Appellation Contrôlée
| Is a government department with very wide powers. This is what determines the classification of French wine. In order to qualify for the Appellation Contrôlée (AC) approval production must come from grapes grown in a strictly defined area. The AC will define and approve grape variety, yield (hectolitres per hectare) and minimum/maximum alcohol content. Every year all châteaux and producers must submit samples for assessment. In extreme circumstances they can instruct a vineyard to destroy their entire production. |
Bordeaux wine futures
| (see En Primeur) |
Bottle format
| In addition to the traditional 750ml bottle, and half-bottle, there are a number of ‘large format’ bottles. The most widely used are listed below. | Bottle(s) | Litres | Bordeaux | Burgundy & Champagne | | Two | 1.5 | Magnum | Magnum | | Three | 2.25 | Marie-Jeanne | n/a | | Four | 3 | Double magnum | Jeroboam | | Six | 4.5 | Jeroboam | Rehoboam | | Eight | 6 | Imperial | Imperial | | Twelve | 9 | Salmanazar | Salmanazar | | Sixteen | 12 | Nebuchadnezzar | Balthazar | | Twenty | 15 | Balthazar | Nebuchadnezzar | | Twenty-four | 18 | Melchior | n/a | |
Château(x)
| Vineyard or wine estate. |
Clairet
| A light Bordeaux Rosé wine. |
Cru | Meaning growth. Used in a number of French regions to classify wine. In Burgundy the best vineyards are Grand Crus, although in Bordeaux the term relates to the château that own the land. These are the Cru Classé estates. In Champagne the term is applied to whole villages.
|
En Primeur
| Method of purchasing wine before it has been bottled. Payment (not including duty or VAT) is made generally one to two years before bottling (the exact time depends on the region and quality. The wine most commonly offered en primeur are from Bordeaux, Burgundy in the Rhone Valley and Port, although many other regions, including some New World wineries, are following suit. Once the wine enters the UK, it may be stored in bond or, after payment of taxes, be delivered. In bond wine is stored in a ‘bonded’ warehouse. Before wines can be taken out of a bonded warehouse for use or consumption, duty has to be paid. Currently the duty in the UK for a case of wine – 9 litres – is £14.31. |
Lying / Bonded
| Wine that has not yet had the Duty and VAT paid. It must be stored in a bonded warehouse approved by HM Customs & Excise. |
Lying | In bond, see above |
Robert Parker | An American wine journalist, businessman and acknowledged wine tasting expert - particularly for Bordeaux wine. Mr Parker came to prominence in the mid 1980's when he introduced his own approach to evaluating wine that he tasted. |
James Suckling | Is a senior editor and chief columnist for The Wine Spectator magazine. He is the author of Vintage Port - the Wine Spectator's Ultimate Guide for Consumers, Collectors and Investors. |
Wasting asset | A wasting asset is an asset that had a predictable useful life of 50 years or less from the date on which you acquired it. |
