Wine Production

Glossary

D

DEBOURAGE. Settling of solids (bourbes) in must or wine either pre- or post-fermentation.

DEGORGEMENT. Removal of yeasty sediment from the bottle towards the end of the traditional method of making sparkling wine.

DELESTAGE. Translated as rack-and-return, a cellar operation in which a vat is completely drained of red wine, and then the fermenting wine is returned over the cap of skins. It is considered by many to be a gentler process than pumping over, giving softer, polymerized tannins and deeper colors.

DENSITY. The mass of a substance per unit volume.

DESTEMMER-CRUSHER. Usually a single machine, but possibly two separate units, to remove the grape berries from their rachises and break them open for fermentation or juice removal. The objective is ordinarily complete removal of the cluster stems and 100 percent opening of the berries with minimal grinding or solids dispersal into the fluid.

DESTEMMING. The process of removing the grape berries from the stems once the grapes have been harvested and brought into the winery. The goal is to minimize the amount of astringent tannins that stems can add to wine.

DISTILLATE. The liquid collected from the condenser during a distillation process.

DOSAGE. Following disgorging, the topping up of the bottles of sparkling wine produced by the traditional method q.v. with sweetened wine, according to the required style.

DRY. The descriptor for a wine without fermentable sugar and/or no detectable taste of sweetness from sugar. Commonly, less than 2 g/L of reducing sugars.

DRY EXTRACT. The total of the non-volatile solids in a wine.