House

As used in the Champagne region, house refers to a producer who sells Champagne under its own brand name. The grapes may come from its own vineyards, from independent growers, or most often from a combination of the two. Such firms as Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, and Taittinger are all referred to as houses.

Retsina is a pungent, resin-flavored wine from Greece. Which of the following tree resins are used to create it?

A. Cypress

B. Pomegranate

C. Olive

D. Pine

To make retsina, small amounts of resin from the Aleppo pine tree are added to savatiano grape juice as it ferments. Retsina’s distinctive piney flavor with a turpentine-like aroma is delicious when paired with many Greek meze (small appetizers served like Spanish tapas). Resinated wines have a long history in Greece: traces of pine resin have been found in Greek wine amphorae dating back to the 13^th century B.C. Now, retsina is made all over the country, although most is made in Attica, the wine region that surrounds Athens.

Puckery

Used to describe a wine that is so high in tannin that it causes your mouth to pucker with dryness. Most often, the wine will have been made from insufficiently ripe grapes.

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