Test your basic knowledge |

Wine Production 101

Instructions:

Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.

1. Which odor descriptors would you expect to find in a fine bottle of 1992 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?
You can expect increased complexity and moderated tartness.
French Sauternes and German late-harvest Rieslings
Bell pepper - eucalyptus - mint - maybe berries - cassis
Resist spoilage

2. Blind tastings - in which the wines are identified only by a letter or numerical code - are designed to eliminate stimulus errors which occur when irrelevant criteria are used to judge wines.
True
Decreases grape rots - lowers grape potassium - lowers grape pH
Darker colors
Blanc de Blancs - Blanc de Noirs.

3. Free-run juice has more sugar and less acid and tannin than press-run juice because press juice is ________________ from must containing a higher proportion of stems - skins - and seeds.
Verbal structure
Extracted at higher pressures
Genus Saccharomyces
Tranquilizers

4. How would a wine be aged in barrels to minimize its exposure to air?
False. The most important sugars in grape juice are glucose and fructose.
The barrels would be sealed tight - rotated 30 degrees to wet the bung and tighten the seal - and not opened until the aging was complete.
Varietal wines
Canopy dimensions

5. You are preparing a plate of appetizers for dinner. You will serve a dry Gewurztraminer with the appetizers. You do not include green apple slices on the plate because ______.
Harvest at 22 degrees Brix or above - no skin contact - ferment in barrels and at warmer temperatures - age in oak sur lie - and blend with S
Shoots that grew in summer are termed canes after they lose their leaves in winter.
Fortified dessert wines
Eating the apple will bring out the acid in the wine.

6. Legumes add ___________ to the soil which will invigorate the vine.
About 10 to 20 - if they are well exposed to sunlight.
When photographed - about 40 percent of the canopy surface of a thin canopy appears as light patches. The value is much lower with thick canopies. Also - the leaf layer number of thin canopies is 1.5 or lower.
Nitrogen fertilizer
Resist spoilage

7. White item on the list is not part of 'the best possible aging conditions' for bottled wines?
Funnel-shaped
Free-run juices
Blended
Underground

8. Sparkling wines are a kind of table or natural wine which contain large amounts of...
Must
One place
True
Dissolved carbon dioxide gas

9. An example of a sparkling wine made up by trapping the CO2 from only one alcoholic fermentation is...
Canopy curtain
When photographed - about 40 percent of the canopy surface of a thin canopy appears as light patches. The value is much lower with thick canopies. Also - the leaf layer number of thin canopies is 1.5 or lower.
False. Both total acid concentration and acid strength decrease.
Asti Spumante

10. Leaf-roll virus is spread by...
Grafting
Darker colors
50% as intense as full sunlight on a clear summer day
The barrels would be sealed tight - rotated 30 degrees to wet the bung and tighten the seal - and not opened until the aging was complete.

11. Under appearance - the bubble display of _______________ is evaluated and tasters look for small bubbles that evolve from the wine over a long time and form a smooth - white foam on the surface of the wine.
Sparkling wines
17
Gew
As much as 20-30%

12. A wine with inadequate body would not be correctly described as...
Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Gamay
Flat
Eating the apple will bring out the acid in the wine.
Bitterness

13. What additional evidence of yeast growth and metabolism besides the drop in degrees Brix do wineries measure during the active stage of fermentation?
Botrytis infection
On cool nights the grapes need less energy and use up less malic acid. Locations with cooler nighttime temperatures produce fruit that is higher in malic acid than that produced in sites where it stays warm all night.
False. Both total acid concentration and acid strength decrease.
Another indication of the increased fermentation activity of the yeasts in addition to the rapid drop in degrees Brix is the warming of the fermenting juice.

14. The yield of juice per ton is ________ to 75-90 gallons per ton.
Limousin forest
Reduced
Tiny malolactic bacteria
Crushing

15. Where are the papillae located that have very few taste buds in them?

16. When is the mechanism of taste dependent on saliva?
Moderate drinking and breast cancer
Taste adaptation
The astringency from tannins seems to get stronger with each sip and that tires the palate. If tasters wait 40 seconds or more between sip the effect is lessened.
To be tasted a solid substance must be dissolved in the saliva. Without saliva to dissolve the substances that produce taste stimuli - we could only experience touch sensations with our mouth.

17. A winetaster who is evaluating the quality of a wine will take time to notice -among other things - if the wine has a lot of odors or flavors or just a few - how well the individual parts fit together - and if it...
On cool nights the grapes need less energy and use up less malic acid. Locations with cooler nighttime temperatures produce fruit that is higher in malic acid than that produced in sites where it stays warm all night.
Extracted at higher pressures
Pleases him or her
Premium winegrape vineyards

18. A typical ___________ spreads from one site to infect adjacent berries. A cluster with an advanced infection will contain berries in all stages from shriveled to healthy.
Botrytis infection
Cap - extraction
High sugar content grapes
Vine size

19. The blended wine that will be bottled for a second fermentation is called the vin de ______.
17
Specific anosmia
A vine's production of more crop than it can satisfactorily mature.
Cuv

20. Only the ___________ are higher in alcohol content than table wines.
Fortified dessert wines
Canopy thickness
False. Both total acid concentration and acid strength decrease.
Alcohol solution

21. A key factor that separates premium white grape vineyards from mediocre vineyards is...
Greater aging potential
Genus Saccharomyces
Canopy dimensions
Some exposure to air

22. Which components of white table wines 1. originate from the grapes; 2. are fermentation end products; and 3. are developed during agin?
Shoots that grew in summer are termed canes after they lose their leaves in winter.
Sulfite-sensitive - steroid-dependent asthmatics
1. color - sugar - acidity - varietal aroma and flavor; 2. alcohol and carbon dioxide; 3. malolactic fermentation and/or oak barrel and/or sur lie-aging flavors
Disgorging - trap the yeast - riddling

23. California wineries age their red wines ________ months in the bottle before releasing them.
One-half month to 48 months
False. PTC tasting does not predict a person's sensitivity to bitterness in wines.
True
Neutral

24. After the yeast cells are collected - the bottles may be stored neck down until the yeast cells are removed during...
Funnel-shaped
Decreases light interception by the vineyard
Normal breathing
Discorging

25. Botrytis-affected dessert wines made in California are modelled after...
Some exposure to air
Cardiovascular mortality
French Sauternes and German late-harvest Rieslings
Conventional - yeast-catalyzed alcoholic fermentation

26. Describe the calculation of degree-days for a day.

27. If growers maximize light interception - the vine canopies will be thick and shady and grape yields and...
Odors
Quality will be lower
Be drier
To prevent overcropping and its accompanying loss of grape quality.

28. We should question the accuracy of the taste bud map of the tongue because we don't taste sweet or sour or bitter or salty in just...
Tasting situation
Wine spirits
One place
Harvest sugars

29. Which grape variety is not likely to be used for methode champenoise sparkling wine production in France or California
Without perceptible sweetness and with an aroma which has an element that is like roses
Sauvignon Blanc
Cap - extraction
Decreases grape rots - lowers grape potassium - lowers grape pH

30. We can only smell volatile molecules that can evaporate from the ____________ of a wine at the range of temperatures at which it is customarily served.
Surface
The total acid content increases.
Liver cirrhosis
60-95

31. This winemaking step ideally involves only breaking the skins of the grape berries to allow the juice to flow out without any damage to the seeds or stems.
One place
Warmer
Crushing
Positive structural organoleptic elements

32. Anosmia can refer to the loss of a person's ability to smell all odors and the term '_____________' is used when someone cannot detect a particular scent but otherwise has a normal sense of smell.
Quality will be lower
Specific anosmia
Tirage
Swirling makes the dissolved CO2 leave the wine prematurely and makes a proper evaluation of the bubble display and mousse impossible.

33. Pinot Noir is less likely to be ________ than other red wines.
False. Many organic growers use pesticides.
Tiny malolactic bacteria
Oak has become the traditional wood for aging premium wines because the trees are large enough to make wine containers of useful sizes - the wood is tight-grained - strong - and resilient and can be worked into the curved shapes needed for barrels -
Blended

34. The canopy surface area should not exceed twice the...
False. A grape variety is a subgroup of a grape species and is distinguished from other varieties by economically important hereditary traits such as its climactic adaptation. Clones are 'sub-varieties'.
Cloudy
Black pepper
Soil surface area

35. Great wines are distinguished from ordinary wines by their...
Clear Bordeaux bottles
Cuv
Varietal character
Greater complexity - harmony - and the power to stimulate the emotions

36. What might lead you to have more olfactory fatigue while tasting red wines?
Subtract 50 degrees from the day's average temperature.
Their higher alcohol contents and stronger odors.
Flat
Baking

37. What sensory change would you not expect as a fine bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ages?
Racking
White Zinfandel
The barrels are stored in a relatively dry environment such as an above-ground warehouse in California.
The total acid content increases.

38. The grape solids in the must are called...
Pomace
True
Discorging
Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc

39. Growers control phylloxera by means of
Greater aging potential
Soil surface area
Canopy thickness
Rootstocks

40. Winetasters begin the olfactory stage of evaluating a wine by swirling the wine in the glass for 6 or 8 quick revolutions and putting their noses into the glass and taking 4 or 5 quick - deep sniffs.
Botrytis infection
False. Winetasters begin the olfactory stage of evaluating a wine by sniffing the wine without swirling and swirl 1-2 revolutions and sniff 2-3 times in the second stage.
Conventional - yeast-catalyzed alcoholic fermentation
50% as intense as full sunlight on a clear summer day

41. Demographic studies have shown that wine drinkers are better educated and earn more than...
Less tart
Non-wine drinkers
Funnel-shaped
Swirling makes the dissolved CO2 leave the wine prematurely and makes a proper evaluation of the bubble display and mousse impossible.

42. Leaves export ______ to developing grapes
Sugars
Blanc de Noirs
About 10 to 20 - if they are well exposed to sunlight.
Harvest sugars

43. Sediments in wine tanks are called...
;lees
Vanilla
False. From 10 to 100 percent of the juice will be sprayed over the cap one to three times a day.
A taste modifier

44. If wine can be made perfectly clear simply with settling and racking - why do few wineries rely on these methods?

45. A juice with about 20 degrees Brix will yield a wine with about 10% alcohol through fermentation by yeasts - primarily from the...
False. Champagne may only be used for wines produced in the Champagne district of France.
Bell pepper - eucalyptus - mint - maybe berries - cassis
Genus Saccharomyces
Wine

46. What sensory quality would not be expected from the clue 'A white wine is very pale and nearly colorless?'
Intense fruit aromas
15-18
The astringency from tannins seems to get stronger with each sip and that tires the palate. If tasters wait 40 seconds or more between sip the effect is lessened.
Aroma - Bouquet

47. Modern premium winemaking equipment allows the extraction of about 135-185 gallons of juice per ton of grapes. It's (about) ____ times more free-run than press-run.
Because each cluster must be smelled to be sure it does not have a secondary infection and handled carefully so it doesn't fall apart.
Because they must be able to envision what the wine will be like in 2-4 years
Asti Spumante
Three

48. Gew
French Colombard
Irrigation
Warmer
3-5

49. Quantitatively distinguish between thin and thick canopies.
When photographed - about 40 percent of the canopy surface of a thin canopy appears as light patches. The value is much lower with thick canopies. Also - the leaf layer number of thin canopies is 1.5 or lower.
Reduces fruitiness
Wild yeasts
Another indication of the increased fermentation activity of the yeasts in addition to the rapid drop in degrees Brix is the warming of the fermenting juice.

50. The _______________ was designed to enhance the accuracy of communication about wine odors among members of the wine industry.
15-18
29
wine aroma wheel
2-4 years