When the weather sucks, the grapes prematurely shrivel into what look like small raisins. The French then coined the name to label these sweet wines made from these little grape-nuggets.

Botrytis Cinerea is the bacteria which cause the rotting causing grapes to shrivel, concentrating their juice to a wonderful intensity, recognized as far back as Roman times and certainly from the seventeenth century when the Hungarian wine Tokay was produced. The fungus to which great dessert wines including Chateau d’Yquem owe their sweetness.

William Echikson wrote about this revolution which happened to the French Bordeaux region. It also showcases the rich history of First Growths and their economic and global effect on all things wine. Click here to learn more about the book.

Being that I JUST talked about when something is vinified, this shouldn't be too difficult. If something is being vinified, its turning into wine. Plain and simple as that.

Wine Making. Vinification is French, essentially meaning the conversion of fruit juices (as grape juice) into wine by fermentation.

Guesses? Guesses?

Fermentation. This process lasts anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. Typically, fermentation is done is large steel vats with an open top but can continue to occur while aging in the barrels too. When making sparkling wines, this process continues while the wine has already been put in bottles-- its the trapped carbon dioxide that creates the pressure.

The simplest way is to check the alcohol content on the label. Wine under 10 percent will be noticeably sweet; wine in the 10-12 percent range will be off-dry; or subtly sweet; over 12.5 percent the wine is dry but will still carry a sense of ripe, even honeyed fruit.

The winemaker has left the dead yeast cellsa from the fermentation process in the wine instead of discarding them. This gives the wine a little more flavors or complexity.

Depending how long the wine remains in contact with the dead yeast cells, the flavors one will notice are unique. Caramel, almond, bread, creme brule, pie crust, and mixed nuts are just a few.

It's a style decision the winemaker decides on how he wants his wine to taste.

So what the hell is a lee?

"Lees" is a general word for the gooey, gloppy, sludge-like deposit that collects on the bottom of a fermentation vessel — say, a barrel — after the yeast fermentation is done.

... riveting, I know. You were hoping it was something more clever or charming?

This refers to wine put through a second fermentation process which turns the normal malic acid present in grapes into a less harsh lactic acid.

This is where Chardonnay comes in to controversy. Malolactic fermentation (ML) gives a rounder feel in the mouth and qualities like creamy, buttery, plush fruit characteristics. This process changes a wine dramatically and its a personal choice which way on the pendulum you stand. Some people debate that this process "standardizes" the true quality of Chardonnay- stripping core flavors and making it taste like everything out there. There's the other side which like the style and depth it brings. Some winemakers will put their wine through a "partial" malolactic fermentation process to add the round mouth feel and help balance their wine.

Add any oak barrels into the mix and you're at the heart of the debate. Again, this is a personal choice. Oak adds more flavor attributes like well, oak but also spices, earth tones, ect. The snobs in the industry are preaching that Chardonnay that has gone through ML fermentation or sat in oak barrels is "not chardonnay"

... whatever. This is why they're snobs.

Where you stand, its a personal choice which you prefer based on your palatte. On the label, look for keywords like buttery, creamy, full mouth feel-- your tip that the wine has gone through this ferementation process to some degree.

Try various Chardonnays to see which style you prefer. Do you like the lighter, more fruit forward style or do you enjoy the more full, round, oak influenced style? It's certainly fun to try!

White Zinfandel.

The origins of Sutter Home's White Zinfandel, beginning on an experimental scale in 1972, grew to 34,000 cases by 1980 and over 10 million cases in 2000. Bob Trinchero of Sutter Home Winery joked that in 1985 (1.5 million cases), the winery was bottling the wine and loading trucks at the same time, providing 'convoy discounts' and 'freeway aging.' ...nice =)