WINE VOCABULARY, STEP BY STEP - 10

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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 —> C

Climate

Climate is affected by different factors

• Altitude - Temperature drops as altitude rices. This can be an advantage in areas closere to the Equator.

• Latitude - the position where the vineyard is situated between Equator and North Pole or Equator and South Pole.

• Aspect - Which side of the hill/ mountain the vineyard is situated and in what angle the hill/ mountain is to the sun. Slopes facing the sun get the most heat and light. For cool climate vineyards a must to be situated like this, for the ripeness of the grapes. 

• Frost - Frost has affect on the vineyards. Location speaking, a micro-climate can have influence.  For example, when a vineyard is in a comb surrounded by hills, here can the temperature dorp with a higher change of frost. An open field a lower change.

• Effects from Oceans and larger open waters. - Cold ocean currents or large open waters can have a cooling effect on wine regions close to it.

The temperature, sunlight and water availability can be combined to give an overall picture of the climate in a region. A region’s climate is defined as the annual pattern of temperature, sunlight and rainfall averaged from out over several years.

For climate is of course also a classification.

• Cool climates ; Regions with an average growing season temperature of 16,5 degrees C.

• Moderate climate ; Regions with an average growing season temperature of 16,5 - 18,5 degrees C.

• Warm climate ; Regions with an average growing season temperature of 18,5 - 21 degrees C.

• Hot climate ; Regions with an average growing season temperature of 21 degrees C and above.

Type of climates zones

• Continental climate - the largest difference in temperature between hottest and coldest months, usually short summers with a large, rapid temperature drop in autumn.

• Maritime climate - have cool to moderate temperatures and a low annual difference between hottest and coldest months. Rainfall tends to be evenly spread over the year. 

• Mediterranean climate - also low annual difference between hottest and coldest months but… the summer tend to be warm and dry. 

Crossings

When a new variety is produced from 2 parents of the same species then it’s called a crossing. Technically every grape variety used now a days is a crossing. An example, Cabernet Sauvignon is a crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, shown by modern DNA technology. Few other examples;

-Müller Thurgau = Riesling x Madeleine Royale

-Pinotage = Pinot Noir x Cinsault.

The following week we continue with the letter - D.

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