The sour or tart taste in wine and other food. The primary natural acid in grapes and wine is Tartaric acid; the second most abundant is Malic acid. Sometimes referred to as the “backbone” of a wine, acidity contributes to a wine’s aging ability. The sour taste of acidity in wine is often pleasantly counterbalanced by sweetness (from sugar or alcohol). Sparkling wines usually contain higher acidities than white still wines, which themselves usually contain higher acidities than red still wines. It is the acidity which gives fine sparkling wines their crispness

A predinner drink

The blending of the various base wines to create a new cuvee

The breaking down of yeast creating biscuity, bready aromas and flavours

Stirring the lees during fermentation or maturation

A wine made with white grapes only (Chardonnay mainly for Champagne)

A wine made with white grapes only (Chardonnay mainly for Champagne)

Wine made with black grapes only (Pinot Noir and or Meunier for Champagne)

A wine made with black grapes only (Pinot Noir and or Meunier for Champagne)

A yeast infection formed in the barrel that taints the wine with animalistic aromas/farm, leather, sweat or metallic and antiseptic aromas

Dry (less than 12g/L of sugar)

Dry (less than 12g/L of sugar)

No added sugar (less than 3g/L)

No added sugar (less than 3g/L)

No added sugar (less than 3g/L)

No added sugar (less than 3g/L)

The over arching organisation linked to the French government that monitor production and distribution of Champagne

Cooprative Manipulant is a growers co-op that pools resources and produces wine under a single brand.

A wine cellar, normally underground in Champagne

The grape variety or blend of varieties used (like a recipe)

Adding of sugar or concentrated grape juice to increase ABV

A walled vineyard

Coops are located in specific villages in Champagne and make a cuvee with multiple growers in the same region (Nicolas Feuillatte, etc.).

A slang term for the wine fault where TCA (trichloroanisole) is present in the wine (traditionally from the natural cork), giving off a wet cardboard/ wet dog smell and dampening fruity aromas.

Still wine from Champagne, mostly red made from Pinot Noir

Huge underground pits made out of chalk by the Romans now used as wine cellars

A village or commune

The first pressing of the grapes. Also a term used to describe an individual blend or style of Champagne

Disgorgment (removal of frozen yeast/sediment plug before bottling)

Medium dry (32-50g/L of sugar)

Medium dry (3250g/L of sugar)

A closure brand made of fragments of cork that have been treated to extract cork taint

A mixture of sugar and wine (liqueur d'expedition) that's added to the bottle before the cork is inserted

Champagne classification system of quality villages. Grand cru, premier cru for example

Extra dry (Less than 6g/L of sugar)

Extra dry (Less than 6g/L of sugar)

Off dry (1217g/L of sugar)

Off dry (12-17g/L of sugar)

Off dry (12-17g/L of sugar)

Off dry (1217g/L of sugar)

The process of creating alcohol, CO2 and heat by yeast converting sugar

The highest ranking vineyard within the Echelle Dec Crus system. There are 17 in total with this rank and all plots within the village are ranked at the same level

A made up term for the famous larger Champagne houses. No factual specification and a widely used term

A producer who produces Champagne form their own land and are only permitted to outsource 5% of grapes

A large machine that mechanically riddles bottles

Adding yeast to a ferment

Dead yeast cells and other sediment that settles at the bottom of the barrel/bottle

A negative effect/fault in a wine when contact with UV light has taken place

Wine and sugar added to the bottle before closing with a cork

Wine and sugar/ concentrated grape juice added to encourage a second fermentation on bottle

Wine and sugar added to the bottle before closing with a cork

Marque d'Acheteur aka Buyer's Own Brand. A large retail or restaurant that buys a finished wine and sells it under their own private label.

Soaking red grape skins on the extracted juice (for rose Champagne or still red wine)

House, or a slang term used for the producer/ brand of Champagne

Naturally occurring in fruit and grapes, and is responsible for acid/ freshness levels

Malo for slang, is the process of converting malic acids to softer lacto acids which also impart diary aromas and flavours to the wine

The Champagne/ traditional method, referring to the way on which Champagne is made

Vintage

A descriptive term to describe aromas and flavours derived from soil

The wire cage which secures the cork in the bottle

Negociant Distributeur refers to a buyer who labels and distributes Champagne that they neither grew nor produced.

NM gociant Manipulant is a producer who buys all or some of their grapes from other growers. Anything less than 94% estate fruit must be labelled NM.

NV is a wine made using base wines from more than one vintage (year)

NV is a wine made using base wines from more than one vintage (year)

Also know as powdery mildew, and is a fungal disease which can ruin crops

A practise that avoids any chemical intervention throughout the growing and wine making process such as pesticides or fungicides

Is a fault that occurs when the wine has come into contact with oxygen while or after bottling, and gives off a vinegar taste and aroma as well and dampening the fruit flavours sometimes even turning the wine brown

A process that requires the bottle (after corking) to be vigorously shaken in order to disturb lees and help impart flavours associated with lees (bread) into the wine

The second highest tier of vineyard quality in the Echelle Des Crus ranking system of which there are 41

The flagship Champagne from a brand which is normally also the most expensive and one that can age

The flagship Champagne from a brand which is normally also the most expensive and one that can age

The second fermentation that creates the bubbles inside the bottle

The rack in which wines are stored to be riddled by hand

Recoltant Cooperateur refers to a grower-producer who has their own Champagne brand made at a co-op facility.

Society de Recoltants is a union of growers who shares resources and collectively markets their own brands.

Recoltant Manipulantrefers to a grower-producer who uses a minimum of 95% estate fruit. This is classically considered the Champagne grower-producer type, although, it�s possible for a Maison to use this classification on a sub-label or brand.

A wine made with very limited exposure to oxygen that as a style displays aromas of gunpowder or a burnt match and in extreme cases, rubber, cooked cabbage, garlic and onion

Refers to the riddling process

Withheld wines stored in the cellar (normally tank), from each vintage to blend into NV wines (or other styles of Champagne)

The process leading up the to disgorgement that moves the sediment to the neck of the bottle. Either by hand or gyropalette

A pink wine made by bleeding the colour from black grapes skins into the juice

A way to open a Champagne bottle with traditionally a sabre, but now also all types of objects

A way to make a rose in which the juice has 'bled off' from crushed grape skins after a short cold maceration prior to fermentation

Semi sweet (17-32g/L of sugar)

Sec Semi sweet (1732g/L of sugar)

In between riddling and disgorgement, bottles are stored 'neck down' with the lees settled in the neck

A term used to describe a wine that has a 'sense of place', meaning you can taste where it came. The vineyard, soil, microclimate, altitude, aspect, drainage etc all contribute

Is the bottling of blended wines with the addition with sugar and yeast to bring on a second fermentation

Harvest or vintage

Old vines

A vine grower

Vigerons are grower-producers, or a single family/person who grows his own grapes in a specific place and makes his own wine.

A base wine that has gone through its primary, but not secondary fermentation

A wine made from a single year

A wine made from a single year

No sweetness is added