Wine Knowledge

Sparkling wine, epitomized by Champagne, is an indispensable element at parties and other festive occasions. Have you ever wondered how this effervescent wine containing carbon dioxide gas is actually produced? While explanations of production methods are …

Among wine professionals, grape varieties have increasingly become a topic of discussion. Grape varieties have long been subjects of debate regarding their relationship to selling prices, compatibility with cultivation regions, and the correlation between …

What constitutes the world’s finest wine? Would it be the red wines of Bordeaux or Burgundy? The cult wines centered in America? The beloved Champagne? Or perhaps the trendy natural wines of today? In Germany, the legally classified highest-grade wine is …

Wine aging is a crucial element that deepens the wine’s flavor profile. While wines generally evolve through oxidative aging, an alternative method called “biological aging” is sometimes employed during the winemaking process. Biological aging is a matura …

Yeast is indispensable in winemaking. It is only through the presence of yeast that grape juice can transform into wine. While yeast may be considered the protagonist of winemaking, its stage of activity is not limited to the period of alcoholic fermentat …

Overview In our previous article “Is Orange Wine Natural Wine?”, we explored the definition, origins, and relationship between orange wine and natural wine. This article provides a detailed examination of orange wine from a winemaking perspective. This ar …

There is a wine defect that is currently attracting attention. It is smoke taint. Smoke taint is a defect that occurs when grapes are exposed to smoke. In tasting, it is described with nuances such as “smoky,” “burnt rubber,” “bacon,” “disinfectant,” and …

Light-struck flavor, or “nikkoushuu” in Japanese. The name might evoke images of freshly laundered white sheets fluttering under a clear blue sky, or the pleasant scent of sunshine when wrapped in those sheets. Unfortunately, that is not what this term re …

Are you familiar with the term “petri notes”? This is a specialized term frequently used in wine tasting, particularly when evaluating aged Riesling wines. Experienced tasters can sometimes identify a wine’s grape variety as Riesling the moment they detec …

Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is an oenological technique actively employed to reduce wine acidity and impart distinctive aromatic characteristics and nuances. MLF represents one of the microbial-mediated approaches in winemaking, and its appeal as a more …

Many people who study wine have encountered the term “VA” at some point. Initially, the meaning of this abbreviation may not be immediately clear. VA stands for Volatile Acid, which translates to “volatile acidity” in Japanese. More precisely, volatile ac …

Wine occasionally develops unpleasant odors, defects, or off-flavors—unwelcome, sometimes distinctly repulsive aromas. Among the various unpleasant odors found in wine, “reduction” stands out as one of the most representative. Without fear of misunderstan …