Glossary of Winemaking Terms - T

T

Tannin

Phenolic compound that give wine a bitter, dry, or puckery feeling in the mouth.

Tartaric acid

An important acid found in grapes that increases (decreases?)during the veraison period.

Tartrates

Crystalline deposits of the tartaric acids that precipitate out of the wine over time or through exposure to cold temperatures such as the process of cold stabilization.

TCA

An abbreviation for trichloroanisole which is the prime cause of wines developing the wine fault of cork taint.

Terpene

A class of unsaturated hydrocarbons that are responsible for certain aromas that are characteristic of a grape variety such as the petrol notes of mature Riesling or the floral aromas of Muscats.

Téte de Cuvée

The juice that comes from the very first pressing of the grapes. After the free run juice, this is the highest quality juice with the best balance of phenols, sugars and acids.

Toast

The charring of the wine staves during cask manufacture or rejuvenation.

Topping

The process of filling the headspace that is created inside a barrel through wine evaporation into the barrel wood.

Total acidity

The total amount of acidity (Tartaric, latic, malic, etc) in a wine as measured in grams per liter.

Transfer method

A method of sparkling wine production where a wine undergoes normal secondary fermentation in the bottle but then after the bottles are open, its contents transferred to a tank where they are filtered and then rebottled in small "splits" or large format size bottles. Also known as transvasage.

Tun

A wine cask that holds approximately, two butts, or 252 U.S. gallons.