Weight
- A tasting term. When tasters refer to the weight of
a wine, I think most are referring to its body.
Weingut
(Germany) - Describes an estate which owns vineyards as
a source of fruit for its wine.
Weinkellerei
(Germany) - Describes an estate which buys in grapes to
make wine, rather than owning its own vineyards.
Wine
Glass - Specially designed glassware for enjoying wine,
characterized by bowls or flutes on stems. Quality wine glasses
are designed to capture and hold a wine's bouquet and are
ideally shaped and angled to present the wines properly, according
to style. See Wine Glasses at Wine Accessories.
Wine
Stabilizer - Potassium sorbate, also known as "Sorbistat
K," which produces sorbic acid when added to wine. When
active fermentation has ceased and the wine racked the final
time after clearing, 1/2 tsp. added to 1 gallon of wine will
prevent future fermentation. Sodium benzoate, sold as "Stabilizing
Tablets," and Potassium Sorbate, are other types of fermentation
inhibitors. These are primarily used with sweet wines and
sparkling wines, but may be added to table wines which exhibit
difficulty in maintaining clarity after fining. For sweet
wines, the final sugar syrup and stabilizer may be added at
the same time. Also see Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate.
Wild
Yeast - Any mixture of the thousands of yeast strains
which may be airborne or on the fruit, exclusive of the cultured
wine yeast deliberately added to a must. Grapes, fruit and
the air often contain spoilage bacteria, molds or yeast which
can destroy a wine's quality, but if no spoilage yeast or
bacteria are present in the must the fermentation can produce
an acceptable wine. Due to the risk from spoilage organisms,
prudent winemakers treat their must with an aseptic dose of
sulfite to kill non-yeast organisms, stun wild yeasts into
temporary inactivity, and thereby allow their own choice of
cultured yeast to dominate the fermentation.
Wine
Yeast - Yeast cultured especially for winemaking, with
such desirable attributes a as high alcohol tolerance, firmer
sediment formation, and less flavor fluctuation. Wine yeasts
are usually obtained from a winemaking/ brewing specialty
shop or by mail order. See entry for Yeast on starting a culture
before adding to must.
WO
(South Africa) - Stands for 'Wine of Origin'. The South
African equivalent of the French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée,
the Spanish Denominación de Origen and the Italian
Denominazione di Origine Controllata.
Wood
Aging - This is the process of maturing wine in barrels
or casks prior to bottling. This process allows young wines
to soften and absorb some of the wood's flavors and tannins
and allows the wine's flavors to become concentrated through
slight evaporation through the wood. While oak is the overwhelming
wood of choice for wood aging, mesquite, hickory, pecan, apple,
orange, and cherry wood can also contribute unique qualities
to wines aged with their chips or shavings. The taste a wood
tends to impart in wine is that of its smell. Also see Oaking.
Woody
- A wine fault denoting too much contact with wood, usually
oak.
Yeast
- A micro-organism without which we would not have bread,
beer or wine - wouldn't life be dull! The yeasts convert the
sugar to alcohol in a process known as alcoholic fermentation.
Present naturally in the vineyard, harvested grapes will begin
to ferment naturally, especially if they are crushed to break
the skins and expose the sugar-rich juice inside to the yeasts
which reside on the grape skins. Some winemakers prefer to
add cultured yeasts rather than rely on the action of wild
yeasts. This gives greater control over the fermentation,
but some argue it may intrinsically alter the style or quality
of the wine, as a single strain might not produce the same
flavours as the multiple strains present in the vineyard.
Yeast
Energizer - An extraordinary nutrient, energizer is useful
when making wines of high alcoholic content (over 14%) and
to restart fermentation when the secondary fermentation seems
"stuck." Yeast energizer contains many ingredients
not found in normal nutrient, such as Riboflavin and Thiamine.
The energizer is best used by dissolving 1/2 tsp. in 1/2 to
1 cup of the must or wine before adding. If the fermentation
is truly "stuck" and not simply run out, the energizer
may be dissolved in 1/4 cup must or wine and 1/2 cup warm
(75 degrees F.) water and a pinch of fresh wine yeast added
and allowed to bloom under cover over a 12-hour period. An
additional 1/4 cup of wine or yeast is then added and the
yeast given another 12 hours to multiply before the enriched
solution is added to the fermentation bottle.
Yeast
Nutrient - Food for the yeast, containing nitrogenous
matter, yeast-tolerant acid, vitamins, and certain minerals.
While sugar is the main food of the yeast, nutrients are the
"growth hormones," so to speak.
Yeast
Starter - A media in which a wine yeast is activated and
encouraged to multiply to a high density so that when added
to a must it will have a better chance of populating it successfully.
There are several ways to make a starter. To make a really
vigorous starter for inoculating a must initially or restarting
a stuck fermentation, in a quart jar dissolve 1 teaspoon of
sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of yeast nutrient in 1 cup of warm
water (less than 104° F.). To this, add 1/4 cup of the
juice from the must to be fermented. Sprinkle 1 packet of
active dry yeast on the surface of the liquid. Do not stir.
Cover the jar with a paper towel or napkin held in place with
a rubber band. Wait for the yeast to become active. This could
become obvious in as little as 15 minutes or could take as
long as 2-4 hours. If no evidence of activation in 4 hours,
the yeast was too old or dead from exposure to temperature
extremes (usually heat, but possibly extreme cold). In such
a case, sprinkle another packet of yeast into same jar and
recover. When yeast (first or second sachet) is evidently
active, add another 1/4 cup of juice from the must and recover.
Wait until vigorous activity returns (usually 30-90 minutes)
and add another 1/4 cup of juice. When again vigorously active,
add yet another 1/4 cup of juice. Wait 1-2 hours and gently
pour half the liquid over the surface of the must. Do not
stir. The idea is for the starter to remain on or close to
the surface where there is plenty of air for the yeast to
"breath." Cover the primary fermentation vessel
with a sanitized cloth or sheet of plastic. After 2-4 hours,
the surface of the must should have small bubbles rising from
fermentation or a healthy layer of yeast culture. Stir shallowly
and recover the primary. Wait another 2-4 hours and fermentation
should be more vigorous. Add the remainder of the starter
and stir deeply. Recover primary. If the starter does not
produce a vigorous fermentation in the primary, add another
1/4 cup of juice to the reserved half of the starter media.
Wait 2 hours and add yet another 1/4 cup of juice. This starter
is now 2 parts juice and 1 part water. When this is fermenting
vigorously, add half of it to the must as before and try again.
Yield
- The yield is the amount of wine produced in vineyard
or estate, and is usually expressed in hectolitres per hectare.
Yields vary according to the type of vine - some are heavy
croppers, some yield less - and also with climate and soil.
Yields may be influenced by the winemaker, who may perform
a green harvest on order to reduce them. Low yields are associated
with increased quality.
Zest
- While "zest" is a quality a good, fresh wine might
possess, when mentioned as an ingredient in the recipes on
this site, zest refers to the grated rind of lemon, orange,
grapefruit, or lime. Only the colored portion of the rind
is used, as the white pith is bitter and will spoil the batch.
When a recipe calls for 2 lemons, both the zest and the extracted
juice are intended unless otherwise stipulated.
Zingimel
- See Mead
Zymase
- The name given to the group of enzymes which yeast use to
transform sugar into alcohol.
Vinum Compendium
