T - Jargon Buster

Table Wine: Legally defined category of wine with lower than 15% alcohol content.

Tannin: Tannin is a desirable component of most red wines, adding considerable "body" and a pleasant, mouth-drying taste. Most types of tannin have an astringent (sometimes bitter) taste, making the mouth dry (pucker). Tannin in wine comes from grape skins, stems and from wood contact during barrel aging.

Tannin is primarily responsible for the dusty or dry and sometimes bitter taste in red wines like Cabernet. Tannin is the component that allows red wine to age, acting as a natural preservative, helping the development and balance of the wine. It is considered a fault when present in excess.

Tart: Acidic (used as a pleasant descriptor in wine tasting).

Tartaric Acid: The most prominent natural acid of grapes, juice and wine, tartaric acid is not usually found in other fruits or vegetables.

Tartrate: Chemically speaking, a "salt" of tartaric acid. The only tartrate you care about is cream of tartar, aka Potassium bi Tartrate. Cream of tartar crystals drop out of new wines when they are cooled to near freezing for a few days. The crystals are clear, glassy, harmless and do not effect the flavour of the wine. Once the tartrates have been removed from a wine, the wine is said to be "cold stable." You would see this is some wines due to cold conditions but is harmless

Tawny Port: Tawny ports are wines, made from red grapes, which are aged in wooden barrels, exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation. As a result, they gradually mellow to a golden-brown colour.

Terroir: Earth or soil, used in the special sense of "place," which includes localised climate, soil type, drainage, wind direction, humidity and all the other attributes which combine to make one location different from another.

Thin: Term used in sensory evaluation referring to a wine that lacks body, viscosity, alcohol or sugar. Often this term refers to wine from a poor vintage in which the grapes failed to ripen fully.

Tirage: (Tier-âhh-j) Production term that describes the first bottling step, which begins the process that turns a new wine into Champagne or Sparkling Wine. After the tirage, the new Sparkling Wine is aged on the yeast, then riddled, disgorged and, finally, labelled for sale.

Tokay: Famous Hungarian desert wine upstream from the intersection of two Hungarian rivers, the Bodgrog and Hernad in the town of Tokaj. The wine is rich, sweet, flavourful, luscious and long lasting.

Trockenbeerenauslese: The highest category of nectar-sweet and expensive dessert wine produced in Germany. The word means "dry berry selection," which indicates that the raisined berries are individually picked to insure that only fully raisin dried grapes are used for the wine. Luscious.

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