent, often

130

Saccharomyces

due to high levels of tannins.

The dominant yeast strain used in making wines.

131
132

cerevisiae
Sack
Saignage

Old English term for Sherry.

Bleeding process used to draw off some of the clear juice from red grape must

126

prior to fermentation. The remaining juice will have a higher ratio of skin contact
133

Salmanzer

and make a darker-colored, fuller-bodied, and fuller flavored red wine.

Large bottle with the capacity of twelve 25.4-ounce /750-milliter bottles or 2.4

134

Sediment

gallons/ 9 liters. Generally used for Champagne.

Precipitation of tannins, tartrates, and pigments as the wine ages in the bottles.

135
136
137
138
139

Sherry
Smoky
Spritz
Steely
Stuck fermentation

Especially in red wines.

Fortified wine produced in Jerez, Spain. Produced using the solera system.
Describes odor present in bouquet of wines fermented is charred oak barrels.
Light, pleasant effervescence created by carbon dioxide in the wine.
Describes mineral aromas and flavors, especially in white wines.
When fermentation stops before all the sugar has been converted to alcohol.

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Sweet

Describes a wine that retains some natural sugar after fermentation has been

141

Tannins

ceased.
Phenolic polymers that lend density and fullness to wine. Organic compound in

142
143

Tartrates
Tastevin

the seeds, stems and skins of grapes and in oak barrels.

Crystals formed by the precipitation of tartaric acid in the wine.
Small, saucer-like silver cup sometimes used by a sommelier to examine the taste

144

Tirage

wine before serving.

Process of moving wine from one vessel to another, especially from tank or barrel

145
146

Ullage
Varietal

to the bottle.
Air space in the bottle between the bottom of the cork and the top of the wine.
Specific grape variety. A varietal wine is a wine made completely or predominantly

147

Vin doux naturel

from a single grape type.

Naturally sweet wines of France that are required to have a minimum of 252

148
149

Vinho de mesa
Viniculture

grams of sugar per liter of must.

The lowest level of basic, ordinary wines, naturally aged on racks (canteiro).
Theory,art,and science of growing wine, thereby combining viticulture in the

150

Vinifera

vineyard and vinification in the winery.

Grapevine family of many different varieties, including Chardonnay,Merlot etc.

151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158

Vinification
Vino da tavola
Vinosity
Vintage
Viscous
Viticulture
Vitis vinifera
Vosges

Considered by most to be the premium grapes for making wines.

Process of converting grapes into wine.
Legal category of basic, ordinary wine, equivalent to French.
Refers to winelike aroma and flavor due to its alcohol level.
The year in which the grapes are harvested.
Describes full-bodied, almost fat wines.
Theory, science, and study of the production of grapes.
Species of grapevine that includes the famous varieties of Chardonnay, Merlot etc.
Forest located in the Vosges mountain near Alsace. Oak from this area has a tight

159

Wine cradle

grain with neutral oak flavor and medium tannin extraction.

Basket designed to hold a bottle of mature wine that contains sediment. Keeps a

Woody

bottle in a nearly horizontal position to minimize disruption of the sediment.

Describes odor and taste of some wines aged in wood barrels for an extended

161
162
163
164
165
166

CIVC
Tete de Cuvee
Assemblage
Gluco-oenometre
Perlage
RM (Recoltant

period of time.
Comite Interprofessionel des Vine de Champagne.
First pressing of grapes in a Champagne making (gives best juice).
(blending).
Helps in measuring the sugar content to produce co2 bubbles.
Creation of bubbles when wine is poured.
In Champagne growers who sell their own wines, that to make, bottle and sell.

167

manipulant)
NM(Negociant

Large houses buy grapes from small growers.

168

manipulant)
CM(co-orperative

Wine was made by a co-orperative.

169
170

manipulant)
Methode gai lla oise
Feui ll ette

(Initial fermentation is gradually slowed down and then finished in the bottle).
1321 to cask used for aging chablins.

160

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Methode droise

Wine is bottled before fermentation is complete (clairette de-die).

172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201

ancestrate
Bonbonnes
Actobactor
Agave azul
Agrafe
Aquamiel
Blanco
Brewing
Brut
Cellaring
Chateaux
Chaptalisation
Corkage
Diastase
Eau-de-vie-de-marc
Fining
Fortified wines
Isinglass
Malt
Malting
Maltose
Marc
Maturing
Pina
Remuage
Tartrates
Vin-de-goutte
Vin-de-pays
Vintage wine
Wort
Aguard (i) ente

Glass flagons for giring wines a hint of onidation.

Airborne bacteria.
Blue agave chosen to make tequila.
Steel wire clip to secure Champagne corks.
Sap of pinas.
White tequila aged for 14-21 days.
The process of making beer from wort.
Term for dry Champagne.
Placing filled wine casks in cellars.
House in France.
Process of adding sugar to grape juice.
Per bottle charge for serving the hosts liquor.
Enzyme that converts starch into sugar.
Juice from third pressing that is distilled.
Process of converting cloudy wine into clear wine.
Wines strengthened in alcoholic content.
Bladder of sturgeon fish.
A product of germinated barley.
The process of germinating barley.
Converted starch into sugar.
Residue of pipes and skins in wines.
Leaving wine in bottles to achieve an acid-tanning balance.
Heart of the agave plant.
Process of removing sediments from Champagne bottles.
Tannin that give bitter taste.
Running wine after fermentation.
Country wine.
Wine grown in a year of perfect weather.
Liquid after fermentation.
Spanish/Portuguese term for spirit. In Spain and Portugal it refers to grape
brandy, in Brazil and Mexico it is sometimes used to refer to a young sugar cane

202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210

Alembic charentais
Analyser
Anejo
Agave
Angels share
Aqua vitae

spirit.
Traditional cognac pot still.
The first column of a multicolumn still.
Tequila/mezcal that has been aged in the barrel for more than one year.
Family of Mexican desert lilies used to produce mescal and tequila.
The term given to the spirit which evaporates from warehouse barrel.
The original term for spirit, meaning water of life . in Scottish Gaelic , it is uisce

Bagasse
Beading
Botanicals

beatha; in Irish Gaelic, usquebaugh.

The fibrous stalks of sugarcane, sometimes used as fuel for rum stills.
A simple method of assessing the strength of a spirit.
The herbs, peel, etc. which flavor gin; the most important of them all being
juniper.

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212

Bouilleur
Charcoal filtration

French term for distiller.

Technique (used in Tennessee whiskeys and vodka production) which involves

213
214

Charring
Congeners

passing new spirits through vats or tanks containing granulated charcoal.

The firing of the inside of a barrel.
Chemical compounds found in a spirit formed during fermentation, distillation

215
216

Eau-de-vie
Faibles

and maturation.
French term for young distillate.
Low strength solution of distilled water and cognac used to dilute maturing

217

Maceration

brandies.
The process of steeping ingredients (fruits, herbs, etc.) in alcohol to extract color

218
219
220
221

Marrying
Molasses
Overproof
Peat

and flavor.
Process where recently blended spirits are placed in a large vat before bottling.
The thick black liquid that is left after the sugar has been crystallized.
Rum terminology for high strength, unaged rum.
A soft fuel made from compressed and carbonized vegetable matter usually

222

Rectification

heather, wood, grass and occasionally seaweed.

Purification of a distillate by redistillation, giving a high-strength distillate with

223
224

Reposado
Sour mash

very few congeners.

Tequila/mezcal that has been aged in the barrel for less than 11 months.
Another term for backset. A sour mash whisky must contain 25% backset and the

225

Stillage

use of lactic bacteria soured yeast mash which has been fermented for 72 hours.
The non-alcoholic residue at the bottom of a still containing solids which are
processed for animal feed an acidic liquid which in North America is used as

226
227

backset.
Scottish/Irish term for the mixing together of malt from one distillery.
The fermented liquid which is ready to be distilled.

Vatting
Wash

Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed and probably oldest[2][3][4][5] alcoholic beverage; it is the third
most

popular

drink

overall,

the brewing and fermentation of sugars,

after

water

mainly

derived

and
from

tea.

It

is

malted cereal

produced
grains,

by
most

commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Sugars derived from maize (corn) and rice are widely
used adjuncts because of their lower cost. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and
act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be
included.

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The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume though may range from less than
1% to over 13% in rare cases.

History
Beer is one of the world's oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or
9500 BC, when cereal was first

farmed,

and is recorded in the written history of ancient

Egypt and Mesopotamia.

As almost any substance containing carbohydrates, mainly sugars or starch, can naturally undergo
fermentation, it is likely that beer-like beverages were independently invented among various cultures
throughout the world. Bread and beer increased prosperity to a level that allowed time for development
of other technology and contributed to the building of civilizations.
Definition of beer: beer is a fermented alcoholic beverage principally made from malted barley and
flavoured with hops.
Contents of a beer:
WATER

----

89% - 91%

SUGAR

----

3% - 4%

ALCOHOL

----

3% - 6%

PROTEIN

----

0.5%

CARBON DI OXIDE ---MISCELLENOUS

----

0.4% - 0.5%
2%

Ingredients
The basic ingredients of beer are water; a starch source, such as malted barley, able to be fermented
(converted into alcohol); a brewer's yeast to produce the fermentation; and a flavouring such
as hops. A mixture of starch sources may be used, with a secondary starch source, such as maize
(corn), rice or sugar, often being termed an adjunct, especially when used as a lower-cost substitute for
malted barley. Less widely used starch sources include millet, sorghum and cassava root in Africa,
potato in Brazil, and agave in Mexico, among others. The amount of each starch source in a beer
recipe is collectively called the grain bill.

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Water
Beer is composed mostly of water. Regions have water with different mineral components; as a result,
different regions were originally better suited to making certain types of beer, thus giving them a
regional

character.[43] For

example, Dublin has hard

water well

suited

to

makingst

out,

such

as Guinness; while Pilzen has soft water well suited to making pale lager, such as Pilsner Urquell.[ The
waters of Burton in England contain gypsum, which benefits making pale ale to such a degree that
brewers of pale ales will add gypsum to the local water in a process known as Burtonisation.
Starch source
The starch source in a beer provides the fermentable material and is a key determinant of the strength
and flavour of the beer. The most common starch source used in beer is malted grain. Grain is malted
by soaking it in water, allowing it to begin germination, and then drying the partially germinated grain
in a kiln. Malting grain produces enzymes that convert starches in the grain into fermentable sugars.
[45]

Different roasting times and temperatures are used to produce different colours of malt from the

same grain. Darker malts will produce darker beers.

Nearly all beer includes barley malt as the majority of the starch. This is because its fibrous hull
remains attached to the grain during threshing. After malting, barley is milled, which finally removes
the hull, breaking it into large pieces. These pieces remain with the grain during the mash, and act as
a filter bed during lautering, when sweet wort is separated from insoluble grain material. Other malted
and unmalted grains (including wheat, rice, oats, and rye, and less frequently, corn and sorghum) may
be used. In recent years, a few brewers have produced gluten-free beer, made with sorghum with no
barley malt, for those who cannot consume gluten-containing grains like wheat, barley, and rye.

Hops:
Flavouring beer is the sole major commercial use of hops. The flower of the hop vine is used as a
flavouring and preservative agent in nearly all beer made today. The flowers themselves are often called
"hops".
Hops contain several characteristics that brewers desire in beer. Hops contribute a bitterness that
balances the sweetness of the malt. Hops contribute floral, citrus, and herbal aromas and flavours to
beer. Hops have an antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable
microorganisms, and hops aids in "head retention", the length of time that a foamy head created by
carbonation will last. The acidity of hops is a preservative.

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Yeast
Yeast is the microorganism that is responsible for fermentation in beer. Yeast metabolises the sugars
extracted from grains, which produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, and thereby turns wort into beer.
In addition to fermenting the beer, yeast influences the character and flavour. The dominant types of
yeast used to make beer are the top-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae and bottom-fermenting
Saccharomyces uvarum.
Clarifying agent
Some brewers add one or more clarifying agents to beer, which typically precipitate (collect as a solid)
out of the beer along with protein solids and are found only in trace amounts in the finished product.
This process makes the beer appear bright and clean, rather than the cloudy appearance of ethnic and
older styles of beer such as wheat beers.
Examples of clarifying agents include isinglass, obtained from swim bladders of fish; Irish moss, a
seaweed; kappa carrageenan, from the seaweed and gelatin. If a beer is marked "suitable for Vegans",
it was clarified either with seaweed or with artificial agents.

Brewing
The process of making beer is known as brewing. The purpose of brewing is to convert the starch
source into a sugary liquid called wort and to convert the wort into the alcoholic beverage known as
beer in a fermentation process effected by yeast.
The first step, where the wort is prepared by mixing the starch source (normally malted barley) with
hot water, is known as "mashing". Hot water (known as "liquor" in brewing terms) is mixed with
crushed malt or malts (known as "grist") in a mash tun. The mashing process takes around 1 to 2
hours, during which the starches are converted to sugars, and then the sweet wort is drained off the
grains. The grains are now washed in a process known as "sparging". This washing allows the brewer
to gather as much of the fermentable liquid from the grains as possible.
The sweet wort collected from sparging is put into a kettle, or "copper", (so called because these vessels
were traditionally made from copper) and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in
the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more
efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Boiling also destroys any remaining enzymes left over
from the mashing stage. Hops are added during boiling as a source of bitterness, flavour and aroma.
Hops may be added at more than one point during the boil. The longer the hops are boiled, the more
bitterness they contribute, but the less hop flavour and aroma remains in the beer.

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After boiling, the hopped wort is now cooled, ready for the yeast. In some breweries, the hopped wort
may pass through a hopback, which is a small vat filled with hops, to add aromatic hop flavouring and
to act as a filter; but usually the hopped wort is simply cooled for the fermenter, where the yeast is
added. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer in a process which requires a week to months
depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. In addition to producing alcohol,
fine particulate matter suspended in the wort settles during fermentation. Once fermentation is
complete, the yeast also settles, leaving the beer clear.
Fermentation is sometimes carried out in two stages, primary and secondary. Once most of the alcohol
has been produced during primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a
period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage
before packaging or greater clarity. When the beer has fermented, it is packaged either into casks
for cask ale or kegs, aluminium cans, or bottles for other sorts of beer.

Production steps
BARLEY
SCREEANED
SOAKED
SPREAD ON GERMINATING FLOORS
PLACED ON MALTING FLOORS , DRIED AND ROASTED
STARCH CHANGES TO SUGAR, BARLEY NOW TERMED AS MALT
MALT IS CLEANED AND CRUSHED , CALLED GRIST

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GRIST ADDED TO HOT WATER NOW CALLED MASH
MASH ALLOWED TO INFUSE
EXTRACT DRAINED TO CLEAN CONTAINERS CALLED COPPER
HOPS AND SUGAR ADDED
LIQUID BOILED TO CONCENTRATE, NOW CALLED WORT
EXTRACT NOW STRAINED TO REMOVE HOPS
COOLED TO APROX. 16 DEGREE CELCIUS AND RUN INTO FERMENTING VESSELS
YEAST ADDED AND FERMENTATION STARTS
CARBON DI OXIDE IS COLLECTED AND USED IN BOTTLE BEERS
FERMENTING VESSELS SEND TO FERMENTATION SQUARES
SURPLUS YEAST IS SKIMMED OFF. SOME LEFT AS DUST COVERS
THE WORT IS CONVERTED TO BEER(7 DAYS)
BEER IS ALLOWED TO MATURE
RACKED INTO CASKS/KEG/TANKS
FINNINGS ADDED TO BRIGHTEN (CLARIFY) THE BEER
BEER IS ALLOWED TO SETTLE
TASTED FOR QUALITY AND CONSISTENCY

Bottling process

Bottles sterilized

Beer filtered and filled in bottles

Crowning(metal caps)

Pasteurized

Labeling

Packing
Types of beer

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bottom fermented beer

Top fermented beer

Wheat beer

Bottom fermented beers

Munchener

German,dark brown

Alcoholic content 4%-4.5%

Served at cellar temp.

Vienna

Amber coloured

Alcoholic content 5%

Served at cellar temp.

Pilsner

Pale golden colour, well hopped

Alcoholic content 4.5%-5%

Served chilled (approx. 8deg. Celcius)

Dortmunder

Fuller in colour

Alcoholic content 5%

Served gently chilled

Lager

Pale golden colour

Means to store

Alcoholic content 3%-5%

Served chilled

Bock

Strong beer dark brown

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Means male goat

Alcoholic content 6% & above

Served at room temp. Or slightly chilled.

Dopple bock

Extra strong beer from germany.

Alcoholic content 7.5%-13%

Served at room temperature or slightly chilled

Top fermented beers

Trappiste

Extra strong from belgium

Alcoholic content 6%-8%

Served at cellar/room temp

Copper coloured from germany

Alcohol 4%

Served at cellar temp.

Alt

Brown beers

Traditional beer from britain

Often very sweet

Alcohol 6%

Served at room temp.

Generic term for all eng. Style top fermented beers

Usually copper coloured

Available as:

Ale

mild ale-2.5%-3.5%
bitter ale-3%-5.5%

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pale ale-lively and little acidic with strong hops. 5%alcohol

Served at room temp.

Porter

From england unmalted barley used

Alcohol 5%-7.5%

Served at room temp.

Stout

From ireland

Alcohol 4%-7%

Served at room temp or slightly chilled.

Russian stout

Extra strong, fruity flavour

Alcohol more than 10%

Wheat beers

Weizenbier

Wheat beer from germany

Strong and dark colour

Alcohol 5% and above

Served at celler temp. Or slightly chilled with lemon

Weisse

From berlin

Alcoholic content 2.5%-3%

Served at celler temp. With raspberry juice.

Gueuze-lambic

From brussels

Alcoholic content 5% and above

Served at celler temp.

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Pale Ale
Pale ale is a beer which uses a top-fermenting yeast and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the
world's major beer styles.
Stout
Stout and porter are dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with
slow fermenting yeast. The name Porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark brown beer popular
with the street and river porters of London. This same beer later also became known as stout.
Mild
Mild ale has a predominantly malty palate. It is usually dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%.
Wheat
Wheat beer is brewed with a large proportion of wheat although it often also contains a significant
proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented (in Germany they have to be by
law). The flavour of wheat beers varies considerably, depending upon the specific style.
Lager
Lager is the English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin. Pale lagers are the
most commonly consumed beers in the world. The name "lager" comes from the German "lagern" for
"to store", as brewers around Bavaria stored beer in cool cellars and caves during the warm summer
months.
Lager yeast is a cool bottom-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces pastorianus) and typically undergoes
primary fermentation at 712 C (4554 F) (the fermentation phase), and then is given a long
secondary fermentation at 04 C (3239 F) (the lagering phase). During the secondary stage, the
lager clears and mellows. The cooler conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other
byproducts, resulting in a "cleaner"-tasting beer.[88]
Lambic
Lambic, a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. Many of
these are not strains of brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and may have significant differences
in aroma and sourness. Yeast varieties such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces
lambicus are common in lambics. In addition, other organisms such as Lactobacillus bacteria produce
acids which contribute to the sourness.

Colour

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Beer colour is determined by the malt. The most common colour is a pale amber produced from using
pale malts. Pale lager and pale ale are terms used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke was
first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it was not until around 1703 that the term pale ale was used.
Dark beers are usually brewed from a pale malt or lager malt base with a small proportion of darker
malt added to achieve the desired shade. Other colourantssuch as caramelare also widely used to
darken beers. Very dark beers, such as stout, use dark or patent malts that have been roasted longer.
Some have roasted unmalted barley.
Strength
Beer ranges from less than 3% alcohol by volume (abv) to around 14% abv, The alcohol content of beer
varies by local practice or beer style. The pale lagers that most consumers are familiar with fall in the
range of 46%, with a typical abv of 5%.
Draught
Draught beer from a pressurised keg is the most common method of dispensing in bars around the
world. A metal keg is pressurised withcarbon dioxide (CO2) gas which drives the beer to the
dispensing tap or

faucet.

Some

beers

may

be

served

with

nitrogen/carbon

dioxide

mixture. Nitrogen produces fine bubbles, resulting in a dense head and a creamy mouthfeel. Some
types of beer can also be found in smaller, disposable kegs called beer balls.
DRAUGHT BEER CONTAINERS

1 PIN = 20.457 LTRS(4.5 GALLONS)

1 FIRKIN = 40.914 LTRS(9 GALLONS)

1 KILDERKIN =81.828 LTRS(18 GALLONS)

I BARREL = 163.656 LTRS(36 GALLONS)

1 HOGSHEAD = 245.484 LTRS(54 GALLONS)

1 KEG = 45.46 LTRS(10 GALLONS)

STORAGE AND SERVICE

BOTTLE BEERS HAVE LIFE SPAN OF 6-8 MONTHS

SHOULD BE STORED IN A COOL PLACE PLACED UPRIGHT

CANNED BEERS LASTS UPTO 1 YEAR

DRAUGHT BEERS STORED AT A COOL TEMPERATURE OF 12-14

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DEG. CELCIUS

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SERVICE
MOST BEERS ARE SERVED AT 12.5-15.5 DEG. CELCIUS WITH LAGER BEERS COOLER

THAN THE REST

BEERS MUST BE SERVED WITH GOOD AND ATTRACTIVE COLLAR OR HEAD.

GLASSES USED ARE BEER GOBLETS, PILSNER, BEER MUGS/TANKARDS.

GLASS SHOULD BE HELD AT AN ANGLE OF 45 DEG. WHILE POURING THE BEER TO

CREATE HEAD OR COLLAR.

INTERNATIONAL BRANDS
COUNTRY

BRANDS

USA

ANCHOR,BUDWEISER,BULLS EYE,CHESTER FIELD,TUBORG,STROHS,ROBHIN HOOD

AUSTRALIA

FOSTERS,LEPORD,SWAN,TOOTHS,TASMANIAN

CHINA

SUNLIK,TAIWAN,TSINGTAO

DENMARK

CARLSBERG,HARBOES,SCANDIA TUBORG,LOW LAN,FALSTERS

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ENGLAND

BASS ALE,CHARLES WELLS,LONDON PRIDE,SAMUEL SMITH

GERMANY

BECKS,ALTEN MUNSTER,BERLINGER WEISSE,DOTMUNDER,FUSTENBERG,EULER

HOLLAND

AMSTEL LIGHT,HEINEKEN,SKOL ROYAL DUTCH,THREE HORSES,ORANGE BOOM

INDIA

KINGFISHER,ROYAL CHALLENGE,KALYANI BLACK LABEL,GURU, SANDPIPER,HAYWARDS

JAPAN

ASAHI,SUNTORY,KIRIN,SAPPORO

MEXICO

BONEMIA,DOS EQUIS,SUPERIOR,CARTABLANCA,MODELO,CORONA

NORWAY

AASS,RINGNES,ROK

SWEDEN

KALBACK

BRAZIL

BRAHMA

SINGAPORE

TIGER

************************

Distilled alcoholic beverages.

Spirits
Any alcoholic beverage containing significant amount of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) obtained by the
distillation of the fermented alcoholic beverage is termed as spirit. A spirit which is obtained is a
potable alcoholic beverage close to hundred percent purity (pure alcohol) to which distilled water is
added to reduce its potency. Classified based on the source of the sugar to convert into alcohol.
Distillation
The fermented mash of fruits or grain is heated. Alcohol present gets evaporated faster (78 deg.
celcius) than water (100 deg. celcius) and is trapped and condensed to a liquid by cooling. Pure
distilled alcohol has no colour taste or smell.
There are two types of distillation processes:
1).

The pot still method and

2).

The patent still method.

Pot still method:

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Also called as alembic or alambic (from al-ambic word meaning still) This method uses copper pots
which is heated over brick kilns. Copper does not react with alcohol and is a good conductor of heat.
Fermented mash is heated in these pots till they release a vapour which is trapped in a cooling
chamber and cooled by coiled condensers filled with chilled water. Resulting product is called as spirit.
Patent still method:
Apparatus is also called as Coffey still or Continous still. As the name suggests this still produces
spirit continously unlike pot still which produces spirit in batches. Used for producing non premium
spirits. Uses two chambers one analyser and second rectifier. Analyser heats the fermented mash with
perforated copper plates where gets it converted into vapours . These vapours are then passed into
second chamber called rectifier where they get converted into liquid called spirit.
Classified into:
Whiskies: Scotch, Irish, Bourbon, Rye, Canadian, Grain, Blends.
White spirits: Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Arrack, Feni, Schnapps, Aquavit.
Brandies: Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados, Kirsch, Slivovitz, Metaxa, Brandy de Jerez.

Alcohol content: different alcoholic beverages have different alcoholic strengths which is indicated as
proof on the bottles. In early days distillers used to check the strengths by adding gun powder and
setting it alight. If burst with loud bang it was too strong hence overproof or if it fizzled out then it
was weak and underproof. If it burned with a steady blue flame it was proved to be around 50%
alcohol and just right to drink. Thus proof system was developed.
Three proof systems are:
1. British system: used in all the commonwealth countries. Under this Proof System the proof
spirit is 100 and absolute alcohol 175.25. British proof spirit is therefore 57% alcohol.
2. US System: in which absolute alcohol is 200 and Proof spirit is 100. Therefore US Proof
indicates 50% alcohol.
3. Metric System (Gay Lussac): if 100 percent is the beverage volume, 40% on the label would
indicate the volume alcohol in that volume of beverage.
ORGANISATION

INTERNATIONAL

METROLOGIQUE

LEGALE

(OIML):

mandatory

for

all

manufacturers to indicate in % the amount of alcohol on the bottle. OIML is same as GL, which is
most logical of all systems.

Whisky

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distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are
used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize
(corn). Whisky is aged in wooden casks, made generally of white oak, except that in the United
States corn whiskey need not be aged.
Type of

anglicization of a Goidelic name (Irish: uisce beatha and Scottish

Gaelic: uisge beatha) literally meaning "water of life". It meant the same thing as the Latin aqua
vtae.
Whiskey or whisky is an

Types
Malted barley is an ingredient of some whiskies.
Whisky or whisky-like products are produced in most grain-growing areas. They differ in base product,
alcoholic content, and quality.

Malt (whisky) is made primarily from malted barley.

Grain (whisky) is made from any type of grains.

Malts and grains are combined in various ways

Blended malt is a mixture of single malt whiskies from different distilleries. If a whisky is
labelled "pure malt" or just "malt" it is almost certain to be a vatted whisky. This was formerly
called a "vatted malt" whisky.

Single malt whisky is whisky from a single distillery made from a mash that uses only one
particular malted grain. However, unless the whisky is described as "single-cask" it will contain
whisky from many casks, and different years. In most cases, the name of a single malt will be that
of the distillery (The Glenlivet, Bushmills, Nikka), with an age statement

Blended whiskies are typically made from a mixture of malt and grain whiskies. A blend is
usually from many distilleries so that the blender can produce a flavour consistent with the
brand, and the brand name (e.g., Chivas Regal, Canadian Club). Jameson Irish Whiskey is an
example of an exception, as it comes from only one distillery. A mixture of malts (with no grain)
from different distilleries (more usually called a vatted malt) may sometimes be referred to as a
"blended malt", and a mixture of grain whiskies with no malts will sometimes carry the
designation "blended grain".

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Whiskies do not mature in the bottle, only in the

cask, so the "age" of a whisky is only the time

between distillation and bottling. This reflects how much the cask has interacted with the whisky,
changing its chemical makeup and taste. Whiskies that have been in bottle for many years may have a
rarity value, but are not "older" and will not necessarily be "better" than a more recently made whisky
matured in wood for a similar time.
Most whiskies are sold at or near an alcoholic strength of 40%

abv, which is the statutory minimum

in some countries.
American whiskeys
American whiskey is distilled from a fermented mash of

cereal grain. It must have the taste, aroma,

and other characteristics commonly attributed to whiskey.

Some types of whiskey listed in the

United States federal regulations include:

Rye whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 51% rye.

Rye malt whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted rye.

Malt whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 51% malted barley.

Wheat whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 51% wheat.

Bourbon whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 51% corn (maize).

Corn whiskey, which is made from mash that consists of at least 80% corn (maize).

These types of whiskey must be distilled to not more than 80%

colouring,

alcohol by volume, and the addition of

caramel and flavourings is not allowed. These types of whiskey must then be aged in

charred new oak containers, except for corn whiskey. Corn whiskey does not have to be aged but, if it
is aged, it must be in un-charred oak barrels or un-charred used barrels. The ageing for corn whiskey
usually is brief, e.g., six months.

Tennessee whiskey, of which Jack

Daniel's, George Dickel, Collier and McKeel, and Benjamin Prichard's are the only brands
currently bottled. In practice, it is essentially identical to bourbon whiskey. Whiskey sold
as Tennessee whiskey is defined as Bourbon.
Another

important

labelling

in

the

marketplace

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Canadian whiskies

Canadian whiskies are usually lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. By Canadian
law, Canadian whiskies must be produced and aged in Canada, be distilled from a fermented mash of
cereal grain, be aged in wood barrels (of a capacity not larger than 700 L) for not less than three years.
The terms "Canadian Whisky" and "Canadian Rye Whisky" are legally indistinguishable in Canada and
do not require any use of rye or other specific grain in their production. In fact, the predominant grain
used in making "Canadian Rye Whiskey" is

corn. Canadian whiskies may contain caramel and

flavouring in addition to the distilled mash spirits, and there is no maximum limit on the alcohol level
of the distillation.
Indian whiskies
Indian whisky is an alcoholic beverage that is labelled as "whisky" in
Indian whisky is distilled from fermented
of

India. The vast majority of

molasses, and as such would be considered a sort

rum outside the Indian subcontinent. In India, 90% of the "whisky" consumed is molasses

based, although India has begun to distil whisky from malt and other grains.
The main whisky brand is a single malt named "Solan No. 1". Other whiskies are Diplomat Deluxe,
Colonel's Special, Black Knight and Summer Hall.
Irish whiskeys
The Old Bushmills Distillery, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the oldest distillery in the
world. Most Irish whiskeys are normally distilled three times. Though traditionally distilled using pot
stills, column still are now used to produce grain whiskey for blends. By law, Irish whiskey must be
produced in Ireland and aged in wooden casks for a period of no less than three years.
There are several types of whiskey common to Ireland:

single malt, single grain, blended

whiskey and pure pot still whiskey.

Japanese whiskies
The model for Japanese whiskies is the single malt Scotch, although there are also examples of
Japanese blended whiskies. The base is a mash of malted barley, dried in kilns fired with a little peat
(although considerably less than in Scotland), and distilled using the pot still method. In recent years,
Japanese whiskies have won prestigious international awards and now enjoy a reputation as a quality
product.

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Scotch whiskies
Scotch whiskies are generally distilled twice, although some are distilled a third time and others even
up to twenty times. In 2009 the

Bruichladdich distillery released a quadruple-distilled whisky

called X4 + 3. It was the first ever official whisky of its type. Scotch Whisky Regulations require
anything bearing the label "Scotch" to be distilled in

Scotland and matured for a minimum of three

years in oak casks, among other, more specific criteria. An age statement on the bottle, in the form of
a number, must reflect the age of the youngest Scotch whisky used to produce that product
The basic types of Scotch are malt and grain, which are combined to create blends. Many, Scotch

peat smoke to treat their malt, giving Scotch its distinctive smoky flavour. Scotch malt
whiskies
are
divided
into
five
main
regions: Highland, Lowland, Islay,
Speyside and Campbeltown.
whiskies use

Flavours from distillation

The flavouring of whisky is partially determined by the presence of
oils are higher alcohols than

congeners and fusel oils. Fusel

ethanol, are mildly toxic, and have a strong, disagreeable smell and

taste. An excess of fusel oils in whisky is considered a defect. A variety of methods are employed in the
distillation process to remove unwanted fusel oils. Flavour is restored by blending the neutral grain
spirits with flavouring whiskies.
Flavours from oak

oak barrels gets a number of components from the wood. One of these
is cis-3-methyl-4-octanolide, known as the "whisky lactone" or "quercus lactone", a compound
with a strong coconut aroma.
Whisky that has been aged in

Commercially charred oaks are rich in phenolic compounds. One study identified 40 different phenolic

coumarin scopoletin is present in whisky, with the highest level reported

in Bourbon whiskey.
compounds. The

Chill filtration

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Whisky is often "chill

filtered": chilled to precipitate out fatty acid esters and then filtered to remove

them. Most whiskies are bottled this way, unless specified as unchillfiltered or non chill filtered. This is
done primarily for cosmetic reasons. Unchillfiltered whisky will often turn cloudy when stored at cool
temperatures or when cool water is added to them, and this is perfectly normal.

Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland. In Britain, the term whisky is usually taken to mean
Scotch unless otherwise specified. In other English-speaking countries, it is often referred to as
"Scotch".
Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single malt Scotch whisky, blended malt
(formerly called "vatted malt" or "pure malt"), blended Scotch whisky, blended grain Scotch whisky, and
single grain Scotch whisky.
Legal definition
To be called Scotch whisky the spirit must conform to the standards of the Scotch Whisky Order of
1990 (UK) which clarified the Scotch Whisky Act 1988, and mandates that the spirit:
1. Must be distilled at a Scottish distillery from water and malted barley, to which only other
whole grains may be added, have been processed at that distillery into a mash, converted to a
fermentable substrate only by endogenous enzyme systems, and fermented only by the addition
of yeast,
2. Must be distilled to an alcoholic strength of less than 94.8% by volume so that it retains the
flavour of the raw materials used in its production,
3. Must be matured in Scotland in oak casks for no less than three years and a day,
4. Must not contain any added substance other than water and caramel colouring, and
5. May not be bottled at less than 40% alcohol by volume.
Types of Scotch whisky
There are two major categories, single and blended. Single means that all of the product is from a
single distillery, while Blended means that the product is composed of whiskies from two or more
distilleries. Traditional practices define five types:

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Single malt whisky is a 100% malted barley whisky from one distillery, distilled in batches in
pot stills

Single grain whisky is distilled at a single distillery from water and malted barley, with or
without whole grains of other cereals; it must not meet the requirements of a single malt
whisky

Blended malt (formerly called Vatted malt) whisky that is a blend of single malt whiskies, from
more than one distillery

Blended grain whisky is a whisky created by mixing grain whiskies from more than one
distillery

Blended Scotch whisky is a mixture of single malt whisky and grain whisky, distilled at more
than one distillery

Single grain
The majority of grain whisky produced in Scotland goes to make blended Scotch whisky. The average
blended whisky is 60%85% grain whisky. Some higher quality grain whisky from a single distillery is
bottled as single grain whisky. As of 2006, there are only seven grain whisky distilleries in Scotland.

Vatted / Blended malt

Vatted malt whiskyalso called pure maltis one of the less common types of Scotch: a blend of single
malts from more than one distillery and with differing ages. Vatted malts contain only malt whiskies
no grain whiskiesand are usually distinguished from other types of whisky by the absence of the
word single before malt on the bottle, and the absence of a distillery name. To qualify as a Vatted
Malt, the mixed single malt whiskies are matured in the barrel for 1 year, after which the age of the vat
is that of the youngest of the original ingredients. A vatted malt marked 8 years old will include older
whiskies, the youngest constituent was 8 years old before vatting. Johnnie Walker Green is an example
of a vatted malt. As of November 2009, no Scotch whisky could be labelled as a vatted malt, with UK
Government guidelines requiring them to be labelled blended malt.
Blended
Blended Scotch whisky constitutes over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland. Blended Scotch
whiskies contain both malt whisky and grain whisky. They were initially created as an alternative to
single malt whiskies which were considered by some to be too harsh . Master blenders combine the
various malts and grain whiskies to produce a consistent "brand style". Notable blended Scotch whisky
brands include Bells, Dewar's, Johnnie Walker, Whyte and Mackay, Cutty Sark, J&B, The Famous
Grouse and Chivas Regal.

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Types of whisky
Malt whisky must contain no grain other than malted barley and is traditionally distilled in pot stills.
Grain whisky may contain unmalted barley or other malted or unmalted grains such as wheat and
maize (corn) and is typically distilled in a continuous column still, known as a Patent or Coffey still,
the latter after Aeneas Coffey who refined the column still in 1831. While there are scores of malt
whisky distilleries, only seven grain distilleries currently exist[9], most located in the Scottish Lowlands.
Malting
Malt whisky production begins when the barley is maltedby steeping the barley in water, and then
allowing it to get to the point of germination. Malting releases enzymes that break down starches in the
grain and help convert them into sugars. When the desired state of germination is reached the malted
barley is dried using smoke. Many (but not all) distillers add peat to the fire to give an earthy, peaty
flavour to the spirit.
Today only a handful of distilleries have their own maltings; these include Balvenie, Kilchoman,
Highland Park, Glenfiddich, Glen Ord, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Springbank, Tamdhu, and Edradour.
Even those distilleries that malt their own barley produce only a small percentage of the malt required
for production. All distilleries order malt from specialised maltsters.
Mashing and fermentation
The dried malt (and in the case of grain whisky, other grains) is ground into a coarse flour called
"grist". This is mixed with hot water in a large vessel called a mash tun. The grist is allowed to steep.
This process is referred to as "mashing", and the mixture as "mash". In mashing, enzymes that were
developed during the malting process are allowed to convert the barley starch into sugar, producing a
sugary liquid known as "wort".
The wort is then transferred to another large vessel called a "wash back" where it is cooled. The yeast
is added, and the wort is allowed to ferment. The resulting liquid, now at about 57% alcohol by
volume, is called "wash" and is very similar to a rudimentary beer.
Distillation
The next step is to use a still to distill the wash. Distillation is used to increase the alcohol content and
to remove undesired impurities such as methanol.
There are two types of stills in use for the distillation: the pot still (for single malts) and the Coffey still
(for grain whisky). Most Scotch malt whisky distilleries distill their product twiceFor malt whisky the
wash is transferred into a wash still. The liquid is heated to the boiling point, which is lower than the
boiling point of water. The alcohol evaporates and travels to the top of the still, through the "lyne arm"
and into a condenserwhere it is cooled and reverts to liquid. This liquid has an alcohol content of
about 20% and is called "low wine".

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The low wine is distilled a second time, in a spirit still, and the distillation is divided into three "cuts".
The first liquid or cut of the distillation is called "foreshots" and is generally quite toxic due to the
presence of the low boiling point alcohol methanol. These are generally saved for further distillation. It
is the "middle cut" that the stillman is looking for, which will be placed in casks for maturation. At this
stage it is called "new make". Its alcohol content can be anywhere from 60%75%. The third cut is
called the "feints" and is generally quite weak. These are also saved for further distillation.
Grain whiskies are distilled in a column still, which requires a single distillation to achieve the desired
alcohol content. Grain whisky is produced by a continuous fractional distillation process, unlike the
simple distillation based batch process used for malt whisky. It is therefore more efficient to operate
and the resulting whisky is less expensive.
Maturation
Once distilled the "new make spirit" is placed into oak casks for the maturation process.
The ageing process results in evaporation, so each year in the cask causes a loss of volume as well as a
reduction in alcohol. The 0.52.0% lost each year is known as the angel's share. The distillate must
age for at least three years and one day in Scotland to be called Scotch whisky, although most single
malts are offered at a minimum of eight years of age. Some believe that older whiskies are inherently
better, but others find that the age for optimum flavour development changes drastically from distillery
to distillery, or even from cask to cask. Older whiskies are inherently scarcer, however, so they usually
command significantly higher prices.
Bottling
With single malts, the now properly aged spirit may be "vatted", or "married", with other single malts
(sometimes of different ages) from the same distillery. The whisky is generally diluted to a bottling
strength of between 40% and 46%.These bottles will usually have a label which details the date the
whisky was distilled, the date it was bottled, the number of bottles produced, the number of the
particular bottle, and the number of the cask which produced the bottles.
Chill filtration
Many whiskies are bottled after being chill-filtered. This is a process in which the whisky is chilled to
near 0C (32F) and passed through a fine filter. The result is to remove some of the oily/fatty
compounds produced during distillation or extracted in the maturation period. It prevents the whisky
when in the bottle at an alcohol level below 46%abv or when served from becoming hazy when chilled,
or when water or ice is added.
American whiskey brands

Old Crow

Jim Beam

Knob Creek

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Old Grand-Dad

Jack Daniel's

George Dickel

Prichard's Tennessee Whiskey

Canadian whisky brands

Crown Royal

Crown Royal Special Reserve

Crown Royal Black

Seagram's 83

Seagram's Five Star Rye Whisky

Canada House -

Canadian Club Premium 6 year-old

Canadian Club Black 20 year-old

Canadian Club Reserve 10 years-old

Canadian Club Sherry Cask

Windsor Canadian - Windsor Distillary

Irish whiskey brands

Irish single malts

Bushmills Ten Year Old

Bushmills Sixteen Year Old

Erin Go Bragh

Knappogue Castle

Japanese whisky brands

Nikka

Yamazaki

Suntory

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Scotch whisky brands

Single malt scotch

Cardhu

Glenfiddich

Glenkinchie

Glenmorangie

Glen Moray

Glen Turner (whisky)

Highland Park

Imperial

Laphroaig

Talisker

William Grant & Sons

The Glenlivet

Blended Scotch

Ballantine's

Bell's

Black & White

Chivas Regal

Dewar's

Douglas XO

Gran Old Parr

Haig

Johnnie Walker

J&B

Old Smuggler

Passport Scotch

Buchanan's
Cutty Sark
Dimple
The Famous Grouse
Grants
Hankey Bannister

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Royal Salute whisky

Teacher's Highland Cream

Vat 69

White Horse

Whyte & Mackay

Something Special

************************************

Rum
Rum is a distilled beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses and sugarcane juice
by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak
and other barrels.
The majority of the world's rum production occurs in and around the Caribbean and in several Central
American and South American countries, such as Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Puerto
Rico, and Brazil. There are also rum producers in places such as Australia, Fiji, the Philippines, India,
Reunion Island, Mauritius, and elsewhere around the world.
Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas golden and dark rums are also appropriate for
drinking straight, or for cooking. Premium rums are also available that are made to be
In current usage, the name used for a rum is often based on the rum's place of origin. For rums from
Spanish-speaking locales the word ron is used. A ron aejo indicates a rum that has been significantly
aged and is often used for premium products. Rhum is the term used for rums from French-speaking
locales, while rhum vieux is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements.
Some of the many other names for rum are Nelson's Blood, Kill-Devil, Demon Water, Pirate's Drink,
Navy Neaters, and Barbados water. Low-grade West Indies rums are called tafia.

History
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Development of fermented drinks produced from sugarcane juice is believed to have first occurred
either in ancient India or China, and spread from there. An example of such an early drink is brum
produced by the Malay people The first distillation of rum took place on the sugarcane plantations of
the Caribbean in the 17th century. Plantation slaves first discovered that molasses, a by-product of
the sugar refining process, can be fermented into alcohol. Later, distillation of these alcoholic byproducts concentrated the alcohol and removed impurities, producing the first true rums. Tradition
suggests that rum first originated on the island of Barbados.
A 1651 document from Barbados stated, "The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion,
alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible
The popularity of rum continued after the American Revolution, with George Washington insisting on a
barrel of Barbados rum at his 1789 inauguration.

Categorization
Dividing rum into meaningful groupings is complicated by the fact that there is no single standard for
what constitutes rum. Instead rum is defined by the varying rules and laws of the nations that
produce the spirit. The differences in definitions include issues such as spirit proof, minimum aging,
and even naming standards.
Examples of the differences in proof is Colombia, requiring their rum possess a minimum alcohol
content of 50 ABV, while Chile and Venezuela require only a minimum of 40 ABV. Mexico requires rum
be aged a minimum of 8 months; the Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela require two years.
Naming standards also vary. Argentina defines rums as white, gold, light, and extra light. Barbados
uses the terms white, overproof, and matured, while the United States defines rum, rum liqueur, and
flavored rum.[25] In Australia Rum is divided into Dark Rum (Under Proof known as UP, Over Proof
known as OP, and triple distilled) and White Rum.
Within the Caribbean, each island or production area has a unique style. For the most part, these
styles can be grouped by the language that is traditionally spoken.

Spanish-speaking islands and countries traditionally produce light rums with a fairly clean
taste. Rums from Guatemala, Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico,
Colombia and Venezuela are typical of this style.

English-speaking islands and countries are known for darker rums with a fuller taste that
retains a greater amount of the underlying molasses flavor. Rums from Barbados, Belize,
Bermuda, Saint Kitts, Trinidad & Tobago the Demerara region of Guyana, and Jamaica are
typical of this style.

French-speaking islands are best known for their agricultural rums (rhum agricole). These
rums, being produced exclusively from sugar cane juice, retain a greater amount of the original
flavor of the sugar cane and are generally more expensive than molasses-based rums. Rums
from Hati, Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante and Martinique are typical of this style.

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Grades
The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location that a rum was produced.
Despite these variations the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:

Light Rums, also referred to as silver rums and white rums. In general, light rum has very little
flavor aside from a general sweetness, and serves accordingly as a base for cocktails. Light
rums are sometimes filtered after aging to remove any color. The Brazilian Cachaa is generally
this type, The majority of Light Rum comes out of Puerto Rico. Their milder flavor makes them
popular for use in mixed-drinks, as opposed to drinking it straight.

Gold Rums, also called amber rums, are medium-bodied rums which are generally aged. These
gain their dark color from aging in wooden barrels (usually the charred white oak barrels that
are the byproduct of Bourbon Whiskey). They have more flavor, and are stronger tasting than
Silver Rum, and can be considered a midway-point between Silver/Light Rum and the darker
varieties.

Spiced Rum: These rums obtain their flavor through addition of spices and, sometimes,
caramel. Most are darker in color, and based on gold rums. Some are significantly darker, while
many cheaper brands are made from inexpensive white rums and darkened with artificial
caramel color.

Dark Rum, also known as black rum, classes as a grade darker than gold rum. It is generally
aged longer, in heavily charred barrels. In addition to uses in mixed drinks, dark rum is the
type of rum most commonly used in cooking. Most Dark Rum comes from areas such as
Jamaica, Haiti, and Martinique.

Flavored Rum: rums which have been infused with flavors of fruits such as mango, orange,
citrus, coconut or lime. These serve to flavor similarly themed tropical drinks which generally
comprise less than 40% alcohol, and are also often drank neat or on the rocks.

Overproof Rum is rum which is much higher than the standard 40% alcohol. Most of these
rums bear greater than 75%, in fact, and preparations of 151 to 160 proof occur commonly.

Premium Rum: These are generally boutique brands which sell very aged and carefully
produced rums. They have more character and flavor than their "mixing" counterparts, and are
generally consumed without the addition of other ingredients.

Production
Rum production is based on traditional styles that vary between locations and distillers.
Most rum produced is made from molasses. Within the Caribbean, much of this molasses is from
Brazil. A notable exception is the French-speaking islands where sugarcane juice is the preferred base
ingredient.

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Yeast and water are added to the base ingredient to start the fermentation process. While some rum
producers allow wild yeast to perform the fermentation, most use specific strains of yeast to help
provide a consistent taste and predictable fermentation time. Dunder, the yeast-rich foam from
previous fermentations, is the traditional yeast source in Jamaica. "The yeast employed will determine
the final taste and aroma profile," says Jamaican master blender Joy Spence. Distillers that make
lighter rums, such as Bacardi, prefer to use faster-working yeasts. Use of slower-working yeasts causes
more esters to accumulate during fermentation, allowing for a fuller-tasting rum.
Distillation
As with all other aspects of rum production, there is no standard method used for distillation. While
some producers work in batches using pot stills, most rum production is done using column still
distillation. Pot still output contains more congeners than the output from column stills and thus
produces a fuller-tasting rum.
Aging and blending
Many countries require that rum be aged for at least one year. This aging is commonly performed in
used bourbon casks, but may also be performed in stainless steel tanks or other types of wooden
casks. The aging process determines the coloring of the Rum. Rum that is aged in oak casks becomes
dark, whereas Rum that is aged in stainless steel tanks remains virtually colorless. Due to the tropical
climate common to most rum-producing areas, rum matures at a much faster rate than is typical for
Scotch or Cognac. An indication of this faster rate is the angels' share, or amount of product lost to
evaporation. While products aged in France or Scotland see about 2% loss each year, rum producers
may see as much as 10%.
Blending: After aging, rum is normally blended to ensure a consistent flavor. Blending is the final step
in the Rum making process. As part of this blending process, light rums may be filtered to remove any
color gained during aging. For darker rums, caramel may be added to the rum to adjust the color of
the final product.

USES
Cocktails such as the Rum punch Cuba Libre and Daiquiri, Mai Tai and Zombie are very popular.
Other well-known cocktails containing rum include the Pia Colada, and the Mojito. Cold-weather
drinks made with rum include the Rum toddy and Hot Buttered Rum. Rum may also be used as a
base in the manufacture of liqueurs. Spiced Rum is made by infusing rum with a combination of
spices. Another combination is jagertee, a mixture of rum and black tea.
Rum may also be used in a number of cooked dishes. It may be used as a flavoring agent in items such
as rum balls or rum cakes. Rum is commonly used to macerate fruit used in fruitcakes and is also
used in marinades for some Caribbean dishes. Rum is also used in the preparation of Bananas Foster
and some hard sauces. Rum is sometimes mixed in with ice cream often together with raisins.
POPULAR BRANDS OF RUM:

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1. Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum (92 proof)

2. Goslings Black Label Rum (80 proof)
3. Captain Morgan tattoo Rum (70 proof)
4. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (70 proof)
5. Mount Gay Premium White or Eclipse (86 proof)
6. Bacardi Silver Rum (80 proof)
7. Kraken Rum (94 proof)
8. Pussers British Navy Dark Rum (84 proof)
9. Bacardi Gold Rum (80 proof)
10. Appleton Estate VX Rum (80 proof)

******************************

Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries (Juniperus communis).
Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into

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two basic legal categories. Distilled gin is crafted in the traditional manner, by redistilling neutral
spirits of agricultural origin with juniper berries and other botanicals. Compound gin is made by
simply flavoring neutral spirit with essences and/or other 'natural flavorings' without redistillation,.
The minimum bottled alcoholic strength for gin is 37.5% ABV in the E.U., and 40% ABV in the U.S.
Of the several distinct styles of gin, London dry gin, a type of distilled gin, is the most common. In
addition to the predominant juniper content, London dry gin is usually distilled in the presence of
accenting citrus botanicals, such as lemon and bitter orange peel, as well as a subtle combination of
other spices, including any of anise, angelica root and seed, orris root, licorice root, cinnamon,
almond, cubeb,savory, lime peel, grapefruit peel, dragon
eye, saffron, baobab, frankincense, coriander, grains of paradise, nutmeg and cassia bark. London dry
gin may not contain added sugar or colorants; water is the only permitted additive.

Etymology
The name gin is derived from either the French genivre or the Dutch jenever, which both mean
"juniper". The 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica states that the word gin is an abbreviation of "Geneva",
both words being derived from the French genivre (juniper).

History
Juniper berries were recognized from ancient times as possessing medicinal properties. By the 11th
century, Italian monks were flavoring crudely distilled spirits with juniper berries. During the Black
Plague, this drink was used, although ineffectively, as a remedy. As the science of distillation advanced
from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance period, juniper was one of many botanicals employed by
virtue of its perfume, flavor, and medicinal properties.
The Dutch physician Franciscus Sylvius is credited with the invention of gin. By the mid 17th century,
numerous small Dutch and Belgian distillers (some 400 in Amsterdam alone by 1663) had popularized
the redistillation of malt spirit or wine with juniper, anise, caraway, coriander, etc. Which were sold
in pharmacies and

used

to

treat

such

kidney ailments, lumbago, stomach ailments, gallstones, and gout.

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problems

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Gin became popular in England after the government allowed unlicensed gin production and at the
same time imposed a heavy duty on all imported spirits. By 1740, the production of gin had increased
to six times that of beer, and because of its price, it became popular with the poor.
Dutch or Belgian gin, also known as jenever or genever, evolved from malt wine spirits, and is a
distinctly different drink from later styles of gin. Jenever is distilled at least partially from barley malt
(and/or other grain) using a pot still, and is sometimes aged in wood. This typically lends a slightly
malty flavor and/or a resemblance to whisky. Schiedam, a city in the province of South Holland, is
famous for its jenever-producing history. It is typically lower in alcohol content and distinctly different
from gins distilled strictly from neutral spirits (e.g. London dry gin). The oude (old) style
of jenever remained very popular throughout the 19th century, where it was referred to as "Holland" or
"Geneva" gin .The column still was invented in 1832, making the distillation of neutral spirits
practical, and enabling the creation of the "London dry" style, which was developed later in the 19th
century.
In tropical British colonies, gin was used to mask the bitter flavor of quinine, which was the only
effective antimalarial compound. The quinine was dissolved in carbonated water to formtonic water;
the resulting mix became the origin of today's popular gin and tonic combination, although modern
tonic water contains only a trace of quinine as a flavoring.
Sloe gin is traditionally described as a liqueur made by infusing sloes (the fruit of the blackthorn) in
gin, although modern versions are almost always compounded from neutral spirits and flavorings.
Similar infusions are possible with other fruits, such as damsons (damson gin).

Production of gin
There are several methods of producing Gin but the European Community Regulation which governs
spirit drinks defines only two. First, and by far the more important, is 'distilled gin' (of which London
Gin and Plymouth Gin are recognised as types) which is produced in the traditional method,
described below.
Secondly, gin can be produced without redistilling simply by flavouring suitable alcohol with natural
flavouring substances which give a predominant taste of juniper: this method is known technically as
'compounding. The finest base for this 'neutral' spirit is either grain (normally barley and maize) or
molasses. This type of production can be likened to this of flavoured vodka
The flavouring ingredients are at the core of Gin production; they are all natural and are referred to
as 'botanicals'. The type and quantity of each producer's botanicals vary according to their own
closely guarded recipes; all are carefully selected and tested for purity and quality. All gins include
juniper as an ingredient: other botanicals used are coriander, angelica, orange peel, lemon peel,

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cardomom, cinnamon, grains of paradise, cubeb berries and nutmeg. Typically a fine gin contains
six to ten botanicals.
Sloe Gin is a sweetened style of Gin made by infusing sloes (the fruit of the blackthorn) in
Gin.Plymouth Gin is a style that by law can only be produced in Plymouth, England. It is distinctly
sweeter than London Dry Gin.

No.3 is the London Dry Gin distilled to a proprietary recipe of Berry Bros. & Rudd, Londons
oldest wine and spirit merchant. The name No.3 refers to the address in St Jamess Street, London:
our home since 1698.

Notable brands

Beefeater -

Magellan - made with 11 botanicals featuring cloves,

BOLS Damrak -

New Amsterdam Gin

Blackwood's

Plymouth - first distilled in 1793

Bombay Sapphire -

Seagram's

Gilbey's

Steinhger

Gordon's

Taaka

Greenall's

Tanqueray - first distilled in 1830

Hayman's Old Tom

Hendrick's Gin - Scotland, infused with

cucumber and rose petals

Nicholson's - made in London from

1730,

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Vodka
Vodka (Polish: wdka, Russian: ?????) is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water
and ethanol with

traces

of

impurities

and

flavorings.

Vodka

is

made

by

distillation

of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits.

Traditionally

prepared

vodkas

had

an

alcoholic

content

of

38%

by

volume.

Today,

the

standard Polish, Russian and Lithuanian vodkas are 40% abv (80 proof), although many non-export
Russian brands are sold at 38%.

Products sold as vodka in theUnited States must have an alcoholic

content of 40% or more. Homemade vodka, referred to as "samogon" in Russia and Ukraine,
sometimes has an ABV as high as 62%.
Vodka is traditionally drunk neat in the vodka belt countries of Eastern Europe and around the Baltic
Sea. It is also commonly used in cocktails and mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary,
the Screwdriver, the Sex on the Beach, the White Russian, theBlack Russian, the vodka tonic, and
the vodka martini.
The name "vodka" is a diminutive form of the Slavic word voda (water), interpreted as little water:
Another possible connection of "vodka" with "water" is the name of the medieval alcoholic
beverage aqua vitae
Production
Vodka may be distilled from any starch/sugar-rich plant matter; most vodka today is produced
from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye or wheat. Among grain vodkas, rye and wheat vodkas are

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generally

considered

superior.

Some

vodkas

soybeans, grapes, rice, sugar beets. The European Union

are

made

from potatoes, molasses,

insist that only spirits produced from

grains, potato and sugar beet molasses be allowed to be branded as "vodka", following the traditional
methods of production.
Distilling and filtering
A common property of vodkas produced in the United States and Europe is the extensive use of
filtration prior to any additional processing including the addition of flavourants. Filtering is
sometimes done in the still during distillation, as well as afterwards, where the distilled vodka is
filtered through activated charcoal and other media to absorb trace amounts of substances that alter
or impart off-flavors to the vodka. The master distiller is in charge of distilling the vodka and directing
its filtration, which includes the removal of "fore-shots" and "heads" and the "tails." These components
of the distillate contain flavour compounds such as ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate (heads) as well as
the fusel oils (tails) that impact the usually desired clean taste of vodka. Through numerous rounds of
distillation, or the use of a fractioning still, the taste is improved and clarity is enhanced.
Repeated distillation of vodka will make its ethanol level much higher than is acceptable to most end
users, whether legislation determines strength limits or not. Depending on the distillation method and
the technique of the stillmaster, the final filtered and distilled vodka may have as much as 95-96%
ethanol. As such, most vodka is diluted with water prior to bottling.
Flavoring
All vodkas may be classified into two main groups:
1. clear vodkas and
2. flavored vodkas.
From the latter ones, one can separate bitter tinctures, such as Russian Yubileynaya (anniversary
vodka) and Pertsovka (pepper vodka).
While most vodkas are unflavored, many flavored vodkas have been produced in traditional vodkadrinking areas, often as home-made recipes to improve vodka's taste or for medicinal purposes.
Flavorings include red pepper, ginger, fruit flavors, vanilla, chocolate (without sweetener), and
cinnamon. In Russia and Ukraine, vodka flavored with honey and pepper (PERTSOVKA, in
Russian, Z PERTSEM, in Ukrainian) is also very popular. Poles and Belarusians add the leaves of the
local bison grass to produce UBRWKA (Polish) and Zubrovka (Belarusian) vodka, with slightly sweet
flavor and light amber color. In Poland, a famous vodka containing honey is called Krupnik. This
tradition of flavoring vodka with herbs, fruits and spices is the appropriate strong drink
for midsummer seasonal festivitals in some countries. In Sweden, there are forty-odd common

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varieties of herb-flavored vodka (kryddat brnnvin). In Estonia, vodkas are spiced with barbaris,
blackcurrant, cherry, greenapple, lemon, vanilla and watermelon flavors.
Polish distilleries make a very pure (95%, 190 proof) rectified spirit . The German market often carries
German, Hungarian, Polish, and Ukrainian-made varieties of vodka of 90 to 95% alcohol content.
A Serbian vodka, Balkan 176, has a 88% alcohol content.

Health
Excess consumption of vodka or any other alcoholic beverage can be lethal by inducing respiratory
failure. In addition, the effects of alcohol are responsible for many traumatic injuries such as falls and
vehicle accidents. Consumption of alcohol above 0.1 Blood alcohol content can cause dehydration,
digestive irritation, and other symptoms associated with alcohol intoxication and hangover, and the
chronic effects can include liver failure due to cirrhosis, and it is associated with many GI cancers
(particularly oral cavity).

List of Popular Brand of Vodka

Absolut - From Sweden

Belvedere : From Poland

Boru: from grain and pure Irish water

Chopin: from Poland; made with potatoes

Ciroc: Made from snap-frost grapes in south western France. Distilled five times.
EFFEN: A Dutch vodka.

Finlandia: From Finland made from spring water and barley

Fris: Produced in Scandinavia

Gilbey's: An American vodka

Glacier: using Idaho potatoes and water from the Rocky mountains.

Gordon's: distilled in the United States since 1957

Grey Goose: from France, made from fine grain and mineral water.

Iceberg Vodka: Made from the waters of icebergs from the coast of Greenland.
Pearl: from Canadian Rocky mountain spring water and Canadian winter wheat.

SKYY: American vodka made with 100 percent pure mountain water.
Sminoff: From U.S. the largest selling vodka in the world

Square One : American vodka distilled from 100 percent organic rye
Stolichnaya: A Russian vodka from the makers of Tanqueray gin.

Three Olives Vodka: From England

Vincent Van Gogh Vodka - From Holland,

Wyborowa: From Poland

Xellent: A Swiss Vodka.

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****************************************

Brandy
Brandy (from brandywine,

derived

from Dutch brandewijn"burnt

wine") is

a spirit produced

by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as
an after-dinner drink. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks, while some are simply coloured
with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of such aging (and some brandies are produced using a
combination of both aging and colouring).
Brandy is also produced from fermented fruits other than grapes, but these products are typically
called eaux-de-vie.
Uses
Beverages
Brandy may be served neat or on the rocks. It is added to other beverages to make several
popular cocktails; these include the Brandy Alexander, the Sidecar, the Brandy Sour, and theBrandy
Old Fashioned.
Drinking temperature
Brandy is traditionally drunk neat at room temperature in western countries from a snifter or a tulip
glass.[2] In parts of Asia, it is usually drunk on the rocks. When drunk at room temperature, it is often

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slightly warmed by holding the glass cupped in the palm or by gently heating it. However, excessive
heating of brandy may cause the alcohol vapour to become too strong, to the extent that its aroma can
become overpowering. Brandy connoisseurs will ask for the glass to be warmed before the Brandy is
added, this causes the aroma to be strong without having to hold the glass, and the flavour to be
maximised.
Culinary

Flavoured brandy is added to desserts, including cake and pie toppings, to enhance their
flavour.

Flavoured brandy is commonly added to apple dishes.

Brandy is a common deglazing liquid that is used in making pan sauces for steak and other
meat.

Brandy is used to create a more intense flavour in some soups, notably onion soup.

History
The origins of brandy are clearly tied to the development of distillation. Concentrated alcoholic
beverages were known in ancient Greece and Rome. Brandy, as it is known today, first began to appear
in the 12th century and became generally popular in the 14th century.
Initially wine was distilled as a preservation method and as a way to make the wine easier
for merchants to transport. It was also thought that wine was originally distilled to lessen the tax
which was assessed by volume. The intent was to add the water removed by distillation back to the
brandy shortly before consumption. It was discovered that after having been stored in wooden casks,
the resulting product had improved over the original distilled spirit.
Terminology
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and general colloquial usage of the term, brandy may also
be made from pomace and from fermented fruit other than grapes.[4]
If a beverage comes from a particular fruit (or multiple fruits) other than exclusively grapes, or from
the must of such fruit, it may be referred to as a fruit brandy or fruit spirit or using the name of a
fruit, such as peach brandy, rather than just generically as brandy. If pomace is the raw material,
the beverage may be called pomace brandy, marc brandy, grape marc, fruit marc spirit, or
grape marc spirit. Grape pomace brandy may be designated as grappa or grappa brandy. Apple

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brandy may be referred to as applejack. There is also a product called grain brandy that is made
from grain spirits.
Types
There are three main types of brandy. The term "brandy" denotes grape brandy if the type is not
otherwise specified.
Grape brandy
Grape brandy is produced by the distillation of fermented grapes.
American grape brandy is almost always from California. Popular brands include Christian

Brothers, Coronet, E&J, Korbel, Paul Massonand J. Bavet.

Armenian brandy has been produced since the 1880s and comes from the Ararat plain in the

southern part of Armenia.

Armagnac is made from grapes of the Armagnac region in Southwest of France (Gers, Landes,

Lot-et-Garonne). It is single-continuous distilled in a copper still and aged in oak casks

from Gascony or Limousin. Armagnac was the first distilled spirit in France. Armagnacs have a
specificity:

they

offer vintage qualities.

Popular

brands

are Darroze, Baron

de

Sigognac, Larressingle, Delord, Laubade, Glas andJanneau.

Cognac comes from the Cognac region in France, [4] and is double distilled using pot stills.

Popular

brands

include Hine, Martell, Camus,Otard, Rmy

Martin, Hennessy, Frapin, Delamain and Courvoisier.

Brandy

de

Jerez is

brandy

that

originates

from

vineyards

around Jerez

de

la

Frontera in Andalusia, Spain.[11] It is used in some sherries and is also available as a separate
product. It has a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). The traditional production method has
three characteristics:

Aged in European oak casks with a capacity of 500 litres, previously having contained
sherry.

The use of the traditional aging system of Criaderas and Soleras.

Aged exclusively within the municipal boundaries of Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de

Santa Mara and Sanlcar de Barrameda in the province of Cdiz.[12]

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Fruit brandy
Fruit brandies are distilled from fruits other than grapes. Apples, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries,
elderberries, raspberries, and blackberries, are the most commonly used fruits. Fruit brandy usually
contains 40% to 45% ABV. It is usually colourless and is customarily drunk chilled or over ice.

Applejack is an American apple brandy, made from the distillation of hard cider. It was once
made by fractional freezing, which would disqualify it as a proper brandy.

Calvados is an apple brandy from the French region of Lower Normandy.[4] It is double distilled
from fermented apples.

Coconut brandy is a brandy made from the sap of coconut flowers.

Eau-de-vie is a general French term for fruit brandy (or even grape brandy that is not qualified
as Armagnac or Cognac, including pomace brandy).

German Schnaps is fruit brandy produced in Germany or Austria.

Kirschwasser is a fruit brandy made from cherries.

Kukumakranka brandy

is

South

African

and

flavoured

with

the

ripe

fruit

of

the

Kukumakranka.

Poire Williams (Williamine) is made from Bartlett pears (also known as Williams pears).

Slivovitz is a strong fruit brandy made from plums. It is produced in Croatia, Bulgaria,
Macedonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Pomace brandy
Pomace brandy (also called marc in both English and French) is produced by fermentation and
distillation of the grape skins, seeds, and stems that remain after grapes have been pressed to extract
their juice (which is then used to make wine). Most pomace brandies are neither aged nor coloured.
Examples of pomace brandy are:

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Albanian

Raki e Rushi

French

marc

Georgian

chacha

Greek

Hungarian

Italian

Portuguese

Romanian

tescovin

Spanish

orujo

tsipouro
trklyplinka
grappa
aguardente

Distillation
Wine with an alcohol concentration of 8% to 12% ABV and high acidity is boiled in a pot
still. Vapours of alcohol, water, and numerous aromatic components rise and are collected in a
condenser coil, where they become a liquid again. Because alcohol and the aromatic components
vaporise at a lower temperature than water, the concentration of alcohol in the condensed liquid
(the distillate) is higher than in the original wine.
After one distillation, the distillate, called "low wine," will contain roughly 30% alcohol (ethanol) by
volume. The low wine is then distilled a second time. The first 1% or so of distillate that is produced,
called the "head," has an alcohol concentration of about 83% and an unpleasant odour, so it is
discarded (generally, mixed with another batch of low wine, thereby entering the distillation cycle
again). The distillation process continues, yielding a distillate of approximately 70% alcohol (called the
"heart"), which is what will be consumed as brandy. The portion of low wine that remains after
distillation, called the "tail," will be mixed into another batch of low wine (so that the tail enters the
distillation cycle again, as does the head).
Aging
Brandy is produced using one of three aging methods:

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No aging: Most pomace brandy and some fruit brandy is not aged before bottling. The resulting
product is typically clear and colourless.

Single barrel aging: Brandies with a natural golden or brown colour are aged in oak casks.
Some brandies have caramel colour added to simulate the appearance of barrel aging.

Solera

process: Some

brandies,

particularly

those

from

Spain,

are

aged

using

the solera system.

Labelling
Brandy has a traditional quality rating system, although its use is unregulated outside
of Cognac and Armagnac. These indicators can usually be found on the label near the brand name:

A.C.: aged two years in wood.

V.S.: "Very Special" or 3-Star, aged at least three years in wood.

V.S.O.P.: "Very Superior Old Pale" or 5-Star, aged at least five years in wood.

X.O.: "Extra Old", Napoleon or Vieille Reserve, aged at least six years, Napoleon at least four
years.

Vintage: Stored in the cask until the time it is bottled with the label showing the vintage date.

Hors d'age: These are too old to determine the age, although ten years plus is typical, and are
usually of great quality.

In the case of Brandy de Jerez, the Consejo Regulador de la Denominacion Brandy de Jerez classifies
it according to:

Brandy de Jerez Solera one year old.

Brandy de Jerez Solera Reserva three years old.

Brandy de Jerez Solera Gran Reserva ten years old.

Cognac (brandy)
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Cognac (KON-yak), named after the town of Cognac in France, is a variety of brandy. It is produced in
the wine-growing

regionsurrounding

the

town

from

which

it

takes

its

name,

in

the

French Departements of Charente and Charente-Maritime.

As an Appellation d'origine contrle, in order to bear the name Cognac, the production methods for
the distilled brandy must meet specified legal requirements. It must be made from certain. It must be
distilled

twice

in

copper pot

stills and

aged

at

least

two

years

in

French oak

barrels from Limousin or Tronais. Most cognacs are aged considerably longer than the minimum legal
requirement, because cognac matures in the same way as whiskies and wine when aged in a barrel.

Producing region
The region authorised to produce cognac is divided into six zones
Grande Champagne,
Borderies
Bon Bois

Petite Champagne,
Fins Bois,
Bois Ordinaire.

A blend of Grande and Petite Champagne Cognacs, with at least half coming from Grande Champagne,
is known as Fine Champagne.
Production process
Cognac is made from fruit brandy, called eau de vie in English, produced by doubly distilling the white
wines produced in any of the growth areas.
Grapes
90% Ugni Blanc
Folle Blanche and
Colombard,
Fermentation and distillation
After the grapes are pressed, the juice is left to ferment for two or three weeks, with the region's native,
wild yeasts converting the sugar into alcohol; neither sugar nor sulfur may be added. At this point, the
resulting wine is about 7 to 8% alcohol.

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Distillation takes place in traditionally shaped Charentais copper stills, also known as an alembic, the
design and dimensions of which are also legally controlled. Two distillations must be carried out; the
resulting eau-de-vie is a colourless spirit of about 70% alcohol.
Aging
Once distillation is complete, it must be aged in oak for at least two years before it can be sold to the
public. As the cognac interacts with the oak barrel and the air, it evaporates at the rate of about three
percent each year, slowly losing both alcohol and water. Because the alcohol dissipates faster than the
water, cognac reaches the target 40% alcohol by volume in about four or five decades, though lesser
grades can be produced much sooner by diluting the cognac with water, which also makes its flavor
less concentrated. Since oak barrels stop contributing to flavor after four or five decades, cognac is
then transferred to large glass carboys called bonbonnes, then stored for future blending.
Blending
The age of the cognac is calculated as that of the youngest eau-de-vie used in the blend. The blend is
usually of different ages and (in the case of the larger and more commercial producers) from different
local areas. Each cognac house has a master taster (matre de chai), who is responsible for creating
this delicate blend of spirits, so that the cognac produced by a company today will taste almost exactly
the same as a cognac produced by that same company 50 years ago, or in 50 years' time.
Grades
According to the BNIC (Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac), the official quality grades of
cognac are the following:

V.S. ("very special"), Very Special, or (three stars) designates a blend in which the
youngest brandy has been stored for at least two years in cask.

V.S.O.P. ("very superior old pale") designates a blend in which the youngest brandy is stored for
at least four years in a cask, but the average wood age is much older.

XO ("extra old") designates a blend in which the youngest brandy is stored for at least six years
but on average for upwards of 20 years. On 1 April 2016, the minimum storage age of the youngest
brandy used in an XO blend will be set to ten years.

In addition the following can be mentioned:

Napoleon is, according to the BNIC, a grade equal to XO in terms of minimum age, but it is
generally marketed in-between VSOP and XO in the product range offered by the producers.

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Extra designates a minimum of 6 years of age, this grade is usually older than a Napoleon or
an XO.

Vieux is another grade between the official grades of VSOP and XO.

Vieille Rserve is, like the Hors dge, a grade beyond XO.

Hors d'ge ("beyond age") is a designation which BNIC states is equal to XO, but in practice the
term is used by producers to market a high quality product beyond the official age scale.

Important cognac brands:

Hennessy V.S
Rmy Martin V.S.O.P

Hine Rare VSOP

Martell V.S.O.P.

Hennessy Paradis

Louis XIII de Rmy Martin

Delamain Extra

Hennessy X.O

Martell X.O

Martell V.S.

Rmy Martin Grand Cru

Martell Cordon Bleu

Hine Antique XO

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Tequila
Tequila (Spanish pronunciation: [tekila]) is a type of mezcal; specifically, a Blue Agave-based spirit
made primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, 65 kilometres (40 mi) northwest of
Guadalajara, and in the highlands (Los Altos) of the western Mexican state of Jalisco.
The red volcanic soil in the region surrounding Tequila is particularly well suited to the growing of the
blue agave, and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year.
Mexican laws state that tequila can be produced only in the state of Jalisco and limited regions in the
states of Guanajuato, Michoacn, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.
Tequila is most often made at a 3840% alcohol content (7680 proof), but can be produced between
3555% alcohol content (70110 proof).
History
Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the location of the city of Tequila, which was not
officially established until 1656. The Aztec people had previously made a fermented beverage from the
agave plant, which they called octli (later, and more popularly called pulque), long before the Spanish
arrived in 1521. Some 80 years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Snchez de Tagle, the Marquis of
Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco.
Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from
18841885, was the first to export tequila to the United States. Don Cenobio's grandson Don

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Francisco Javier gained international attention for insisting that "there cannot be tequila where there
are no agaves!" His efforts led to the practice that real tequila can only come from the State of Jalisco.
Recent history
Since 2002, sales of high priced tequilas, called "ultra-premium" and "super-premium" by marketeers,
have increased 28 percent.
A new NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) for tequila (NOM-006-SCFI-2005) was issued in 2006, and
among other changes, introduced a category of tequila called "extra aejo" or "ultra-aged" which must
be aged a minimum of 3 years. There are over 100 distilleries making over nine hundred brands of
tequila in Mexico and over 2,000 brand names have been registered (2009 Statistics. Due to this, each
bottle of tequila contains a serial number (NOM) depicting which distillery the tequila was produced in.
The Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico originally did not permit flavored tequila to carry the tequila
name. In 2004, the Council decided to allow flavored tequila to be called tequila, with the exception of
pure agave tequila, which still could not be flavored.
NOM
The NOM applies to all processes and activities related to the supply of agave, production, bottling,
marketing, information and business practices linked to the distilled alcoholic beverage known as
Tequila. Tequila must be produced using Agave of the species Tequilana Weber Blue variety, grown in
the federal states and municipalities indicated in the Declaration. Furthermore, the NOM establishes
the technical specifications and legal requirements for the protection of the Appellation of Origin of
"Tequila," in accordance with the current General Declaration of Protection of the Appellation of Origin
of "Tequila,".
All authentic, regulated Tequilas will have a NOM identifier on the bottle. The important laws since
1990 were NOM-006-SCFI-1993 and the later update NOM-006-SCFI-1994 and the most recent
revision in late 2005, NOM-006-SCFI-2005.
The number after NOM is the distillery number, assigned by the government. NOM does not indicate
the location of the distillery, merely the parent company or - in the case where a company leases space
in a plant - the physical plant where the tequila was manufactured.
Production
The agave is planted, tended, and harvested by hand. The men who harvest it, the "jimadores",
possess generations of knowledge about the plants and the ways in which they need to be harvested.
The jimadores must be able to work swiftly in the tight rows, pull out the hijuelos (Agave offspring)
without damaging the mother plant, clear the pias (Spanish for pineapples), and decide when each
plant is ready to be harvested . The pias, weighing 40 to 70 pounds, are cut away with a special knife
called a coa. They are then shredded, their juices pressed out and put into fermentation tanks and
vats. Some tequila companies still use the traditional method (artisanal) in which the pias are
crushed with a Tahona (stone wheel). The musto, (Agave juice, and sometimes the fiber) is then allowed
to ferment in either wood or stainless steel vats for several days to convert the sugars into alcohol. The

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fermented product is then distilled once to produce what is called "ordinario", a cloudy or milky liquid,
and then distilled for a second time to produce a clear, silver Tequila. Some distilleries distill the
product again to produce a triple distilled product. From there the Tequila is diluted and bottled as a
"silver Tequila", or it is pumped into barrels to begin the aging process.
Types of tequila
There are two basic categories of tequila: mixtos and 100% agave. Mixtos use no less than 51% agave,
with other sugars making up the remainder. Mixtos use both glucose and fructose sugars.
With 100% agave tequila, blanco or plata is harsher with the bold flavors of the distilled agave, while
reposado and aejo are smoother, subtler, and more complex. As with other spirits that are aged in
casks, tequila takes on the flavors of the wood, while the harshness of the alcohol mellows. Tequila is
usually bottled in one of five categories:

Blanco ("white") or plata ("silver"): white spirit, un-aged and bottled or stored immediately after
distillation, or aged less than two months in stainless steel or neutral oak barrels;

Joven ("young") or oro ("gold"): is the result of blending Silver Tequila with Reposado and/or
Aejo and/or extra Aejo Tequila;

Reposado ("rested"): aged a minimum of two months, but less than a year in oak barrels;

Aejo ("aged" or "vintage"): aged a minimum of one year, but less than three years in oak
barrels;

Extra Aejo ("extra aged" or "ultra aged"): aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels. This
category was established in March 2006.

Aging process
Reposado may be rested in oak barrels or casks as large as 20,000 litres, allowing for richer and more
complex flavors. The preferred oak comes from US, France or Canada, and is usually white oak. Some
companies char the wood to impart a smoky flavor, or use barrels that were previously used with
different kinds of alcohol (e.g. whiskey, scotch, or wine). Some reposados can also be aged in new wood
barrels to achieve the same woody flavor and smoothness, but in less time.
Aejos are often rested in barrels that have been previously used to rest reposados. The barrels cannot
be more than 600 liters, and most are in the 200-liter range. Many of the barrels used are from
whiskey or bourbon distilleries in America, France, or Canada, and Jack Daniels barrels are especially
popular. This treatment creates many of the aspects of the dark color and more complex flavors of the
aejo tequila. After aginga period of four years is standardthe aejo can be removed from the wood
barrels and placed in stainless steel tanks to reduce the amount of evaporation that can occur in the
barrels.
Drinking tequila

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In Mexico, tequila is often drunk straight. It is popular in some regions to drink fine tequila with a side
of sangritaa sweet, sour and spicy drink typically made from orange juice, grenadine (or tomato
juice) and hot chilies. Equal-sized shots of tequila and sangrita are sipped alternately, without salt or
lime.
Outside Mexico, a single shot of tequila is often served with salt and a slice of lime. This is called
"tequila cruda", "lick-sip-suck", or "lick-shoot-suck" The drinker moistens the back of their hand below
the index finger (usually by licking) and pours on the salt. Then the salt is licked off the hand, the
tequila is then drunk and the fruit slice is quickly bitten. Though the traditional Mexican shot is
straight tequila, lemon is the fruit of choice when a chaser must be used. It is believed that the salt
lessens the "burn" of the tequila and the sour fruit balances and enhances the flavor.While tequila
blanco (silver) is consumed with salt and lime. It should be noted that many of the higher-quality,
100% agave tequilas do not impart significant alcohol burn, and drinking them with salt and lime is
likely to remove much of the flavor. These tequilas are usually drunk from a snifter glass, instead of a
shot glass, and savoured, instead of quickly gulped.
Tequila glasses
When served neat (without any additional ingredients), tequila is most often served in a narrow shot
glass called a caballito ("Little Horse" in Spanish), but can often be found in anything from a snifter to
a tumbler.
The Consejo Regulador del Tequila (Tequila Regulatory Council) approved an "official tequila glass" in
2002 called the Ouverture Tequila glass, made by Riedel.
The margarita glass, rimmed with salt, sugar, or plain, is a staple for the entire tequila/fruit mixed
drink genre, including the margarita itself.
Tequila brands
REPOSADO
1800
El Ultimo Agave
Sauza 100 Anos
Tequila 30-30 Especial
El Tesoro
Tequila el Mayor
Patron

Dos Manos
Sauza Hacienda
Tarantula
Cuervo Tradicional
Oro Azul
Cabo Wabo
Dona Carlota

ANEJO
Amate
Puerto Vallarta
Don Eduardo
Cuervo La Reserva

Jose Cuervo Black Medallion

Sauza Tres Generaciones
Casa Noble Extra Aged

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GOLD
Antano
Margaritaville
Olmeca
Sauza Extra

Jose Cuervo Especial

Montezuma
Pepe Lopez
Two Fingers

******************

Apritif and digestif

An aperitif is an alcoholic drink served before a meal, sometimes as an appetizer, or accompanied with
an appetizer. The drink is usually somewhat bitter, sweet or light, and serves as a warm-up or opener

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to a meal. Aperitif comes from the Latin aperire a verb meaning to open. In France, one might receive
an aperitif before a meal, usually dinner, and sometimes lunch. In Italy, one would be offered
an aperitivo.

Most countries have popular aperitifs. For example, martinis before dinner are quite common in meals
of several courses in the US. The French tend to drink anise-based liquors, like Pastis and Pernod.
Kir, a mixture of white wine and cassis is also popular, and for those who wish to be fancy, Kir
Royale, a mix of champagne and cassis might be substituted.
The Greeks may also serve an aperitif before dinner, and one most common to them is ouzo, another
drink with an anise flavor. The Italians may favor cinzano or campari, which are both bitter. Vermouth
might also be served.
In company with the aperitif is the digestif, a drink served after the meal that is said to aid in
digestion. Digestifs tend to be a little heavier, for example port or cognac. Serving a digestif may be
frowned upon however, particularly if one plans to drive home.

Aperitifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks that are normally served with meals.
An apritif (also spelled aperitif) is usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This is
contrasting with digestifs, which are served at the end of a meal to aid digestion, although modern
medicine discredits this supposed aid in digestion. This French word is derived from the Latin
verb aperire, which means to open.
If a digestif is a bitters, it will contain bitter or carminative herbs, which are thought to aid
digestion. Digestifs, which are usually taken straight (neat), generally contain more alcohol than
apritifs.

Common

choices

are

amari, bitters,

brandy, grappa, herbal

liqueur, limoncello, ouzo, tequila, and whisky.

Some wines (usually fortified wines) are served as digestifs for example, sherry, port, and madeira.

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Types
There is no single alcoholic drink that is always served as an apritif. Fortified wine, liqueur, and dry
champagne are probably the most common choices.

In France, the apritif varies from region to region, although pastis and Picon are the most
common.

In

Italy, vermouth or amaro may

be

served.

Popular

brands

of

bitters

are Byrrh, Campari, Cinzano, and Suze.

In Greece, ouzo is a popular choice.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, arak is served with meze.

Vermouth
Vermouth (UK: /vrm/;[1] US: /vrmu/) is a fortified wine flavored with various dry ingredients.
The modern versions of the beverage were first produced around the late 18th and early 19th
centuries in Italy and France. Vermouth was consumed as a medicinal libation until the latter 19th
century when it became an important ingredient in many of the first, classic cocktails, such as
the martini.
Grape wine is

used

as

the

base

ingredient

for

vermouth.

Each

manufacturer

adds

additional alcohol and a proprietary mixture of dry ingredients, consisting of aromatic herbs, roots,
and barks, to the base wine, which is then bottled and sold. Two main types of vermouth, sweet and
dry, are produced, and it comes in various colors, but primarily pale or red. In addition to being
consumed as a drink or cocktail ingredient, vermouth is sometimes used as a substitute for white
wine in cooking. French and Italian companies produce most of the vermouth consumed throughout
the world.
History
The name "vermouth" comes from the German word Wermut for wormwood that has been used as an
ingredient in the drink over its history. Consumption of wines fortified with herbs and/or roots is

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believed to have begun in ancient Greece around 400 BC. The extra ingredients were added to wine to
make it a medicinal drink, but may have also had the purpose of masking foul odors and flavors as the
wine spoiled over time. A popular ingredient was wormwood, based on the belief that it was effective at
treating stomach disorders and intestinal parasites. Around 1800 to 1813, the first pale, dry vermouth
was produced in France by Joseph Noilly. However, not all pale vermouths produced over time have
been dry, and not all red vermouths have been sweet.
Production, ingredients, and flavors
Several wine grapes, including Clairette blanche, Piquepoul, Catarratto and Trebbiano, are generally
used as the base ingredients for vermouths. From these grapes, a low-alcohol white wine is produced
by vermouth manufacturers. The wine may be aged for a short while before the addition of other
ingredients. For sweet vermouths, sugar syrup is added before the wine is fortified with extra alcohol.
The added alcohol is usually grape spirit, but may also come from vegetable sources such as sugar
beets. The wine is then placed in large barrels or tanks to which the dry ingredients have already been
added. The mixture is stirred off-and-on until the dry ingredients have been absorbed and the drink is
ready for bottling. Caramel color is added to make red vermouths. Most vermouths are bottled at
17% ABV, as compared with the 912% ABV of most unfortified wines.
Dry

ingredients

often

used

in

vermouths

include cloves, cinnamon, quinine, citrus

peel, cardamom, marjoram, chamomile, coriander, juniper, hyssop,

and ginger.

Sweet

vermouths

usually contain 1015% sugar. The sugar content in dry vermouths generally does not exceed 4%. Dry
vermouths usually are lighter in body than sweet vermouths.
In addition to pale and red vermouths, there exists golden and ros versions.
Lillet and Dubonnet are fortified wines similar to vermouth, but are usually considered separate
products.
The "Italian vermouth" are often red-colored, mildly bitter, and slightly sweet vermouths. These types of
vermouths have also been called "rosso."
The "French vermouth" refers to pale, dry vermouths that are bitterer than sweet vermouths. The extra
bitterness is often obtained by using nutmeg and/or bitter orange peel in the drink recipe. Bianco is a
name given to a type of pale, sweeter vermouth.
Uses

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Beverage
Most cocktails using vermouth, and when drinking vermouth by itself, are apritifs, although
sometimes drunk as a digestif. Vermouth is used as an ingredient in many different cocktails, as early
mixologists found it ideal for lowering the alcohol content of cocktails with strong spirits as their base,
for providing a pleasant herbal flavor and aroma, and for accentuating the flavors in the base liquor.
A Manhattan cocktail with its components, including Martini & Rossi Rosso (taller bottle at right) as
the vermouth ingredient.
Cooking
Vermouth can be used as a substitute for white wine in food recipes. The herbs in dry vermouth
reportedly make it an attractive ingredient in sauces for fish dishes or as a marinade for other meats,
including pork and chicken.
Because vermouth is fortified, an opened bottle will not sour as quickly as white wine. Opened
vermouth, however, will gradually deteriorate over time.

Major brands
Punt e Mes is a deep red vermouth with sweet and bitter flavors.
Other Italian products are Riccadonna, Boissiere, Gallo, and Gancia.
The Cinzano brands is available as Bianco ,a sweet, pale vermouth. Other offerings from Cinzano
include a sweet Rouge and a pale Extra Dry.
Martini & Rossi, produces both dry and sweet vermouths, but is most known for its Rosso.
Cinzano and Martini & Rossi also produce rose vermouths, which are mainly distributed in Italy and
France.
Noilly Prat, is dry, pale vermouth, but also produces a sweeter version

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LIQUEURS
These are the sweetened and flavored spirits. The digestive drinks taken after meals.
All liqueurs are put under four categories:
1. Herb liqueurs: these liqueurs are herb flavoured. Example: crme de menthe(mint flavoured),
chartreuse(126 herbs), drambuie, irish mist.
2. Citrus liqueurs: these liqueurs are flavoured with citrus fruit peels like orange and lemon.
Example: cointreau and curacao.

3. Fruit liqueurs: flavoured with almost any kind of fruit other than citrus ones. Example crme
de banana, crme de fraises. Some of fruit brandies are also called as fruit liqueurs like cherry
brandy, apricot brandy and peach brandy.
4. Bean and kernel: these liqueurs are made from cocoa beans, coffee beans, vanilla beans, nuts
and fruit kernels like crme de cacao, tia maria, crme de vanilla, crme de noissettes.

PRODUCTION OF LIQUEURS:
Basic three elements required are,
Spirit: these could be malt whisky, brandies, rum or any other spirit derived from potato, molasses
etc.

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Sweetening agent: these could be honey or sugar syrup.
Flavouring agents: depending on the category.

THREE METHODS OF FLAVORING THE SPIRITS,

Maceration method: in this method the flavouring agents are soaked in the spirit for minimum 24
hrs to one year to get the flavor and colour. Generally this method is adopted for aromatic herbs.
Hot infusion or percolation method: in this method hot spirit is circulated through crushed
flavoring agents and recycled till all the aroma is absorbed.
Distillation method: in this method the alcohol vapors are passed through the flavoring agent and
cooled. The resultant spirit has absorbed the flavor.

CLASSIFICATION OF LIQUEURS
Liqueurs are classified as follows:
Simple liqueurs:

40 degree proof with 20 kg of sugar per 100 litres of liqueurs.

Demi-fines:

40 degree proof with 20-25 kg of sugar per 100 liters of liqueurs.

Fines:

49 degree proof with 40-45 kg of sugar per 100 litres of liqueurs.

Surfines:

52 degree proof with 45-50 kg of sugar per 100 litres of liqueurs.

POPULAR BRANDS:
NAME
Advokaat
Benedictine
Cointreau
Curacao
Crme de cacao
Crme de menthe

Yellow
Amber
Clear

COLOUR

FLAVOR/BASE SPIRIT
Egg yolk with brandy base
Herbs and cognac base
Cognac base with orange

Clear/orange/blue
Dark brown/clear
Clear/green

flavor
Orange
Cocoa beans
Mint

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Chartreuse
Drambuie
Framboise
Galliano
Grand marinier
Glen mist
Kummel
Kirsch
Kahlua
Mirabelle
Pernod
Southern comfort

Green/yellow
Golden brown
Clear
Pale yellow
Golden brown
Golden
Clear
Clear
Red
Golden brown
Milky white
Gold

herbs
Herbs, whisky, honey
Raspberries
Herbs and barks
Orange with cognac base
Herbs and spices, scotch base
Caraway seeds and vodka
German cherry distillate
Cocoa beans
Plum brandy
Aniseed
Peach
and
orange
with

Strege
Tia maria
Van der hum

Yellow
Brown
Rust brown

bourbon whisky base

Herbs and barks
Rum base
Nartjies
(south
African
oranges)

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