Thiol

The compound found in the skins of some sauvignon blanc grapes that leads to passion fruit aromas in the wine. Thiols are particularly prevalent in New Zealand sauvignon blancs.

Biodynamic farming, a practice that views a vineyard as a regenerative and living organism, was first practiced in vineyards in California.

Answer: False.

The first well known winery to practice biodynamic farming was in France, in the Loire Valley. It's name: Coulée de Serrant. As developed by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s, and later expanded on by his followers, biodymanics is a holistic system of living agriculture whereby the soil and plants growing in it are nurtured through natural forces. Biodynamics envisions soils and plants as living in a sort of middle world influenced from below by the forces of the earth, and influenced from above by the cosmos. So for example, vines are fertilized using compost created on the farm and are pruned according to the movement of the moon through the twelve houses of the zodiac—all in order to achieve ultimate harmony with the forces of Nature.

Astringent

Astringent describes the dry, raspy mouthfeel of a wine with a considerable amount of unripe tannin. Astringency can also be provoked by certain foods, such as unripe walnuts or unripe persimmons. Excess astringency is unpleasant… Continue reading

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