Rochford Wines
Glossary of Wine Making

Acid

Acid comes naturally and at the hand of the winemaker, it is important for structure, balance and aging of wine. It is described as zesty, lemony and fresh. Essential component of grapes and wine, where it gives ‘juiciness’ zest to the experience of drinking.

Alcohol

Alcohol can be tasted as a warm, even sweet sensation towards the back of the tongue.

Barrel

Wine barrels are made from oak either vanilla and coconut flavoured American oak or more savoury, nutty, elegant French oak and are used to mature fuller white wine like Chardonnay and most red wines. This maturation rounds out a wine and adds extra complexity of flavour.

Baumé

A measure of sugar content in the grapes, roughly equal to potential alcohol; so 12 baumé grapes will make a wine that’s about 12 per cent alcohol.

Faults

Many things can spoil a wine’s flavour and make it fault. The most obvious is cork taint, where a must smelling cork causes the wine that comes into contact with it to taste musty too (or sometimes just to taste flat and dull). Hydrogen sulphide is a compound that can be produced during fermentation and, although eradicable, can sometimes make it into bottle; you’ll detect it as a farmyard, eggy smell. And volatile acidity, while tolerable in small amounts (and can actually help to lift a wine’s aroma), can also spoil a wine with its vinegary or nail polish remover smell if present in large dowse.

Fermentation

The conversion by yeasts of sugar to alcohol, carbon dioxide and heat.

Lees

The name given to the deposit of dead yeasts of dead yeast cells that forms in barrels of wine after fermentation or bottle of sparkling wine. Lees add a savoury flavour and creamy texture to a wine that is matured in contact with it.

Malolactic Fermentation

The conversion by bacteria of hard tasting malic acid to softer tasting lactic acid usually after the alcoholic fermentation has taken place. Happens in all red wines and some whites, most notably barrel matured Chardonnay.

Phylloxera

A microscopic vine louse that attacks the roots of a vine, decreasing yields and in most cases eventually destroying the vineyard. Can be prevented by grafting vines onto resistant root stocks. Some areas of Victoria are Phylloxera zones (Nagambie, King Valley, Glenrowan, Milawa, Rutherglen and Corowa areas). Cellar door visitors should be aware of restrictions on traveling within vineyards by observing vineyard signs.

Do not remove any part of a grapevine (leaves, fruit, canes, roots, etc.) from quarantine areas. Road signs mark the boundaries of the quarantine areas.

Tannin

Found in the skins and stems of fruit, a substance which is extracted from the skins of red grapes that is felt as a ‘grip’ or gentle bitterness on the sides of the tongue and the gums. Tannin helps give red wine their body and structure.