Wine-Searcher Technical Wine Terms Q to T

'R'

• Rain Shadow: A geographical feature of immense importance to many wine producing regions of the world. Simply put, it describes an area which lies in a position where an elevated piece of land (mountain) blocks the rain-bearing weather system thereby 'shadowing' it. There are both advantages and disadvantages associated with a rain shadow effect. It is generally beneficial to places which are naturally humid and moist. The rain shadow effect prevents further precipitation during the growing season thareby preventing the spread of fungal diseases and dilution of grape liquids.
  On the other hand, the negative effect of this phenomenon comes into effect when an arid, desert like condition is created as the rain bering clouds are blocked by the mountains. This can severely affect the growth of vines if artificial irrigation (often expensive operation) is not applied.
  
  
• Residual sugar: The amount of natural sugar left in a wine after the alcoholic fermentation. There are basically three reasons of presence of residual sugar in wines:
  • the wine was fortified with spirit to stop the fermentation thereby retaining the natural grape sugars - a technique used for some of the best dessert and 'fortified wines' of the world.
  • the grapes were harvested at extremely high 'must-weight' and the yeasts could not ferment all the sugars as the alcohol level from normal fermentation reached a level where they could not survive.
  • presence of sugars which the typical wine yeast cannot break down/ferment.

'S'

• Solera: A blending and maturation technique used for heavier styles of wines, particularly sherry, with the primary aim to create a consistent quality product. A typical solera consists of tiers of barrels stacked in a way that the lowermost barrel close to the floor acts as the source for the final blend. Each time an amount of liquid is drawn out from this level, the wines in the barrels above it are used to replenish it thereby creating a fractional blend.

'T'

• Tannins: Are a group of chemical compounds or 'phenolics' found predominantly in the skins, seeds and stems of grapes. Tannins are vital to a wine's profile in a sense that they are responsible for the taste and sensory properties of a wine. They also play an important part in stabilizing the color of red wines by binding with the 'anthocyanins'. Tannins in wines are also derived from oak during both barrel maturation and barrel fermentation.
  
  
• Terroir: A French term widely used in the world of wine to describe the grape growing conditions of a particular site, which can be as a small as a tiny parcel of land to a large geographical area as a whole. The use of the word in the latter case is somewhat misleading as the actual growing conditions for a vine can change with slightest of deviation in the conditions that constitute 'terroir'. These mainly include the area's climate, soil composition, presence of water bodies, position on a slope and 'altitude'.