Physiological phase in a vine's cycle that starts in summer with "veraison" (change in the grapes' colour) and ends in harvest. During this process, the grape berries lose their harshness, since the pulp's cells make their walls become softer and their content is replaced by juice. The berries' chemical composition suffers some important changes: sugars increase and acids decrease. The phenolic maturity of the grapes' skin is very important, since it is in the skin that the aromas, tannins and colour are concentrated. Physiological maturity is achieved when the berries' volume, sugar and acid contents, as well as their phenolic ripening reach their ideal balance.

 

White variety grown in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, California and Chile. It produces wines similar to those from Airén, in Spain.

 

Specific character conferred by noble rot to dessert wines and that is translated in sweet aromas (honey, toffee caramel, pastry).

 

Smoky, roasted smell of great wines resembling that of substances that undergo intense fire (for instance, cocoa, coffee, tobacco).

 

Variety grown in Kefalonia, where it produces fruity whites.

 

Said of a well-structured wine with body. A wine that is complete, virile and balanced in all its components.

 

Young, tannic wine that is not yet structured and rounded. It can also be incisive.

 

In Spain, act of refreshing the brooders and soleras with younger wines.

 

In Portuguese, hard wood stake that is fixed to the ground to support the vine.

 

White variety from Provence and Roussillon that produces fresh, fine wines. Some identify it with Sardinia's Vermentino.