Wine Production and Winemaking Techniques Flashcards
7 cards from real SOMM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Wine Production and Winemaking Techniques flashcards as text
What is the primary benefit of aging wine 'sur lie' (on its lees) after fermentation?
Answer: It adds complexity, creamy texture, and autolytic notes such as bread and biscuit
Sur lie aging keeps wine in contact with spent yeast cells, which undergo autolysis and release compounds that add creamy texture, complexity, and toasty, brioche-like aromas.
Which fining agent, derived from fish bladders, is traditionally used to clarify white wines and lagers?
Answer: Isinglass
Isinglass is a fining agent derived from dried fish swim bladders that effectively clarifies white wines by attracting and precipitating haze-forming particles.
In winemaking, what does 'assemblage' refer to?
Answer: The blending of different grape varieties, regions, or barrel lots into a final cuvée
Assemblage is the art of blending different components — grape varieties, vineyard blocks, or barrel selections — to create a balanced, complex final wine.
Which stabilization process removes tartrate crystals from wine before bottling by chilling the wine near its freezing point?
Answer: Cold stabilization
Cold stabilization chills the wine to near freezing, causing potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar) crystals to precipitate out before bottling, preventing their formation in the bottle.
What is 'pigeage' in red wine production?
Answer: Manually or mechanically punching down the cap of skins into the fermenting juice
Pigeage is the technique of punching down the floating cap of grape skins back into the fermenting juice to extract color, tannins, and maintain even fermentation temperature.
Which technique, known as 'délestage' or rack-and-return, involves draining fermenting juice from a tank, pressing the skins, then returning the juice?
Answer: A gentle extraction technique that also aerates the juice and breaks up the cap
Délestage drains the tank, allows skins to press under their own weight to break the cap, then returns the juice, resulting in aeration, gentler extraction, and breaking of seeds from skins.
What does the French winemaking term 'élevage' refer to?
Answer: The aging, maturation, and development of wine from end of fermentation to bottling
Élevage literally means 'raising' and describes the winemaker's work of nurturing and developing wine from the end of fermentation through to bottling, including barrel aging and blending decisions.