AmericanWinery.com

The preferred wood for making the barrels and casks in which wine is aged. oak barrels impart flavors and tannins, both of which are desirable for most red wine as well as some white wines. oak is slightly porous, which creates an environment ideal for aging wines. Redwood and chestnut are distant second choices to oak, and neither DO the job as well. Sometimes these woods are used for larger casks because the expense of using oak is a luxury. Despite oak’s unique capabilities, more delicate … (view more)

Established in 2002, this viticultural area is located at the southern end of the Napa Valley AVA. It encompasses 9,940 acres and is bordered by the Yountville AVA to the north, the Mount Veeder AVA to the west, the Carneros AVA to the south, and the Silverado Trail to the east. It excludes most of the City of Napa south of Trancas Street. The area gets its name from the oak Knoll Ranch that was located in the area and quite well known in the mid-1800s. This area is one of the coolest in the … (view more)

The process of imbuing wine with oak flavors either by barrel aging, soaking oak chips in the wine, or by inserting special oak staves into stainless steel tanks.

This viticultural area is located in the center of the Napa Valley. It begins north of the town of Yountville and extends northwest about a mile past the town of Oakville just before Cakebread Cellars winery. It abuts the Rutherford AVA on its northwest boundary and the Yountville AVA along the southeastern side. The Oakville AVA extends across the valley floor and, although it encompasses less than 6,000 acres, includes many esteemed Napa Valley wineries. This region also hosts several … (view more)

A toasty, vanillin flavor and fragrance in wines that have been aged in new or lightly toasted (see toast) oak barrels. An oaky characteristic is wonderful in the proper balance. However exagger­ated oakiness can be tannic (sometimes almost vegetal) and overwhelm a wine’s other components—it’s considered undesirable. See also oak.

see Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

see Estremadura

A highly regarded wine-producing village located south of Konz along the Saar River in Germany’s Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region. The village owes its reputation to the extremely steep hillside vineyards, which include the well-known Einzellage Bockstein. In good growing years, Ockfen’s steely, yet elegant and intensely fragrant Riesling wines can rival any produced in Germany.

A German method of measuring the specific gravity (therefore, the sugar content) of must or grape juice prior to fermentation. developed in the nineteenth century by Germany’s Christian Ferdinand Oechsle, this method is similar to the Brix system used in the United States and the Baumé scale used in France. Germany employs the Oechsle scale to establish the quality levels of wines (see Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiet (QbA) and Qualitätswein mit prädikät (QmP)). The required Oechsle … (view more)

see enology