D
- Dégorgement
- The disgorging or removal of sediment from bottles that results from secondary fermentation.
- Délestage
- French term for racking with the purpose of removing harsh tannins from the wine in the form of grape seeds. In this process the wine is drained into a secondary vessel, allowing the cap to settle to a bottom and loosen the seeds that are trapped in the pulps. As the wine drains, a filter captures the seeds and removes them from the wine. The wine is then returned the first vessel.
- Demi-muid
- A large oak barrel that holds 159 gallons (600 liters). In between the petit foudre and the barrique.
- Demi-sec
- Moderately sweet to medium sweet sparkling wines.
- Depth filtration
- A means of filtering a wine that takes solely inside filtration medium, such as a kieselguhr, rotary drum vacuum or a frame filter.
- Devatting
- The process of separating red must from pomace, which can happen before or after fermentation.
- Doble pasta
- Spanish winemaking term describing a wine that is macerated with double the normal ratio of grape skins to juice. This is achieved by the winemaker bleeding off and disposing of extra juice in order to increase the ratio of grape skin and concentration of phenolic compounds.
- Doppelstück
- A German oak barrel that holds 635 gallons (2,400 liters).
- Doux
- The French word for sweet. Usually refers to the sweetest category of wines.
- Drawing off
- see Devatting.
- Dry
- Wines with zero or very low levels of residual sugar. The opposite of sweet, except in sparkling wines, where dry means sweet.
Read more about this topic: Glossary Of Winemaking Terms