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how
do you like your wine?
brawny:
hard
and intense wines with raw, woody flavors
dumb:
a phase young wines undergo when their flavors are undeveloped
fat:
full-bodied wines that give a "fat" impression on the palate
herbaceous:
wines with the taste and smell of herbs
meaty:
red
wines with plenty of concentration; sometimes with a slight
aroma of cooked meat
rustic:
wines made by old-fashioned methods or tasting like wines
made in an earlier era
toasty:
a
flavor derived from the oak barrels in which wines are aged
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archaeobotany
- the study of ancient plant
remains, including pollen, seeds, leaves, fruits, etc. to shed light
on the environment of an archaeological site, human land-use, and diet.
calcium tartrate - the insoluble calcium
salt of tartaric acid, which readily forms in a calcareous (limestone)
geological terrain and accumulates inside ancient wine vessels.
canonical - established or authorized.
cylinder seals - incised cylinders that
were rolled over a wet clay tablet or the stopper of a jar; the designs
left on the clay might mark the identity of the owner or the jar's contents
and origins (much like a modern wine bottle label).
Elam - ancient kingdom of lower Mesopotamia,
located in the lowlands and mountains of the southern Zagros, at the
head of the Persian Gulf.
entrepôt - major center for the exchange
of goods.
fermentation - the conversion of sugar
to alcohol and carbon dioxide by the action of yeast microorganisms.
in situ - literally, "in position." In
archaeological terminology, it refers to an artifact, architectural
feature or other find that has been excavated or exposed in its original,
ancient context.
Levant - the region of the Middle East that extends along
the Eastern Mediterranean, including the coastal and inland regions
of modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank and Gaza.
Noah
hypothesis
- the theory that the wild Eurasian grapevine was taken into cultivation
and eventually developed as our domesticated type in only one region
of the world (e.g., the Caucasus Mountains). The domesticated plant
would then have been transplanted elsewhere—to Greece, Italy and
France, and most recently, California and New Zealand. The hypothesis
takes its name from the patriarch, Noah, who is said to have planted
a vineyard on Mount Ararat after the flood. (Genesis 9).
organic - containing compounds principally
made up of carbon and hydrogen, the building blocks of living organisms.
pips - another term for the seeds inside
grapes.
psychotropic - acting on the mind
tartaric acid - the principal acid of grapes
and wine, composed of four carbon, four oxygen and six hydrogen atoms.
It occurs naturally in large amounts only in grapes.
transplantation - a horticultural method
in which cuttings or roots of a parent plant are physically moved to
another location and re-rooted or grafted to another plant. In this
way, the same genetic clones with desirable characteristics (whether
plant hardiness and disease resistance or fruit size, juiciness and
taste) can be regenerated for thousands of years.
viniculture - the science and art of cultivating,
tending and transplanting grapevines, especially to achieve the best
balance of sugar, acidity, alcohol, and other constituents of the grape
in making wine. Viticulture refers to grape horticulture in general,
in which grapes are selected and cultivated for eating, making raisins,
etc.
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Glossary