C

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

One of the noblest of the red wine grape varieties. It is mainly cultivated in Bordeaux, successfully grown in many countries, and is often referred to as the king of red wines.

CAP

The mass of skins, pips, and other solid matter that rises to the surface of the wine during alcoholic fermentation. Pigeage helps to keep the solid matter mixed in with the wine, imparting color, flavor, and tannin.

CARBONIC MACERATION

A method of vinification that produces wines with fruit flavors and color but little tannin, making them immediately drinkable. Because of this effect, it is widely used in Beaujolais. The technique involves fermenting whole bunches of uncrushed grapes.

CHAMPAGNE

Sparkling wine made in the region of the same name, some 70 miles northeast of Paris. It uses a traditional process in which wines are bottle-fermented, and made only from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier grapes.

CHAPTALISATION (FRENCH)

The process of adding sugar to the fermenting vat, which is converted to ethyl alcohol by the yeast. The intent is to increase the final alcohol content. A widespread practice in many French wine regions, but particularly in Burgundy. So much so, that French sugar sales absolutely rocket at harvest time.

CHARDONNAY

One of the world’s most well known and noble white grape varieties. It is widely used to produce full-bodied white wines.  Varies widely in style from crisp lemon-lime-mineral flavours to rich, oaky, buttery wines. Apple and green apple aromas are classic although vanilla and tropical often show up, especially in U.S. and Australian Chardonnays

CHENIN BLANC

A versatile, noble, French white wine grape used to make the famous dry, slightly sweet whites of the Loire Valley. It can be found in California and other regions, too, and is somewhat variable, although pleasant honey overtones along with cantaloupe and honeydew melon flavors and light muskiness are common.

CLASSED GROWTH

A literal translation of Cru Classé.​

CLOSED

A tasting term to describe a wine having no or very little aroma or flavour. Many wines, after the exuberant flavours they offer in youth, ‘close down’ in this way before they ‘open out’ again as they enter a mature phase.

CLOSED STABILISATION

This process merely involves chilling wine before bottling. This causes tartaric acid to crystallize, thereby avoiding the formation of tartrate crystals, specifically potassium hydrogen tartrate.​​

CONFECTED

A tasting term to describe a sweet aroma/flavour, but more manufactured (like candy) than honey. This can be counted as a negative aspect of a wine.

CORDONED

That part of the vine that is permanent – that is it to say it is left from year to year, whereas other parts are pruned away.

CORKED

A tasting term used to describe wines contaminated by trichloroanisole (a corked wine is not one with bits of cork floating in it). This chemical compound is the product of mold infection in the cork. Said to affect 5% of bottles (some say more, some less), it is one of the main reasons behind the drive towards the increasing use of screwcaps and synthetic closures. It may result in a wine that lacks fruit and can be difficult to spot. Alternately, it may be obvious with cardboardy, musty, mushroomy, dank aromas and flavors, rendering the wine completely undrinkable.

CÔTE

A côte is a slope or hillside. The term is used in many regions of France – Côte Rôtie (Rhône Valley), Côte d’Or (Burgundy), Côte de Brouilly (Beaujolais).

COTEAU (FRENCH)

A sparkling wine made by the Méthode Champenoise.​

CRÉMANT (FRENCH)

Like côte, this also refers to a slope or hillside.​

CRU (FRENCH)

The upper classification for the châteaux of the Médoc was laid down in 1855. It is divided into five tiers, from Premier Cru Classé to Cinquieme Cru Classé. More details may be found here: Bordeaux classifications.

CRU CLASSÉ (FRENCH

A term meaning ‘growth.’ It is used in several French regions as a means of classifying wines. In Burgundy, the best vineyards are Grands Crus. In Bordeaux, the term relates to the châteaux that own the land; they are the Cru Classé estates. In Champagne, the term is applied to whole villages.

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