WINE VOCABULARY, STEP BY STEP - 6

THIS WILL BE YOUR SECRET MANUAL TO

Affordable styles, self-development, how-to do’s, learn to divine and describe your own taste. Wine is a personal preference; everybody taste different and likes or dislikes some smell or taste impressions.

FOR THE SELF-MADE PERSON

My impression is that a lot of wine critics sound like a doctor. Using wine terms if everybody knows them. To understand this better, I will take you, in the coming time, step by step through those words in a normal way.

By AD Wines, Dannis Apeldoorn

From A to Z —> B

Bio - Biodynamic Wines

Okay then we need to explain directly Sustainable and Natural wines.

• Sustainable agriculture

  Man-made chemicals are not forbidden in sustainable agriculture but their use is restricted. Grape growers are encouraged to develop an in-depth understanding or the lifecycles of vineyards pests and monitor weather forecasts so that they can predict and prevent a pest or disease outbreak before it will really happen. Rather than simply following a calendar of spraying. As a result, fewer applications are needed. 

  Integrated pest managment is a key of sustainable agriculture. The predators of certain pests may be encouraged to live in the vineyard to controle like this the pest populations naturally. This makes vineyard biodiversity essential. Supporting a range of plants in the vineyard to grow, rather than a monoculture of vines only can provide habitats for predators of pests, help to capture CO2, and provide nutrients for vines when they are mowed and ploughed into the soil.

  This you can also do in your own garden.

• Bio - Organic agriculture

  Organic agriculture has many of the same concepts as sustainable agriculture however only a very limited number of the ‘more traditional’ treatments against pests and diseases is allowed and in very small quantities. Furthermore, accreditation (certification) is required from an organic certification body if the producer wishes to display the organic credential of their grapes on the label. 

• Biodynamic agriculture

  Biodynamic agriculture is based on the work of Maria Thun and Rudolf Steiner. It adopts organic practices but also works with a philosophy and cosmology. The vineyard soil is seen as part of a connected system with planet Earth, the air and other planets. Practitioners adapt their grape growing practices to coincide with the cycles of plants, moon and stars. Homeopathic remedies called ‘preparations’ are used to fertilise the soil, treat diseases and ward off pests. There are also official certifications for biodynamic agriculture.

• Natural wines agriculture

  Winemaking is a proces that starts with grapes and enthe grapes are processed and prepared for alcoholic fermentation, at that point yeast eats the sugars in the grape juice and convert it into CO2 and alcohol. Once this is completed, the wines need to be stored before to put it in the bottle and boxed and sale. None of this can happen without the intervention of humans. 

  There are some winemakers who choose to control each part of the winemaking process. They have especially stylistic goal. and they tailor the winemaking techniques to make sure they achieve their goals.ds with wine. After harvest, 

  However, there are some winemakers, and growing amount, who choose to take a more hands-off approach. They may monitor the wine’s progress. A key part of this approach involves minimising or completely avoiding any winemaking additions during production. This is including the use of cultured yeasts and adding SO2 (Sulfur Dioxide), but also no interference in the vineyard with spraying. It can also holds avoiding fining and filtration. Compared with the majority of wines, these low  or non-intervention wines often have a different taste profile.

Logo’s used in different countries.

And there are more

Next week, same day, Saturday, and same time, 9:30 am CET, the next two words.