03/21/05 Monday question - Wine terms

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering your email questions. Recently several of you have written to ask that I define a few wine terms or references that you don not understand. Today we will define the terms "Cava", "flabby" and "Must". Many of us run across wine terms that we are not quite certain of the meanings. Recently three listeners wrote in to ask about the terms that they are uncertain about. Let us start with the term "Cava". This term is found on sparkling wine labels from Spain and it refers to sparkling wine that is produced in the traditional French method from Spanish grape varietals. The next term asked about was "flabby". This term is used to describe a wine that has insufficient levels of acid another word used for the same sort of malady is soft. I find that it is often a term I use when a wine is soft tasting, to the point of being boring. Do not confuse this with 'thin' wine. "Thin" is referring to the body and depth of flavor of the wine not the level of acidity. Another writer asks what the term "Must is referring to. Well "must" is the name given to the combination of unfermented grape juice and grape solids that is the result of the initial crushing of harvested grapes. This is the product before it goes to fermentation. It is actually very sweet and perfume like  the bees love it! Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.