| Word |
Definition |
| sack |
Older English word for sherry. |
| saignée |
French Meaning literally "bled", this is a technique wherein a certain amount of free-run juice is drawn from crushed red grapes after a brief maceration to produce a rosé wine and/or to concentrate the remaining juice. |
| sake |
A rice wine originally from Japan, but now made with some success in California and other parts of the world. Ranging from colourless to pale straw and from very dry to sweet, sake is usually between 12 and 16% alcohol and is traditionally served warm in flasks then poured into small porcelain cups. |
| Salmanazar |
Large bottle used in Champagne and Burgundy equivalent to 12 standard bottles (9 litres, 2.38 US gal, 1.98 UK gal). See also half-bottle, magnum, Jéroboam, Rehoboam, Methuselah and Nebuchadnezzar. |
| sangria or sangría |
Spanish A summer beverage, originating in Spain, made of red wine sweetened and flavoured with citrus or other fruit and served over ice. Soda water, various liqueurs or brandy are sometimes added. |
| Schaumwein |
German Sparkling wine. See Sekt. |
| sec |
French Dry. |
| secondary fermentation |
A fermentation that takes place after the normal initial fermentation. Most often associated with sparkling wines produced by means of the méthode champenoise, secondary fermentation is sometimes induced for other reasons, as in the case of malolactic fermentation. |
| sediment |
Solid matter that has settled in the bottom of a container of wine, whether it be bottle, fermentation tank or storage vessel. When it occurs in bottles of fine, aged red wine, sediment is not a result of poor filtration but is a natural part of the maturation process as phenolic compounds like tannins polymerize to the point where they can no longer remain suspended in the wine. Mature vintage port is an example of a wine that will invariably contain sediment, and like all such wines should be handled carefully and decanted prior to serving. |
| Sedoso |
Diz-se de um vinho que apresenta uma textura macia no palato. Característica evidente nos vinhos generosos, mas também em certos vinhos de mesa de grande qualidade e com alguma idade. |
| Sekt |
German Sparkling wine. The bulk of Sekt produced in Germany is uncomplicated and relatively sweet, made from cheap imported wines by means of the Charmat method. Wine labelled "Deutscher Sekt", however, must contain only wine from grapes grown in Germany and very often is made using the superior méthode champenoise. |
| Selection de Grains Nobles |
French The highest designation for the wines of Alsace based, like the German system, on grape ripeness. These late-harvest wines are rich, sweet and botrytis-affected. |
| Sercial |
Grape variety used in, and subsequently a type of, madeira. |
| sherry |
A fortified wine from Spain's Jerez de la Frontera region, or, more loosely, a wine of this style. The word is an anglicization of "Jerez". Wine has been produced in the region for 3000 years. Of the various fortified wines, sherry has the potential to be among the driest because it is fortified after fermentation is complete. The two primary types of sherry, pale-coloured fino and dark Oloroso are both dry wines. Sweeter variations are made in a number of ways, from simply adding colouring and sweetening agents, to blending with specially-made very sweet wines. See also Amontillado, flor, Manzanilla, Oloroso and solera. |
| short |
In winetasting, refers to a lack of persistence in a wine's finish. The opposite term is, naturally, "long". A long finish is a hallmark of a good wine. |
| soil acidity |
Soil is said to be acidic if its pH value is below 7, alkaline if its value is above. The acidity or alkalinity of soil can have a profound effect on wine and play a large role in determining the suitability of a plot of land for vine growing. |
| solera |
Spanish A system employed in the production of Spanish sherry whereby older and younger wines are blended to achieve consistency of style and, in the case of fino sherry, to rejuvenate the flor yeast that would otherwise die out. |
| sparkling wine |
A type of wine, usually white, that is effervescent with bubbles of carbon dioxide gas which sparkle as they rise to the surface. While champagne is the best-known, sparkling wines are produced in almost every wine region in the world. They are generally at their best when made by the méthode champenoise, acquiring their sparkle through a secondary fermentation inside a sealed bottle which prevents the gas from escaping. Inferior versions may be made by carbonation, the injection of carbon dioxide gas into the wine. There are many styles of sparkling wine and these vary greatly both in sweetness and in the amount of effervescence. Sparkling wines in France are called mousseux for fully sparkling, pétillant for lightly sparkling, and perlant for very lightly sparkling. The Italian equivalents are spumante, frizzante and frizzantino. Crémant is another type of sparkling wine from France, while the predominant sparkling wine from Italy is spumante, from Germany Sekt, and from Spain cava. See also Charmat method. |
| specific gravity |
A system for measuring the density of a substance compared to the density of an equivalent volume of water, which is given a specific gravity of 1. Sugars, tannins and other substances in wine serve to raise its specific gravity, while alcohol, which is less dense than water, lowers it. Most often, wine densities are measured according to the Brix, Baumé or Oechsle scales. See also must weight. |
| spitting |
When wine is tasted solely to be analyzed and evaluated it is often preferable not to swallow it. Swallowing adds nothing to the flavour of the wine and if many different wines are to be judged would only serve to impair the taster's senses. At most organized tastings -- where frequently dozens of wines are tasted -- there will generally be spittoons or similar facilities provided. |
