Glossary of Winemaking Terms - C

C

Cap

The layer of grape skins that are forced by rising carbon dioxide gas to the top of the fermentation vessel during cuvaison.

Carbonic acid

Carbon dioxide gas dissolved in the water content of wine. It is a volatile acid that held in equilibrium with the dissolved carbon dioxide gas and can not be isolated in a pure form.

Carbonic gas

A natural by product of the fermentation process in which yeast cells convert sugar into nearly equal parts alcohol and carbonic gas. While a small amount stays presence in the wine as carbonic acid, most of the gas will rise to the surface of the fermentation vessel and attempt to escape into the air. If the fermentation vessel is closed (such as a sealed wine bottle used to make sparkling wine), the gas will dissolve into the wine and when released will make the wine sparkling.

Carbonic maceration

A winemaking practice of fermenting whole grapes that have not been crushed.

Casein

A fining agent derived from a milk protein.

Cellaring

To age wine for the purpose of improvement or storage.

Centrifugal filtration

The process of separating unwanted particles (such as dead yeast cells or fining agents) from the wine by use of centrifugal force.

Ceramic filtration

A filtration process of the wine that utilizes perlite and is able to fine the wine to an ultrafine degree.

Chaptalization

A winemaking process where sugar is added to the must to increase the alcohol content in the fermented wine. This is often done when grapes have not ripened adequately.

Charmat process

The Charmat or bulk process is a method where sparkling wines receive their secondary fermentation in large tanks, rather than individual bottles as seen in Méthode champenoise.

Clarification

A winemaking process involving the fining and filtration of wine to remove suspended solids and reduce turbidity.

Cold stabilization

A winemaking process where wine is chilled to near freezing temperatures for several weeks to encourage the precipitation of tartrate crystals.

Cork

A wine bottle stopper made from the thick outer bark of the cork oak tree.

Cork taint

A type of wine fault describing undesirable aromas and flavors in wine often attributed to mold growth on chlorine bleached corks.

Crossflow filtration

A highspeed form of microfiltration that has the wine flow across a membrane filter rather than through it.

Crown-cap

A beer bottle cap used as a temporary closure for a sparkling wine as it undergoes as secondary fermentation.

Crush

After harvest, and prior to pressing, grape are "crushed" or broken up so that the juice is released and allowed to macerate with the skins prior to and during fermentation. In viticultural terms, "Crush" is used as a synonym for harvest time.

Cut

A blending term used to refer to either blending a wine with one distinct characteristic (such as high acidity) into a wine that currently dominated by the opposite characteristic (such as low acidity). It can also mean blending a red wine with a white wine in order to make a rosé. Cutting may also refer to the illegal practice of diluting a wine with water. The French term tailles or "cut" refers to the point during pressing when the quality of the grape juices degrades. The first tailles is the free-run juice followed by successive pressing.

Cuve

A large vat used for fermentation.

Cuve Close

Alternative name for the Charmat method of sparkling wine production.

Cuvée

A wine blended from several vats or batches, or from a selected vat. Also used in Champagne to denote the juice from the first pressing of a batch of grapes.