Hi Bill,

There's also:

Piquette: Boisson domestique que fabriquaient jadis les vignerons pour leur
consommation personnelle en remettant de l'eau et du sucre sur les marcs de
fond de cuve après l'écoulement du vin. Face à la surproduction viticole,
cette pratique est interdite en France depuis 1945 et en Europe par les
règlements communautaires.

This is a term my brother in law (he's from the Bordeaux region of France)
explained to me when we tasted a really bad red wine at the "Chambly beer
and wine tasting festival" last month. The owner told us it was a "fruity"
wine. P Tated more like water glogged around the bottom of an oak barrel.
Piquette!

Louise)


"Bill McCarty" > wrote in message
...
> The Roman legions certainly brought vines into France Already in
> Roman times the cool northern Burgundy region had been identified as
> ideally suited to production of fine quality wines. and the warmer
> southern regions ideally suited for lesser quality, but higher quantity
> of wine. With wines being made in France for a few thousand years,
> the French have developed an entire vocabulary used to describe
> wines. Many of their terms are used world wide by wine growers and wine
> writers. Below is a list of terms you may have come across and which
> may have puzzled or intimidated you. Now your days of puzzlement or
> intimidation are over ! . You can even drop a few fancy terms into your
> own conversation. Enjoy !
>
> The first terms are concerned with how a wine looks at first glance:
>
> Le Voir. seeing.
> La Robe. refers to the general way the wine comes across to
> the viewer from 4 visual aspects:
> Limpidité. limpidity or clarity
> Brillant brilliance
> Teintes colors
> Viscosité viscosity or surface tension.
>
> Limpidity can be further qualified as follows:
> claire light
> faible weak
> légère slight
> faneé faded
> tendre delicate
> pure clear
> net clean
> cristalline crystal clear
> diaphane transparent
> chatoyante iridescent
> bien habillee well dressed
> mal habillee poorly dressed
> foncée dark
> terne dull
> vive vivid
> riche rich
> chargée too colored
> voilée cloudy
> louche cloudy
> borrue murky
> plombée livid
> bleuatre off color, bluish
> grisatre off color, greyish
> tuilée off color, brick like
> opalescent resembling an opal
>
> Here's a range of tints for white, red and rosé wines:
> Vins blancs white wines
> jaune clair light yellow
> jaune serin canary yellow
> jaune d'or golden
> jaune paille straw colored
> jaune ambré amber colored
>
> Vins rouges red wines
> rubis ruby red
> franc red
> grenat garnet
> pourpre crimson
> violacé purple
>
> Vins rosés rosé wines
> oeil-de-perdrix brilliant pale red
> rosé vif brilliant pink
> pelure d'oignon onion skin pink
> tuile tile like pink
> faible pale pink
> gris palest pink
>
> More important than appearance is smell. Below are some
> terms associated with the odor of wine
>
> Odors are often divided into two categories, which are not easily
> distinguished:
> A. L'arôme fragrance
> B. Le Bouquet bouquet
>
> The following terms are often used to describe odor
> fruité with the odor of different fruits, not merely grapes.
> floral with the odor of flowers
> framboisé suggesting raspberries
> fin refined
> parfumé perfumed
> truffé full
> delure wide awake
> subtil subtle
> riche rich
> il a du nez has "nose"
> il a du panache has style
> court insufficient
> vulgaire dime store scent
> ingrat unpleasant
> eteint faded
> flétri withered
> éventé flat
> désagréable unpalatable
> il sent le mercaptan repellent
> fétide rotten egg odor
>
> Getting down to the taste, there are only four tastes the human tongue
> can respond to:
> doux or sucré sweetness
> salé saltiness
> l'acide acidity
> l'amer bitterness
>
> Other terms used to describe the taste of wine:
> léger light
> moelleux mellow
> huileux oily, slick
> thermique hot with alcohol
> fort strong
> chaud warm
> avoir du feu with fire
> capiteux goes to the head
> spiriteux stronger than normal
> vineux normal for wine
> étoffé full bodied
> généreux strong
> racé a thoroughbred
> fortifié with added alcohol
> mou soft
> pauvre poor
> plat flat
> flasque flabby
> maché over exposed , evaporated
> de la chair has meat on the bones
> charnu solid, meaty
> corsé full bodied
> ferme firm
> de la mche seems chewable
> puissant powerful
> gras fat
> musclé robust
> nourri well fed
> vigoreux vigorous
> maigre meager
> étriqué skimpy
> mince thin
> efflanqué lanky
> mal bti poorly made
> décharné scrawny
> creux empty
> coulant flowing
> friand appetizing
> fondu mellow
> glissant smooth
> rond well balanced
> gouleyant glutton making
> fourré fur lined
> velouté velvety
> souple supple
> enjoué sprightly
> savoreux with gusto
> chantant singing
> suave bland
> plein de sève full of sap
> aigrelet sourish
> aigre sour
> dur harsh
> rude rough
> mordant biting
> grossier coarse
> commun everyday
> rustre unpolished
> muet says nothing
> piquant tartly tickling
> piqué excessively acid
> passé too old
> usé exhausted
> rance rancid
> tourné turned to vinegar
> madérisé oxidized
>
>
> Bon Appetit.
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