Cabernet Franc

This fine red wine grape (which should not be confused with the Cabernet-Sauvignon q.v.)
is the second most important species used in the Medoc and has for synonyms : – Gros Cabernet, Grosse Vidure, Cabernet Gris, Gros Bouschet, Petit-Fer, as well as many other names besides. It makes a similar wine to the Cabernet-Sauvignon, but it is a little less coloured and has a little less aroma, while the grape is larger and matures slower.

Cabernet Sauvignon

This great red grape species for all the fine wines of the Medoc also goes by the name of Petit-Cabernet, Petit Vidure, Petit Bouschet, Bouschet-Sauvignon, as well as many others. A wine made with the Cabernet Sauvignon should not be bottled until one or two years after other species. The vine is susceptible to oidium and anthracnose; less to mildew.
Cabinet
Also called Kabinettwein. The word became fashionable when growers used to set aside certain fine wines from their vineyards for their own private Kabinett. The word then became more and more loosely used until it lost its true meaning.
Cacao
Creme de – An extremely syrupy liqueur with a chocolate flavour, which it is made with. It used to be drunk in the Far East with a layer of cream on the top.
Cadaujac
A village/commune 8 miles south of Bordeaux, near Villenave-d’Ornon. The principal vineyard is Chateau Bouscaut
Cadillac
A village/commune 38 kilometres south of Bordeaux, near Loupiac, and making a wine similar to, but less fine than, Sainte Croix-du-Mont and with the right to be called Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux. Some red is also made.
Cadiz
This town was occupied by the Phoenicians 1000 years B.C., and later it was called Gades, which was the Latin translation of the name Gadir. Gadiz is the important port town in the very south of Spain from which all sherry is shipped.

A few shippers have their bodegas there instead of Jerez and there are many vineyards in the vicinity.
Caecuban Wine

A wine much drunk in ancient Roman times and particularly praised by Horace.
Cagliari
A town on the gulf of Cagliari in the very south of Sardinia around which the Campidano wines are made.
Cahors
A dark red, almost black, wine is made in the district which is called Cahors.

Caillou, Chateau

A second classified growth of Sauternes in the commune of Barsac and very close to Chateau Climens.
Calabria
A province right in the very south (it forms the toe part) of Italy which makes much wine. It is mostly red. One of the better known reds is Lacrima di Castrovillari, produced in the hilly and mountainous region south of Mt. Pollino and towards the Ionnia Sea. Towards the Tyrrhenian coast is made a dessert wine, the Moscato of Cosenza, sometimes called Moscato Calabraise. Some 45 miles further south is a good red wine called Savuto, recommended not to be drunk until it has two or three years to its credit. Then, on the Gulf of Taranti is Ciro di Calabria, a powerful red wine, and, finally, Greco di Gerace, made from the Greco grape whose origins date back to the foundation of the ancient Greek colony of Locris.
Calamich (Italian)

Also known as Mosto Cotto. This is boiled down grape must used a lot in Sicily for making Marsala.
Calcium Sulphate

See Gypsum.
Caldaro, Lago di

A noted red wine in Tridentine Venetia in the north of Italy.
California
Roughly speaking, the vast area given up to growing Californian wines can be said to stretch from the Napa Valley, north of San Francisco, right down along the coast, past Los Angeles, to San Diego on the Mexican border. Wine making here was introduced by the early Spanish missionaries.

The main districts are : Southern California, mainly around Los Angeles and San Bernardino ; the Central Valley, including Fresno, Madera and Tulare ; the North Coast Counties in the general neighbourhood of San Francisco Bay and comprising the counties of Napa, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Santa Clara. Here are produced the best red and white table wines of the State. Almost every grape species from Europe has been tried, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel (Zierfandler is well known in Austria, a member of the Veltliner white grape family), Pinot Noir, Gamay, Grignolini, Barbera, Petite Sirah, Nebbiolo, Valdepenas, Malvasia, Carignane, and many, many others.
Calon-Segur, Chateau

This third classified growth of the Medoc is particularly well known in England and is one of the largest properties of the Medoc. Calon was the principal fief of the chieftain of Lesparre, and in 1157 one of the family became Monseigneur de Calon, Bishop of Poitiers. Saint Estephe was born in a house belonging to the Calon’s and the commune of St. Estephe was, until the 18th century, known as St. Estephe-de-Calon. When the Marquis de Segur married into the family, the Chateau became Calon-Segur.
Caluso
A very rare vin de paille Italian wine made in the zone of Caluso on the way from the Val d’Aosta to Turin. Called in Italian a possito wine, it is made with the Erbaluce grape. A sweet, dessert type drink.
Calvados
A departement in the north of France, which has given its name to an apple jack or cider distilled into eau de vie.
Calvi
A village in the north of Corsica around which a certain amount of wine (all colours) is made.

Camara de Lobos

A village and district on the southern part of Madeira and to the west of Funchal Bay, where some of the finest wine is made. It means wolves’ lair.
Camarsac
A hamlet/commune 11 miles east of Bordeaux, making rather ordinary wines with the exception of Chateau du Camarsac, which originally was a fortress built with the help of the Black Prince. It was rebuilt in 1407 by the Seigneur of Canteloup under the protection of Henry IV of England.
Camblanes
A little village/commune, 11 miles S. E. of Bordeaux, making tolerable red and less good white wines called Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux. Among other chateaux it possesses a Chateau Lafitte and a Chateau Latour.
Camden Park

The place just outside Sydney in New South Wales, where James Busby (q.v.) planted the huge collection of vines which he brought out from England and which formed the basis of the encepagement of Australia’s wine industry.
Camensac
A fifth classified growth of the Medoc which was formerly owned by the Popp family and is now owned by H. Cuvelier et Fils, who also own Chateau Le Crock. Chateau Camensac.

Campania
That province of Italy to the south of Latium and Rome which contains Naples, the Gulf of Naples and Salerno. It is the very home of Central Italian winemaking. Some of these are : Conca, Gragnano, Ravello, Creco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino and Taurasi. But this is to leave out those four wines which have so stimulated the imagination : Capri, Falerno, Vesuvio and Lacrima Christi (all q.v.).
Campbeltown Malts

Malt whiskies produced in the distilleries in and around Campbeltown in the Mull of Kintyre.

Cana
A wine district in Palestine noted for its association with Christ’s wine making miracle at the marriage feast of Cana.

Canada
About 90 per cent. of such wine as is produced is made in the Niagara Peninsula and the remainder in the Okanagen Valley of British Columbia, which two regions are the only ones with climates similar to the Rhine, Burgundy and Champagne areas. The Canadians claim now to be making fair table wines and sparkling wines.
Canary Wines

The suddenness and completeness with which these wines have disappeared from the Englishman’s table is surprising. Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were by no means the only ones who mention it, for Philip Massinger in his comedy The City Madame says : All the conduits spouting canary sack. The wine’s position in England in the 18th century can be likened to Spanish Chablis, Australian Burgundy or South African sherry in the 20th century. There were those who thought it a substitute for sherry sacke and as good ; those who thought it a substitute but less good ; and those who looked on it (as Shakespeare appears to have done) as an entirely different drink. The best description of its taste comes from Tobias Venner, who in 1620 in his Via Recta says : Canarie wine is of some termed a Sacke, with this adjunct-sweete ; but yet very improperly for it is not so white in colour as sack, nor so thin in substance. In the Anglo-Spanish dictionaries of the beginning of the 18th century sack is translated as “vino de Canarias,” which would make it seem that there was Canary sack, Xeres sack and Malaga sack. Imports to Great Britain, formerly great, started dropping in the middle of the 18th century and by 1785 had fallen as low as 250 hogsheads. They went up in the first years of the 19th century to 4,000 hogsheads. Then between 1850 and 1870 it entirely disappeared when the vineyards were wiped out by oidium.
Canasta. (Spanish)

The name given to the basket into which the harvesters put the cut grapes, in contra-distinction to the heavier tineta, or wooden box with a shoulder strap.
Canocazo
The name of a grape (also called the Mollar Blanco) used on albariza (q.v.) soil around Jerez.

Canon, Chateau

One of the great wines of St. Emilion, less than a mile from the even more famous Chateau Cheval Blanc and as near to Ausone. The Chateau usually goes by the name of Canon-Saint-Emilion. There is one other minor Chateau Canon and still three more with another name tacked on.
Canon-la-Gaffeliere, Chateau

One of the first growths of St. Emilion.
Cantemerle, Chateau

A fifth classified growth of the Medoc in the commune of Macau.
Cantenac
Although there is a small village of Cantenac, it is the commune (of 1,500 hectares) which is so famous, for it is one of the most important in the Medoc. It is some 15 miles north of Bordeaux and is due south of and touching the great commune of Margaux. Cantenac contains seven of the classified chateaux and many almost equally distinguished ones which are called Crus Bourgeois Superieurs.
Cantenac-Brown, Chateau

A third classified growth of the Medoc, in the Cantenac commune.
Canzem
See Kanzem.
Capataz. (Spanish)

Foreman or steward. Often used to denote the head of a bodega.
Capillaire
A syrup flavoured with orange flower water and used formerly to sweeten punches and even port.
Capri
lt is physically impossible that the millions of bottles of white wine sold the world over as Capri can have been made in vineyards of Capri and Anacapri.

The name has become a generic one and most of what is sold as Capri is grown on the large island of Ischia and in other vineyards of Compania, in which province the island is situated. A true Capri should be made with the Greco or Fiano grapes, be a pale yellow straw colour, medium dry and with a fragrant bouquet.
Capsules and Capsuling

A capsule is a protection for wine and spirit bottles, shaped to cover the exposed surface of the cork and from half-an-inch to 2 inches down the neck. In some instances the capsule is there 100 per cent. for protection, however, it is more often an embellishment or part of the general get up of the whole bottle to give it additional attractiveness. There are three main types of capsule:

1. Wax. This is, when used for vintage port, nearly always black· and would probably account for 90 per cent. of the wax capsules used in Britain today. After the bottle has been dipped in the hot wax, the name of the shipper and the vintage will usually be embossed on the end. Technically, there is nothing to prevent any colour of wax being used.

· 2. The lead or tinfoil capsule. These can be of any colour and degree of gloss the merchant chooses.

If he gives a sufficiently large order he can have his name or trade mark embossed on the capsule at an extremely small extra cost. If the capsuling is to be done by hand (and the practised cellar worker can do as good a job this way as can the machine) a strong, thin, hard cord is fixed to a nail on the wall and the loosely capsuled bottle is briskly drawn through two loops of the cord.

Then there is the manually operated machine by which a handle is pressed which causes pieces of rubber to press the capsule around the bottle.

If a firm has a name embossed on the side of the capsule, care must be taken to see that the folds of the tightened capsule have not gone over the name.

Electrically driven machines consist of rapidly rotating cones ; hence, if these are too tight the embossed name will be spoiled.

3. Plastic. The latest trend is the capsule of plastic which is· soaked in water to render it pliable. It is then placed on the neck of the bottle and shrunk to fit snugly.

Carafe
A French word from the Italian caraffa, probably in turn from the Arabic gharafa, to draw or lift water. So far as wine is concerned, it signified an open measure of wine, of no determined quantity. In practice, in England small carafe contains more than third and less than a half bottle, and a large carafe around three-quarters.
Caraway Seed

From the umbelliferous plant Carum carvi. Used to flavour kummel liqueurs.
Carbonnieux, Chateau

This magnificent chateau, generally called the ler des Grandes Graves, used to belong until the 19th century to the Benedictine monks of Sainte-Croix. Both white and red wines are made here.
Carcavellos. Also Calcavella

A sweet Muscatel wine made around Lisbon which used to be very popular in England in the 18th century.
Carema
An Italian, Piedmont red wine made in a very restricted area in the upper Canavese.
Carignane. Or Carignan

A red wine grape of Southern France making a rather ordinary wine.
Carinena
A sweet white wine made around Saragossa (Spain).
Carlowitz
A wine from the centre of the old Austrian Empire which in the 19th century was quite popular in England.
Carrascal
A vineyard area in the Jerez district where fine sherries are produced.
Cartier
Inventor of the hydrometer bearing his name which was officially adopted by the French Government.
Casein
Is the principal protein of milk and is available as a powder made from skim milk by precipitation with acid, washing, draining and drying. It is insoluble in acids and soluble in alkalis. Normal casein is insoluble in water, but a water soluble modified casein is available. When the casein solution is added to wine, the acidity of the latter neutralises the alkali of the solvent and precipitates the casein as a flocculent curd.
Casel
See Kasel.
Cask
Apparently from the French casque, meaning a headpiece. The general term for a wooden vessel of cylindrical form, usually bulging in the middle, formed of curved staves bound together by iron hoops.
Casse
From the French casser, to break ; a wine illness. The French distinguish three sorts of casse, brune, bleue and blanche. The general treatment in Europe is aeration in the presence of a moderate concentration of SO2
Cassis. (Wine)

A potent Cotes de Provence wine made between Marseille and Toulon.
Cassis. (Cordial)

The French for blackcurrant. Dijon is the home of most cassis making, and a potent liqueur is also made. Vin blanc cassis, an aperitif of 4/5 dry white wine and 1/5 cassis liqueur, is one of France’s best drinks.
Castellano
A grape grown in the sandy soils of the Jerez district from which a low quality wine is made.

Castelli Romani

The generic name given to all the white table wines (made with the Trebbiano and Bonvino grapes) made on the volcanic hills south-east of Rome in the districts of Frascati, Colonna, Marino and the Alban Hills.
Castillon – de – Castets

A tiny red and white very ordinary wine- making hamlet near Auros, south of Bordeaux.
Castres
A small hamlet/commune 23 km. south-south-east of Bordeaux in the Graves.
Catalonia
A large northerly wine making province of Spain, making mostly cheap red wine, of which, in England, Tarragona is the best known.

Catawba
The name of a grape (Vitis labrusca variety) much used in America for making sparkling wine. It makes a still wine with a slightly foxy taste which goes off after storage in wood. Greatly publicised by Longfellow’s poem (q.v.).
Catullus (87 – 54 B.C.)

A Roman poet who has written several great lines on wine.
Caudle
From the Old French “ chaudel”, a hot drink. It is a warm drink of thin gruel mixed with wine or ale, sweetened or spiced. It used to be given to sick people; especially women in childbirth.
Cawarra
A well-known Australian vineyard district on the Upper Paterson river.

Catavino
A large, generous, egg-shaped glass used in bodegas for serving sherry.
Cellar
From the Latin cellarium, a receptacle for food. In the wine trade, usually used in the plural – an underground place where the wine is stored.
Cepage
The French word for vine stock.
Castelnau
A commune/village south of Moulis and 28 km. north of Bordeaux producing rather ordinary red wines with the right to be called Haut Medoc .
Cerons
A village/commune some 20 miles south of Bordeaux, near the town of Podensac and adjoining the Barsac area. It makes a rather sweet white Graves. The name is often seen on English wine merchants’ lists.
Certan, Chateau.

Not to be confused with Vieux Chateau Certan(q.v.), this small first growth Pomerol vineyard produces, of fine red wine.
Cette
Now called Sete and with a population of 33,000, this seaport in the Herault departement,
on the Mediterranean, for centuries has had the reputation of being the place where much sophistication of wine takes place. Nowadays a lot of vermouth is made there.
Chablis.
A pale lemon yellow, very dry, white wine made around the town (1,600 inhabitants, 12 miles from Auxerre) of the same name in the Yonne departement of France. Some of the vineyards are Les Preuses, Vaudesir, La Moutonne, Grenouilles, Bougros, Les Clos, Blanchots, Valmur, Chapelot, Mont de Milieu.The vine used is the Pinot Blanc, which is called the Beaunois in Chablis.
Chagny
The town (4,600 inhabitants, south of Beaune) where the Cote d’Or ends. The commune of the same name makes a good deal of fair red and white wines.
Chai
A French word meaning shop or storage place for wines or spirits on the ground level, used instead of a cellar. But the word almost entirely applies to this meaning with special reference to Bordeaux.
Chaintre
A commune in the Macon area making a tete de cuvee dry white wine.

Chalons-sur-Marne
A large town south of Reims on the fringe of the champagne area.

Chalon-sur-Saone
The centre of the Cote Chalonnaise and between the Cote d’Or and the Maconnais. A large amount of good reliable red and white wine is made around the town.
Chambertin
A vineyard in the commune of Gevrey-Chambertin near the northern end of the Cote de Niuts, making one of the most renowned wines of all Burgundy. The adjoining vineyard of Clos-de-Beze enjoys, equal rank and is allowed to be called Chambertin.
Chambery.
A town in the Savoie departement of France, which is known for a very dry, scented vermouth.
Chambolle-Musigny.
A noted wine commune in the Cote de Nuits. Within its borders are the great vineyards of : Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Les Cras, Les Fuees, Les Noirots, Les Sentiers, Les Charmes, Les Baudes.
Chambrer
French verb meaning to leave a wine in a room warmer than the temperature that the wine is already is, to prepare it for drinking. There are many varying opinions as to whether it is less bad to serve the wine too cold than to warm it suddenly. But wine, when warmed, definitely gives out more of its aroma than when it is cold, and so, unless the artificial heating is very intense, it may well be better to savour the wine in its not quite perfect state, than to sit for hours hand-warming it while the food planned to accompany the wine gets cold.
Champagne
Dom Perignon, cellarkeeper to the Abbey of Hautvillers between Reims and Epernay, may in the middle of the 17th century have stumbled across some new (then) methods of how to control fermentation, but, nevertheless, Louis XIV did not drink the sparkling wine that we associate with champagne today. The drink gets its name from an ancient province of North France, situated to the east of Paris. It is the most concentrated vine district of France, yet represents perhaps some 1 per cent. to 2 per cent. of the area given up in this country to vine cultivation.To make champagne the grapes, red and white, are gathered in late September and brought in baskets to the press house. They are weighed, mainly because the peasants who grow and sell the grapes to the big champagne houses are paid by weight of grapes supplied. They then go into large wine presses which hold four tons of grapes. They are crushed and yield 440 gallons of must. Within a short while the first fermentation takes place. Then, after several months, when this has been completed and the wine has fallen comparatively bright, experienced tasters blend the wines of various growths and they make up a cuvee. Here is the art of champagne. If the year has been an excellent one, only the wines of that year are used. In less good years, a nonvintage wine will be made using wines of previous years to improve the strength and the flavour of the blend. Once the blending has been done, the wine is bottled and the bottles descend into the vast chalk underground cellars where a second fermentation in bottle takes place. The ferments now work on such sugar as has remained in the wine and transform it into alcohol and carbonic gas.

Some months later, the bottles are placed neck downwards in tilted racks and each day for several months cellarmen perform the remuage, which consists of shaking and tilting the bottle gradually more vertically until at last all the sediment has been thrown on to the first cork, which cork has been secured by an agrafe or iron clip. After some three months of this daily operation, the champagne is removed from the pupitres and stood upside down, where it may remain for 6 months, a year, or conceivably 15 years, to mature in a cool and even temperature.

When the champagne is needed for shipment it is brought up to ground-floor level and (still upside down) placed in a refrigerating unit, where just one inch of wine in the neck, touching the cork, is frozen solid. The agrafe is undone, out flies the cork and the inch of ice; then a tiny dosage of sugared champagne is added to replace what has gone. Then the final cork is put on and now wired into place. It is to be noted that a few firms still prefer not to ice the neck as described, and employ special craftsmen to perform this intricate task as was done in the old days. According to the amount of sugar in the dosage the champagne will be

doux,

demi-doux, see,

extra sec, or brut (q.v.).

Both white and black grapes go to making champagne ; the whites give it finesse and the reds substance. For the reds it is the Pinot Noir, which is used in the Montagne de Reims and VaIIee de la Marne, and the Pinot Meunier, used in secondary regions among which is the Coteaux de Montmort and the Vallees de I’Ardre and de ]a Vesle.

In the Cote des Blancs, the Chardonnay is used, save in a narrow strip between Vertus and Bergeres-les-Vertus, where the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay are grown together.

Concerning the proportion of red grapes to white, each house has its own ideas, but it would not be a grave error to state that it is often 60 per cent. red to 40 per cent. white. Of the Montagne de Reims, the foremost vineyard names are Verzy, Louvois, Sillery, Verzenay and Beaumont.

Between the Montagne and the Valley of the Marne are the districts of Bouzy and Ambonnay.
In the Valley of the Marne come Ay, Hautvillers (home of Dom Perignon), Mareuil, Dizy and Cumieres.

In the Cote des Blancs, the foremost districts are : Avize, Cramant, Oger and Mesnil. Then the white grapes give way as stated at Vertus where black and white lie together.

Australia, South Africa, Spain, Portugal and California, to mention only a few countries, all produce a sparkling wine which they sell at home labelled as Champagne.

The Italians call their sparkling wines spumante and the Germans sekt. In France, if other districts want to make and market a sparkling wine they call it by the name of the district, and if it has been made in the way described above they put Methode Champenoise on the label.
Champagne, Fine

The name often given to very fine Cognac brandy. In France it must by law come from the champagne or petite champagne areas.
Champagne, Grande, Petite

The vineyards of the Cognac (q.v.) district are divided into 6 classes or areas. First is Grande Champagne, to the south of the town of Cognac ; then, Petite Champagne, to the south of that, with Jarnac as its centre.

Champans, Les

A vineyard of VoInay entitled to put premier cru on the label.
Champigny
-A red or rose Anjou-Saumur wine, light and fresh. Production small.
Chantepleure
Sings and cries”. A tap as used for casks of wine. Also a cone-shaped funnel with a long tube having several holes pierced in it and used to pour wine from one cask to another.

Chaptalisation
The word comes from Jean Antoine Chaptal, 1756-1832, who introduced the practice of adding sugar to wines in poor vintages. Called also le sucrage, the practice of adding sugar to the must not only adds to the alcoholic strength, but increases the glycerine content and other secondary products in wine which have a considerable influence on its aroma. To raise by one degree of alcohol a hectolitre of wine, one-and three-quarters kilos of sugar must be added. But the practice of chaptalisation is strictly governed by the Code du Vin.

Those who wish to add sugar must make a declaration at least 3 days before the vintage time, and the maximum that can be added is 9 kilogrammes per 3 hectolitres or 200 kilogrammes per hectare of vine in production. Chaptalisation of the premier cuvee is forbidden in Aix, Nimes, Montpellier, Toulouse, Agen, Pan, Bordeaux and Algeria, though in certain circumstances the Minister of Agriculture can, on receiving official local notification, waive this. The form which a grower must fill in if he wishes to sugar his wines is laid down by the Code du Vin and must give his name, address and profession ; the number of acres he wants to sugar; the total number of acres he has in vineyards ; and, if the vines are ungrafted hybrids, their exact name if they were planted before 1929. If after, it is forbidden to sugar them. The sugar to be used is white. crystallised. Others are forbidden.
Chardonnay
A species of white grape used in the Burgundy and Champagne districts. Also called the Pinot Chardonnay.
Charente
That departement of France which contains the town of Cognac and where Cognac is made.

Charlemagne
This 8th century emperor built himself a castle at Worms and also at Ingelheim. He did a great deal to promote, viticulture in his domaines.
Charmes, Les

A first growth (there are 30 principal owners) of Meursault in the Cote de Beaune, Burgundy.

Charmes-Chambertin.
A famous vineyard of Gevrey-Chambertin. Less good than Le Chambertin.

Charneco
A kind of Portuguese wine mentioned by Shakespeare and many others. Named after a village near Lisbon.
Charnu. (French.)

Literally, fleshy. When applied to wines it means that they are fat and full.
Chassagne-Montrachet
A commune in the Cote de Beaune which contains part of the famous white wine vineyards of Le Montrachet and Batard Montrachet. Other white wine vineyards are : Les Ruchottes, Cailleret, Morgeot, Criots-Batard-Montrachet. But the commune also makes fine red wines. Some vineyards : Clos St. Jean, Les Boudriottes, La Maltroie.
Chasselas
The name of a (lesser so far as wine-making is concerned) grape species which is called the Gutedel in Germany and the Fendant Blanc in Switzerland. Some of the lesser Pouilly-sur-Loire wines are made with this grape.
Chatain

A first growth Chablis vineyard ; made around the town of Chablis.

Chateau
-French for a castle. So far as the word goes for wine, it is used mainly in the Gironde to denote vineyards of an estate large or small.
Chateau Bottled

Across the labels of clarets which have been so treated will be the words Mis en bouteilles au Chateau or Mise du Chateau . Originally the buyer of a claret which had been bottled at the chateau got two guarantees, first that the wine was authentic and second that it was of a good year. The great chateaux never used to offer their wines Mise du Chateau if it was a bad year, and it would be sold in bulk as Pauillac, St. Julien, etc. Many fine chateaux offer the shipper their wine in cask for bottling in England, at the same time reserving a certain amount for bottling at the chateau. The quality of this latter is no better than the former, but while it costs more in the first instance it also does command a higher guaranteed price as the years progress.
Chateau Chalon

Twenty kilometres south west of the town of Arbois and perched up on an almost eagle’s nest of a small mountain from which is a superb panorama of the Jura plateau, is the tiny hamlet of Chateau Chalon. It has given its name to a wine which is more talked about and less made than any other in France. It is made exclusively with the Savagnin grape (also called the Nature d’Arbois) and the permitted rendement to the hectare is only 20 hectolitres, which would appear to be as little as any other vineyard of France.

The grapes ripen and are picked so late that often the first winter snows or frosts have arrived and thus the wine used to be called Vin de gelee

Apart from the commune of Chateau Chalon itself, wines made in the communes of Menetru, Nevy and Donblans (total population of all four is 1,200) can also be called Chateau Chalon, which is bottled in the clavelin or vin jaune bottle, of a squat dumpy shape containing .62 to .65 litres, as distinct from the .72 or .75 capacity of the rest of the bottles of France.

But the difference between Chateau Chalon and the rest of the wines of France is in the vinification. Here in Article 6 of the law of 1936 is what must take place : Wines having the right to the controlled appellation ‘Chateau Chalon’ must be made according to local tradition ; that is, to have undergone a slow fermentation, followed, before bottling and after racking, by an ageing in cask, without filling up, of at least six years, allowing the wine to take on a ‘ taste of yellow”. As to the characteristics, whatever one may think of the wine, there is no doubt that the bouquet (reminiscent of a Fino) is unique.

Chateau-Grillet
A strong white Cotes du Rhone wine made just south of the town of Vienne and next door to the Cote Rotie (q.v.). It is made with the Viognier (called also the Vionnier or Viognier Dore) grape and the production is minute.
Chateauneuf – du – Pape

The history of this, the most important wine of the Cotes du Rhone, starts when the Popes, abandoning the insecurity of Rome, came to establish themselves at Avignon. In the 14th century, Jean XXII started building the great Palace of the Popes at Avignon, and at the same time a powerful summer residence at Chateauneuf -Calcernier, as the village was then called. It is 10 miles north of Avignon. After the death of Jean XXII, the Popes retreated to Avignon on account of the bands of marauders who were then ravaging France. However, later, Innocent VI recommended the cultivation of the vine at Chateauneuf-Calcernier, and in 1360 is the first mention of white wine coming from the papal cellar, and in 1361 of red. But the modern renown of the vineyards is due mainly to Jean de Tulle, Comte de Villefranche, who in 1750 owned 50 hectares at Chateauneuf, which was so popular that his friends were constantly asking for his wine of the Popes. In the 19th century wine had become more important than the chalk ovens (calcernier) and the village became Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
They are red wines of which the alcoholic degree has to be no less than 12.5 degs. and are made from a selection of the following large number of grape species : Grenache, Clairette, Sirah, Picpoul, Counoise, Muscardin, Picardin, Cinsault, Roussanne, and Bourboulenc.
Some well-known vineyards are: Vaudieu, de la Nerthe, Fortia.
Chaucer
Poet. Son of the King’s Butler ; born London about 1340, died 1400. It is to him that we owe most of our knowledge of wines drunk in the Middle Ages.
Chavignol
-A district in the departement of the Cher, next door to Sancerre, making a light rose wine.

Chenas
A commune of the Beaujolais district from which (in part) the red Moulin-a Vent comes.
Chenin
The name of the best white wine grape used in Anjou and Touraine. Needs to ripen well to lose its high acidity content. In Anjou it is allowed to be left to take on the pourriture noble (q.v.) v). Makes a flowery scented wine. Also called Pineau de la Loire.
Chenove
A village some two miles south of Dijon, which is shown in maps as in the Cote de Nuits, but is never given a mention in present-day books on wine. Actually, it used to be the-greatly esteemed wine centre of a third division of the Cote d’Or, the Cote de Dijon. It now has a Foire Gastronomique, and as proof of its former vinous greatness one should visit the famous wine press installed by Alex de Vergy in A.D. 1238
Cherry Bounce

A 17th century colloquialism for cherry brandy, possibly coined to avoid paying excise duty.

Cherry Brandy

A liqueur made of cherries and brandy.
Cheval Blanc, Chateau.

Classified as Premier des Grands Crus, this Chateau is situated in the Saint Emilion (Graves) area, as distinct from Saint-Emilion. The soil here is somewhat gravelly, hence the designation, and Cheval Blanc is to the district what Ausone is to St. Emilion in a class by itself. Annual production 400 hogsheads.
Chevalier, Domaine de

A very noted chateau of the Graves in the commune of Leognan.
Chevalier-Montrachet
A vineyard of some 20 acres in extent, making superb white burgundy in the commune of Puligny-Montrachet (Cote de Beaune). Assuming that the maximum amount of wine were made each year and that growers consumed none themselves, the number of bottles of authentic Chevalier-Montrachet available for the world would be some 24,000. Actually, it is around 6,000.
Chian Wine

A Greek wine from the island of Chios, much praised by the ancients, especially Horace, References to its excellence are legion. Virgil said it was the best Greek wine. The historian Theopompus (378 B.C.) claims that black wine was first made by the Chians, who imparted the knowledge to the rest of mankind.
Chianti
Italy’s most famous red wine, grown in the northern province of Tuscany, just south of Florence. True Chianti should be made of the following grapes and proportions : Sangiovese 70 per cent., Black Canaiolo 20 per cent., Malvasia and Trebbiano 10 per cent. The Chianti producing region was strictly defined by law in 1932 and consists of a central area south of Florence and north of Siena and was formerly the ancient League of Chianti Now, the districts comprise the hills of Arezzo, of Pisa, of Siena, as well as the commune of Ruffina. Here the wine produced may be called Chianti Classico and the labels show the sign of the black cock. There are three grades : the 11 degree, meant to be drunk young and occasionally found slightly spritzig ; the 11.5 to 13 degree, which travels ; the 12.5 to 13.5 degree, which needs some time to mature.

Chichie
A small commune in the Chablis area.
Chiclana
A town south of Cadiz. The vineyards around produce some of the finest dry sherry.
Chigny
Also called Chigny-les-Roses. Champagne-making village south of Reims in the Montagne de Reims area.
Chile
Produces the best wines of South America. The vine-producing area goes from Coquimbo in the north to Valdivia in the south, and the best vineyards are those of Santa Rita, Tarapaca, Undurraga and Vial. Total annual production is around 85 million gallons.

Chinon
A picturesque town of 7,000 inhabitants on the River Vienne and 46 kms. west of Tours, and the birthplace of Francois Rabelais about 1495. Here are made the chief (with those of Bourgueil) red wines of the Loire. Chinon wines have a faint pleasant aroma of raspberries about them and are supposed to be drunk cellar cool. Made with the Cabernet grape, but called locally Breton.
Chipiona
A village in the important sherry-making area north of Cadiz and south of Sanlucar.
Chiroubles
A commune in the Beaujolais area, next door to Fleurie.
Chorey
A village/commune of the Cote de Beaune just south of Aloxe-Corton, now called Choreyles-Beaune.

Chouilly
A small vineyard district south-west of Epernay, Champagne.
Chusclan
A wine of the departernent du Gard which was popular in England in the early 19th century.

Cissac
A commune/village near Pauillac and some 55 kms. north of Bordeaux. The wines from around here have the right to be called Haut-Medoc. Some of the more famous chateaux are : du Breuil, Hanteillan, Villambis, La Tour-St. Joseph, Fontesteau.
Cistercians
The Cistercian Order has always been associated with the ecclesiastical encouragement of wine-making. This order (called after the cisteaux or bulrushes which were all around their first monastery at Citeaux) was an offshoot of the Benedictines and aimed at a stricter order of the Benedictine rules. Their greatest viticultural achievement was Clos de Vougeot (q.v.).
Civrac
There are three Civracs in the Gironde. The one which produces the best wine is also called Civrac-de-Medoc, a commune/ village of 2,000 hectares, 72 kms. north of Bordeaux and near St. Christoly. Some chateaux : Panigon, Bassan-Segur, Taffard-La-Raze.
The next Civrac is 40 kms. NNE of Bordeaux near another St. Christoly. This Civrac produces red and white wine with the right to be called Blaye. The main vineyard is Chateau Gauthier. Civrac the third is known as Civrac-sur-Dordogne, a tiny commune/village SE of Bordeaux, near Pujols.
Clairet
French for a light red wine. See also Claret.
Clairette
A red wine grape species used generally in the centre of France , for such wines as Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Tavel.
Clairette de Die

A light red wine made in the departement of Drome (France) near Montelimar.
Clairette de Languedoc

A light white wine from the Languedoc.
Claret
A word with a fascinating etymology. It comes from the Old French vin claret, meaning a clear wine ; this from the Latin clarus clear. The word claret has dropped out of modern French, but the word clairet remains, meaning a light red wine.
From the same Latin word came the old French word clare, which came into the English language as clary, long before Chaucer’s time, and which signified a sweet liquor consisting of a mixture of wine, clarified honey and spices, such as ginger and pepper. This word became obsolete in the 18th century and had nothing to do with claret.
Returning to claret, this word stood until around the 15th century, for what clairet stands for in France today ; namely, a wine halfway in colour between white and red. Now, claret means a red wine from Bordeaux, unless it is qualified by Spanish, Australian, Chilean, etc.
Clarification

See Fining.
Clary

See Claret.
Classification of 1855

This refers to an official classification carried out by the Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Bordeaux Syndicat of wine brokers (courtiers) for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. This classification was for 60 wines of the Medoc (one of them is actually a red Graves-Chateau Haut Brion), which were divided into 4 firsts, 15 seconds, 13 thirds, 11 fourths and 17 fifths. The Sauternes district was also done – 1 grand first, 10 firsts, 12 seconds. Chateau Peixotto, a second classified growth of the Sauternes, ceases to exist. It is to be stressed that a classification very similar to the one done for the Exposition had already existed in the 18th century. This, in fact. The following are what now are reckoned to be the first growths, viz., Hautbrion, La Tour, La Fitte, Chateau Margaux: formerly the St. Julien, Medoc, and some others were of this class, but now are, with the following, ranked in the second class, viz., La Rose, Rauhan, Durfort, de Roulier, Cantenac, Pauillac, Labardier, Calon ; these are the principal second growths and in some years equal to the first. Thus, Duncan M’Bride (1793) in his Choice of Wines, dedicated to the Prince of Wales with a suggestion that the latter study the welfare of the nation by encouraging wine drinking. For classification see Medoc.
Clerc-Milon, Chateau.

A fifth classified growth of the Medoc, now called Clerc-Milon-Mondon, and in the commune of Pauillac. Output 140 hogsheads annually.
Clevner

See Klebner.
Climate:

The condition of weather within defined area. Can dramatically affect the character of the wine produced.

Climens, Chateau

Situated in the Haut-Barsae, 36 kms. south of Bordeaux, this is one of the first growths of Sauternes. The vineyards of Climens are planted four-fifths with the Semillon and one-fifth with the Sauvignon grapes.
Clos
French for an enclosure. See under names of each vineyard.
Clos, Les

(1) A vineyard in the Pouilly-Fuisse (Macon) district. (2) A good vineyard in the Chablis district. (3) One of the best vineyards of the Cote Rotie (Rhone).
Coachella
A vineyard district in Riverside County, California.
Cobbler
A drink made of wine, sugar, lemon and pounded ice, and imbibed through a straw. The origin of the word is lost, but it is possible that it is short for a cobbler’s punch, in that it patches up drinkers.
Coblenz
Means a confluence ; here the town of this name where those two wine rivers, Rhine and Moselle, meet. Spelt also Coblence and Koblenz, it is an important centre of the Moselle and Sekt trade.

Cochem

See Kochem.

Cochylis
The cochylis pest has been known in France since 1771 and that of the eudemis (q.v.) shortly after. They are of the moth family and both are very closely related. The cochylis in its winged state is about a quarter of an inch in length and, like all moths, goes through the four stages ; egg, grub, chrysalis and flying insect. The time at which to spray is when the females are ready to lay their eggs, but as the grown insects fly about almost entirely at night-time, growers in Bordeaux are encouraged to get in touch with government-run agricultural depots for information as to their movements.
Cocks and Feret

The authors of an eleven hundred page closely printed book called Bordeaux et ses Vin. Published by the editors, Feret & Fils, 9 Rue de Grassi, Bordeaux, it is one of the most authoritative works on wine available.
Cocktail
The real origin of the word appears lost. The first meaning was a drink consisting of spirit mixed with a small quantity of bitters and some sugar, etc. Now, it stands for a short drink with a spirit base and , more often than not, sweet or dry vermouth up to two-thirds of the total volume.
Code du Vin

See Appendix.
Coffey Still

A spirit still invented by E. Coffey, an Irishman, and in use in some wine-making districts.

Cognac
The product of the distllation of wine grown within the territory delimited by the French decree of Ist May, 1909, which is centred around the town of Cognac, which is in the departement of Charente. The vineyards of Cognac are Grande Champagne, to the southeast of the town of Cognac ; Petite Champagne, which surrounds the Grande Champagne except in the north ; the Borderies, a continuation towards the north and on the right bank of the River Charente of the Grande Champagne and the Petite Champagne ; the Fins Bois, which completely surround the Grande and Petite Champagne, plus also a little isolated area to the south-west of the town of Cognac ; the Boms Bois, which surround the Fins Bois but mainly to the south-west. There are two further much less good areas to the west by the sea called Bois Ordinaires and Bois A Terror. The islands of Re and d’Oleron belong to the latter region. The grape used is the Folle Blanche, but this is being ousted by the Ugni Blanc (called in Cognac the Saint-Emilion) because it flowers later and is therefore less susceptible to early frosts.
In making Cognac the wine is distilled three times and here the continuous still is forbidden and the pot still not only is used but the law defines exactly how it must function. The first distillation gives a brouillis of some 25 per cent. of alcohol and a volume of a third of the original wine. Then it is distilled again (this is called la bonne chauffe), which isolates la partie sublime. Here is the most delicate operation of all and the distiller’s taste and judgment (the art is often carried down by peasants from father to son) can make or mar the cognac to be, for the head or foreshots has to be taken off, keeping the heart separate. It is also important to know when to cut the tail which contains a certain amount of fusel oil. A small amount of fusel oil is necessary for a fine cognac ; too much ruins it. Then the distillation again takes place and again in a pot still, which operation may continue for 10 to 15 hours. Again the heads and tails are discarded.
The new cognac is now poured into barrels of Limousin oak, where it remains from 5 to 55 years, losing some 2 per cent. of its alcohol each year through evaporation ; more at the beginning than at the end of its ageing period. Nearly all brandy on the market is diluted to 42 per cent. or 84 proof.
Collar
The label on the neck of a bottle.
Collares
A sound red table wine made near Lisbon. Some 80 years ago there would appear to have also been a Collares Port.
Colli
Italian for hillsides. Used for several wines like Cotes de Provence, Cotes de Beaune in France. Used in Italy in connection with Marsala.
Colli Euganei

A rich, strawcoloured, light table wine made around Vicenza in the Euganean Venetia.
Colli Trevigliani

A light golden, dry, slightly bitter-tasting wine made around Conegliano in the Euganean Venetia, Italy.
Colmar
A town of much charm, and with a good wine museum, in the centre of the best wine-growing districts of Alsace. It is the centre of the trade and its Wine Fair is worth a visit.
Colorimeter
An instrument for comparing and adjusting the colours of wines and spirits.
Colour of Wines

Nearly as important for the sale and enjoyment of wines as the bouquet, the acceptedly correct colour of any one type of wine is largely a matter of prevailing fashion. As example, straw-coloured hocks have now given way to a demand that they be almost lemon. Sherries are now shipped lighter. too.
Columella
A first century writer on viticulture and winemaking.
Combettes, Les

A vineyard making fine white (80 per cent.) wine in the commune of Puligny-Montrachet in the Cote de Beaune, Burgundy.

Comblanchien
A village south of Nuits St. Georges and just north of Corgoloin. Wine from here is usually sold under the label Vin Fin de la Cote de Nuits.
Commanderia
A sweet, brownish, luscious wine made in Cyprus which can boast of great antiquity. Said to derive its name from the association of the island with the Knights Templars which continued for sometime after the Crusades. See also Cyprus.
Commune
French for parish. As the word appears so often in this work it is, more technically: a territorial subdivision of a canton, administered by a mayor and his municipal council ; the smallest division for administrative purposes.

Communion Wines

See Eucharistic Wines.
Completer
A wine made in the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland.
Compounders
The official and commercial term applied to those who mix or compound certain forms of alcoholic beverages.
Conditum
The old Roman name for spiced wine.
Condrieu
A tiny, fine wine-making district in the Rhone Valley and just downstream from the Cote Rotie. Grapes used are Viognier Roussane and Marsanne.
Conegliano
The name of a village and hills in the province of Euganean Venetia, Italy, whence comes the famous Prosecco di Conegliano, a brilliant, sparkling white wine with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It is light and should not be allowed to age. There is also a lot of plain dry white Conegliano produced.
Constantia
A district in South Africa, ten miles from Cape Town, and the site of the Groot Constantia winery and of some other government vineyards. The name dates from 1684 when the Dutch governor, Simon van der Stel, laid out a vineyard for his wife, Constantia. Between around 1780 and 1850 the wines of Constantia (with great keeping powers) had a great vogue in Britain.
Constumo
Spanish and Portuguese for their ordinary day to day wine.
Cooking, Wine in

Medium sherry or Madeira is used in trifles and turtle soup ; Marsala for Zabione; claret or burgundy for braised meats; brandy or liqueurs for sweet souffles ; Alsatian wine for poached trout. White or red table wine is used to marinate meat. The use of wine will do surprisingly little to improve the flavour of dull stews, but where the cooking is already good, the benefit is great. The taste, however, is not enhanced in proportion to the quantity added.

Cooperage
The art of making and repairing wooden casks ; one of the oldest crafts of the City of London, and the Company of Coopers date back their existence to the reign of Edward II though they were not incorporated until 1501.
Copita

See Catavino.
Corbieres.
One of the better red wine areas of the French Midi, around Perpignan and Fitou.
Cordials
Literally, beverages which stimulate or invigorate the heart, from the Latin cor heart. In the wine trade, a name given to British made fruit beverages, sweetened, and sometimes with spirits added.
Corgo
A small tributary of the River Douro which joins it at Regoa.
Corgoloin
The first village in the southern part of the Cote de Nuits, in Burgundy. Wines made here are usually marketed under the label Vin Fin de la Cote de Nuits.
Corkage
An older word and practice than one would imagine : a charge made by hotel-keepers or waiters for every bottle uncorked and served when not supplied by themselves.
Corked Wine. Corky Wine

Both in ordinary parlance mean precisely the same thing : that by some means still not definitely known, a bottle of wine has extracted a disagreeable flavour from the cork. Pedantically speaking, corked also means stoppered with a cork, but even this is not its first sense, which is furnished with a cork sole or heel.

Corky wines are becoming more and more of a rarity now, the public often confusing the smell with woodiness.
Corks
Pieces of cork cut into a cylindrical and/or tapering form. used as a stopper for a bottle ; also, by transference, a similar stopper made of some other substance. Cork comes from the spongy, thick bark of a species of evergreen oak, Quercus suber, growing about 30 feet high in the dry mountainous districts of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Southern France, Morocco (near Rabat is the largest cork forest in the world) and Algeria. The cork oak sheds its bark periodically if left to itself, but the corkwood is much better if removed by hand, and this c-an continue every 6 to 12 years from the time the tree is some 20 years old (not before) and until it reaches 120 years or more. By and large, the older the tree the more reliable the corkwood, and virgin corkthat from the first barking-is not used for wine corks. When stripped from the trees it is boiled for some hours, then cured in the sun for several days, and then pressed into flat strips for baling and shipping. In selecting corks for bottling, one should see that one end of the cork is reasonably free of blemishes and that the size be regular. For wines for quick consumption, corks of south Spanish or Portuguese origin can well be employed, but a look out should be kept for seed or dust, a natural part of the growth of the bark which sometimes causes trouble. This, however, can be prevented from spoiling the wine if the corks are given a thin coating of (odourless) paraffin wax. For finer wines, Catalonian corks should be used.

Corks before being used for bottling should be first allowed to soak for several hours in warm water, (a) to clean them, and (b) to render them more supple. Then, before the bottling starts, they should again be soaked, this time in the wine they are destined to stopper.

Probably the best type of hand corker is that one which compresses the cork from all sides by jaws closing uniformly, like the iris of a camera lens.
Corks, Branded

The French for this is “etampe” and the German, Korkbrand. It is the practice of branding on the side of the cork all or some of the following : the name of the grower, shipper, the vineyard, vintage.
Corkscrews
First called a bottlescrue, its inventor (during the 18th century) is unknown, though it completely changed the wine trade, allowing wines to be more securely corked and thus stored away lying down. Corks were used before this, but a piece always had to be left sticking out. The best type of plain corkscrew has long been thought to be the sharp-edged auger-type affairs, but some recent experiments in an American wine institute disproved this theory. Probably the best all-round corkscrew available today is the boxwood one with a wire helix (as distinct from an auger-type screw) and a double screw in the handle. There is, however, another type of cork extractor which is becoming increasingly popular which has no spiral screwing into the cork action at all. It consists of two flat, smooth, very slightly curved prongs, which run (about the width of a cork apart) down from a steel handle. One prong is about 2 inches long, the other 21 ; each is 1 inch wide. The user inserts them on opposite sides of the cork and works them down until the ends are below the cork. Re then pulls with a twisting motion and removes the cork intact between the prongs.
Cornas
A red wine-producing commune near the town of Valence in the Cotes du Rhone and next door to St. Peray.
Corps
French for body. Used of a wine which fills the mouth.
Corse
French for robust, powerful. Of wine ; one which has substance.
Corsica
An island in the Mediterranean belonging to France, with a population of a quarter of a million, and making a great deal of powerful and rough wine. Most of it is made in the north, and there is one, Patrimonio, a powerful rose wine, which is exported to the mainland.

Cortaillod
A wine-producing village/commune on the north side of Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland from whence some of the best white and a little red Neuchatel wines come.
Cortese
One of the few white wines of Piedmont, it is made with the vine of that name and is very light and meant to be drunk young.

It is grown mainly in the parish of Alessandria, bordering on Liguria, and is also much in demand for the preparation of dry vermouth.
Corton-Charlentagne
A great white wine vineyard in the commune of Aloxe-Corton.
Corton, Clos du Roi

A famous red wine vineyard of 26 acres in the commune of Aloxe-Corton.
Corton, Le

-A vineyard of great (red wine) fame of 28 acres in the commune of Aloxe-Corton.
Corvo di Casteldaccia

This wine is made both red and white on the Italian island of Sicily. The white is powerful, the red ordinary.
Cos d’Estournel, Chateau.

A second classified growth of Saint-Estephe, Medoc, next door to Chateau Lafite, and producing 600 hogsheads annually.
Cos Labory, Chateau.

A fifth classified growth of St. Estephe, Medoc, next door to Chateau Lafite and producing 180 hogsheads annually.
Costieres du Gard

V.D.Q.S. (q.v.) potent red, white and rose wines made in the departement of the Gard, mainly around Nimes and Montpellier.
Cote de Beaune

The southern half of the Cote d’Or. It starts a few miles north of Beaune at Ladoix Serrigny and continues almost due south, taking in the following communes and villages in-approximate-order from north to south :

Ladoix-Serrigny, Pernand Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Savigny-les-Beaune, Chorey-lesBeaune, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, St. Romain Monthelie, Auxey-Duresses, Meursault, Blagny, Saint Aubin, Puligny Montrachet, Chassagne Montrachet, Dezize-les-Maranges, Sampigny-les-Maranges, Cheillyles-Maranges, Santenay. Comparing Cote de Nuits with Cote de Beaune,

it is agreed that the latter age more rapidly. They appear smoother on the palate.

Cote de Nuits

The northern half of the Cote d’Or. It starts at Corgoloin, a few miles south of the town of Nuits St. Georges, and runs almost due north along the Route Nationale to Fixin, which is some 5 miles south of the outskirts of Dijon. It takes in the following communes and villages in-approximate-order from south to north: Corgoloin, Comblanchien, Prissey, Premeaux, Nuits St. Georges, Vosne Romanee, Flagey-Echezeaux, Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny, Morey St. Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin, Brochon, Fixin,
Cote d’O

See Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits.
Cote Rotie

The name of a (very ancient historically) fine vineyard south of Vienne in the Cotes du Rhone and next door to the vineyards of Condrieu. Cote Rotie vineyards are split into two subdivisions, the Cote Brune and the Cote Blonde (q.v.).
Coteau
French for hillside, or meadow sloping to a river.
Coteaude L’Aubance.

See Aubance.
Coteau du Layon

See Layon.
Coteaux de la Loire.

A fine white, rather sweet, wine-making district south-west of Angers and adjoining the district of Coteau du Layon. Some vineyards : Chateau de Savannieres, La Coulee de Serrant, Clos du Papillon, Chateau d’Epire, La Roche-aux-Moines.
Cotes du Rhone.

A vast, mainly red wine-making area which starts south of Lyon (or Vienne to be more precise) and finishes 200 kms. further due south at Avignon.
Couderc
The name of a French hybridiser with some 17 hybrid species to his credit. Conderc 3304 is one of his successes. Couderc 4401 (also called Oiseau bleu), a cross of Chasselas rose and Rupestris noir, makes a good wine but is subject to blue casse. (q.v.).

Couderc
(also called the Pompon d’Or) makes a good wine with a light aroma of caramel.
Coulee de Serrant, La.

Famous vineyard of the Coteaux de la Loire.
Coulure.
The short French dictionary explanation of this (one of the most important events of a vigneron’s life) is : Botanical-An accident which causes the pollen to fall and prevents the formation of the fruit. Simply put, the flower bud of the vine, which contains both the male and the female parts, will not become a grape unless fertilisation takes place. At this moment a sort of capuchon (hood) should fall to the ground, given the slightest touch or from the wind. If this does not occur, it keeps the female part-which is, in fact, the future grape-hidden from the male and so fecundation does not take place. Classed as a Maladie Physiologique, as distinct from a Maladie (like oidium or mildew) in one well-known French book on wine, the principal causes of coulure are : (1) cold at the moment of the flowering ; (2) prolonged rain ; (3) an excess of leafy vegetation at the time of the flowering (this is the main cause); (4) faulty constitution of the flower bud-as example, the Malbec grape where the hood falls too late, so that the female organ has passed its favourable point of fertility.
Coupage.
(French). Blending.
Court Noue

A disease, probably due to a virus, which causes a stunting of the vines and those so affected do not flower. The disease a fairly new one, is contagious, is worse on some soils than others, and is considered serious. No remedy as yet has been found.
Courtier.
From cura torius, one who takes care, the French courtier under the First Empire was called the courtier-gourmet-piqueur en vins, which last meant someone employed to taste wine to indicate the quality and the growth. At the beginning of this century, there were too many courtiers, but during the last war this situation became even worse ; a huge number of people thought that to be a courtier was an easy way of adding to the income. In 1946, a law appeared giving protection to the genuine courtier of Bordeaux, Algeria and the Midi. Among other things, he had (a) to produce a certificate as proof of leading a good life and having decent morals, (b) to be French or to have been a courtier for at least five years before Ist September, 1939, (c) neither to buy nor sell wine on his own account, (d) to engage in no employ, private or public, which is considered incompatible by the regional syndicat.
Coutet, Chateau

There are two. The more well known is one of the first classified growths of the Sauternes in the commune of Barsac and makes an average of 190 hogsheads of white wine a year. The other Chateau Coutet is a first growth of St. Emilion. Both the chateaux are rather handsome buildings. There is also a Domaine de Coutet in the canton of Fronsac.
Coutras
A canton and small town 17 kms. north of Libourne, on the fringe of the departement of the Gironde, making average quality red and white wines.
Cradle
Formerly made of wickerwork, now made also of metal or plastic, a cradle is a container into which a single bottle is placed at a nearly horizontal angle, in order that a wine waiter can dispense the wine without too much disturbing the sediment. There are many schools of thought as to how useful this contraption is. Those that aver it serves no purpose say that there is a backwash of sediment into the wine every time the cradle is put back on to the table after serving. This is to exaggerate; a careful waiter can use a cradle so that less dregs get into the glass than if the cork is drawn from an upright position and then the bottle is stood upright after serving. It should be remembered that the cradle is an ideal receptacle for drawing the cork of a bottle with potential sediment, even if (which nine times in ten is better) decanting is to take place.
Cramant
A village and white winemaking district due south of Epernay and north of Avize in the Cote des Blancs area of Champagne. A small amount of still white wine is sold under the name.
Cremant
French adjective used of a champagne where the mousse is not abundant.
Creme
When applied to-mainly French-liqueurs it means that they are of more than average sweetness. One has seen Cremes of all the following : bananas, blackcurrants, coffee, pineapple, raspberries, roses, strawberries, violets, and, of course, creme de menthe.
Creszenz

See Kreszenz.
Criadera.
(Spanish) Literally, a breeding place or a nursery for trees. An important word in sherry-making. Young wines go into a criadera, or nursery school, to mature before going into a solera (q.v.) and some fine finos may go through three or four such cask storings.
Crimea
Russian wine-growing area.
Croizet-Bages, Chateau.

A fifth classified growth of Pauillac, Medoc, making 200 hogsheads yearly.
Crov
Also Croev. See Krov.
Crozes
Now called Crozes-Hermitage, this wine-making (mostly red) area is just above Hermitage itself.
Cru.
(French) Growth. Wine of a particular vineyard.
Crust

See Splash, Port.
Crusted Ports

For the younger generation it should be made clear that the older port shipper looks on this as a distinct type of port, and by no means a bin or bottle which happens to have thrown a crust.