Words of wines

RACKING - It consists in transferring the wine to separate it from the lees settled at the bottom of a vat or a barrel or to aerate it.

REFRACTOMETER - A device used to measure the density of a liquid by the use of light refraction. This tool is used to follow the evolution of the grapes maturity.

''RENDZINE" - A dark-coloured soil resting on limestone.

RESIDUAL SUGARS - Sugars, non transformed into alcohol during the fermentation, present in the wine.

RICH - Term used for a wine with a complex nose and a silky palate.

RIPENING - Period during which the grape takes its final colour (from green to red for the red grapes, from green to yellow for the white grapes). This stage is the beginning of the maturing phase.

ROOT STOCK - Root system of a vine that is phylloxera-resistant and on which a type of grape variety is grafted. The root stock will be chosen according to the climate and the soil on which the vine will be grown.

ROUND - Term used for a wine that gives a mouth-filling sensation. Synonymous with full.

ROW - It corresponds to all the vine stocks planted on the same line. The distance between the rows is one of the specification given in the growing practices of an A.O.C decree.

ROYAT CORDON PRUNING - Pruning method leaving five spurs with two buds at the maximum on the vine stocks.