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. In general - the results of canopy management studies for Cabernet Sauvignon have shown results like those for...
Sauvignon Blanc
Must
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.
3-5

2. What might lead you to have more olfactory fatigue while tasting red wines?
Their higher alcohol contents and stronger odors.
Vine's microclimate
Fining
Because they will age through one or two winters at the winery before bottling the cooling that occurs will often cause tartrate crystals to precipitate and tannins will react with and remove the heat-unstable proteins.

3. In white table wines - this color is a sign that the wine has been exposed to too much air in production or has been bottle aged too long
Brown
Regions II and III
Greater aging potential
12-18

4. When Botrytis grow on the surface of a grape it penetrates the skin enabling water to evaporate during a period of __________ weather.
Very limited
Port
The limited number of shoots do not compete for stored sugars - light - water - and mineral resources - so shoot growth is not restricted by shortages of these resources.
Warm - dry

5. What sensory change would you not expect as a fine bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon ages?
Cold stabilization
The total acid content increases.
Transfer
17

6. Because nearly all white table wines are valued principally for their youthful - fruity characteristics - the vast majority of white wines are aged in neutral containers only for as long as it takes to clarify and stabilize them. Only a tiny minority
Decreases grape rots - lowers grape potassium - lowers grape pH
12-18
Aging in oak containers
Blanc de Noirs

7. About ______ the fruit for dessert wine production goes to produce the alcohol for fortification - making the per ton yield of finished wine __________ gallons.
Botrytis infection
Moderate drinking and breast cancer
Half; 75-110
Crop-bearing shoots

8. What additional changes occur in wines that undergo the malolactic fermentation?
In addition to reducing acidity - the MLF causes other organoleptic changes: it produces gas and causes the wines to be less fruity and to have transient cheesy off odors - but it also allows them to develop greater complexity - including a buttery f
One place
.05%
Smaller barrels

9. More distinctive grape varieties - many from Portugal - and cooler growing regions are associated with this group of fortified dessert wines.
Must
Acidity
80-90 degrees F
Port

10. Which red wine grape is preferred when grown in Region I?
An intact grape skin
Quercus Suber
Pinot Noir
Microbiological stability

11. In order to make sparkling wine you need to build a winery for the _______________ process.
Perceptible varietal aromas
Tank fermentation
False. From 10 to 100 percent of the juice will be sprayed over the cap one to three times a day.
Fewer vegetative and herbaceous odors

12. If the amounts of the chemicals responsible for the celery/fresh vegetable - herbaceous - or ____________ of Sauvignon Blanc are reduced - fruity flavors of grapefruit - pineapple - melon - and fig emerge.
Disgorging - trap the yeast - riddling
Greater complexity - harmony - and the power to stimulate the emotions
Grassy character
Softer tannins

13. When the stimulus alcohol present in high amounts in a wine - you can expect to experience both a taste and a tactile sensation. These sensations are
Three
Sweet (taste) - hot (tactile)
Because they must be able to envision what the wine will be like in 2-4 years
Surface

14. Define 'canes'
Darker colors
Shoots that grew in summer are termed canes after they lose their leaves in winter.
Fewer vegetative and herbaceous odors
Three

15. Because most of the world's white table wines emphasize the aroma of the grapes and the MLF ___________ - most winemakers take precautions to prevent the MLF altogether in these wines.
Perception of the wines' acidity
Smaller
Cap - extraction
Reduces fruitiness

16. Several grape clones may share...
The same name
Greater aging potential
Vintage-dated varietal
Pendant ones

17. The wine type refers to a winemaker's characteristic way of combining and balancing the sensory features that distinguish a particular wine to create an individualistic expression of that wine.

18. _______ can be produced when press juice is fermented and then distilled.
Grappa
One place
Shorter - hotter - messier - more labor-intensive - more likely to occur in an open-topped tank - less likely to happen in a barrel
Cloudy

19. What is the 'retro nasal route'?

20. What additional evidence of yeast growth and metabolism besides the drop in degrees Brix do wineries measure during the active stage of fermentation?
Trap the CO2 from a second alcoholic fermentation
Less tart
Ports of different sugar contents can be combined to give the desired final sugar concentration and varietal ports can be mixed to enhance complexity
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.

21. Flavors are actually odors - or 'in-mouth smells' - that reach our ______________ when we hold the wine in our mouths.
A Burgundian-style wine
Neutral
Olfactory epithelium
Tawny

22. About how much of a cuv
True
Non-wine drinkers
Odors
As much as 20-30%

23. Winemakers taste the fortifying alcohol and match it to the wine being made because...
Secondary infections develop
Warm - dry
Soil surface area
Wine spirits can vary in their flavors depending on the starting wine and the method of distillation - and those flavors need to be compatible with the wine being fortified

24. The average ____________ - involves five tasters who examine 30 wines per day in one to three sessions.
Thermal
Tasting situation
Less tart
Genus Saccharomyces

25. Our appreciation of wines is mainly due to their...
Acetaldehyde - ethyl acetate
Gelatin - egg whites are also used.
Vintage-dated varietal
Odors

26. In filtering - the wine is forced through media that vary in 'tightness' from those that trap and remove just the very largest particles (chunks of grape skins) to those that take out...
Soil surface area
Resist spoilage
Very limited
Tiny malolactic bacteria

27. Adaptation is a change in sensitivity that occurs in response to different levels of stimulation. Winetasters learn to work with olfactory adaptation by resting 15-45 seconds between _____ when evaluating wines.
Floral and tropical fruit segments
One-half month to 48 months
Sniffs
Because they will age through one or two winters at the winery before bottling the cooling that occurs will often cause tartrate crystals to precipitate and tannins will react with and remove the heat-unstable proteins.

28. The maximum _____________ of our sense of smell has been estimated at one part per million to several parts per trillion.
Grafting
The use of solar energy to snythesize sugar from carbon dioxide and water.
Sensitivity
As much as 20-30%

29. You are going to make your mark in the wine world by creating a rare style of dry Chenin Blanc with a lot of oak character. What aging regine would you use?
You could begin by fermenting Chenin Blanc in juice in oak barrels and add more oak by aging the wine for several months in new 60-gallon American oak barrels.
Stronger acidity
Sensation
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.

30. Why is it detrimental to sparkling wines to swirl them while making a sensory evaluation?
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
Swirling makes the dissolved CO2 leave the wine prematurely and makes a proper evaluation of the bubble display and mousse impossible.
False. PTC tasting does not predict a person's sensitivity to bitterness in wines.
Asti Spumante

31. At what blood alcohol concentration do most people perceive the maximum relaxation?
Racking
Baking
.05%
Blanc de Noirs wine production

32. 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
Grape composition - next year's crop - and grape berry health.
Scrupulous rinsing of glasses
Because the wines blended to make the cuv

33. 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.
Solera
Three
The barrels are stored in a relatively dry environment such as an above-ground warehouse in California.
29

34. For winemaking the most important sugar in grape juice is sucrose.
Harvest sugars
For two reasons: 1. The high alcohol content of wine spirits can interfere with a winemaker's odor perception. 2. Diluting a solution that has a high concentration of alcohol changes the spectrum of perceptible odors. The spirits will be diluted in t
Tawny
False. The most important sugars in grape juice are glucose and fructose.

35. Overall quality in red wines is correlated with total color and...
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 -
Pigment content
Half; 75-110
Portugese grape varieties

36. Growers control phylloxera by means of
Decreases grape rots - lowers grape potassium - lowers grape pH
Rootstocks
Botrytis-affected fruit
Port

37. After the re-corking that follows the removal of the yeast and adjustment of sugar - sparkling wines develop in the bottle in much the same way as do white table wines.

38. The _________ is better because it comes from inside the grapes where the carbonic maceration occurred.
The Muscats
Press juice
Sparkling and sweet wine
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.

39. Which odor descriptors would you expect to find in the bottle bouquet of a fine - well-aged 1978 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Big Vine Theory
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 -
When off odors - particularly the acetaldehyde odor of oxidation - predominate.
Tobacco - coffee - chocolate - soy

40. The average maceration time for California Napa Gamay is about four days and for Cabernet Sauvignon is 7-8 days. This means that the average _________ is intended for more aging than the average __________.
Blanc de Noirs wine production
Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Gamay
Quercus Suber
Fining

41. What do carbonic maceration and m
False. The most important sugars in grape juice are glucose and fructose.
If you were quoting Chapter 3 directly - you would say - 'in some cases - most commonly for Chardonnay - the winemaker may want to add a yeast character similar to champagne bouquet to the wine and will allow the wine to remain in contact with the ye
Both winemaking techniques were developed in France and both start with uncrushed - whole grape clusters - an absolute requirement for carbonic maceration and a very common practice for m
Browning of pigments

42. When is the mechanism of taste dependent on saliva?
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.
Older - typically hillside soils with a higher percentage of gravel and less ability to hold water were correlated with smaller crops and fruiter wine flavors.
Tirage
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

43. Which odor descriptors would you expect to find in a fine bottle of 1992 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?
Bell pepper - eucalyptus - mint - maybe berries - cassis
One-way valves
False. Sulfur dioxide levels are monitored throughout winemaking and small amounts are added whenever they are needed.
Pigment content

44. What is reserve wine and how is it used in methode champenoise sparkling wine production?
Non-wine drinkers
It's because with repeated sniffing the alcohol will begin to interfere with your ability to smell.
Harvest sugars
Reserve wines are blends of still wines from previous vintages which are added to cuv

45. It is critical for winemakers to control the _____________ to be sure that it is completed before bottling.
Prise de mousse
A vineyardist can determine leaf layer number - the measure of canopy 'thickness' - by randomly selecting a number of sites at fruit cluster height along the vine row - pushing a rod through the canopy curtain at each site - and recording the number
Serious wine tasters
Timing of the MLF

46. PTC tasting is a well-documented example of how dramatically people can vary in their ability to taste something bitter and it accurately predicts a person's sensitivity to bitterness in wines.

47. The most important step in red wine production for determining the style of a wine.
Management of the extraction during fermentation
A vine's production of more crop than it can satisfactorily mature.
Black pepper
Wine spirits

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

49. The degree to which a grapevine's foliage and fruit are exposed to light can determine the amount of...
Microbiological stability
Dark skinned Pinot Noir grapes
Distinctive flavor compounds in its grapes
Botrytis-affected fruit

50. The yield of juice per ton is ________ to 75-90 gallons per ton.
Table wines
Reduced
Hold the wine against a white background
Perception of the wines' acidity