Barossa Shiraz – Viticulture Terms

We all enjoy a relaxing and informative cellar door experience, where we can learn about the great selection of fine Barossa Shiraz wines available. The Barossa Valley region is synonymous with producing big, bold and vibrant Barossa Shiraz wines, and it is not just locally or nationally that these wines are appreciated. The international market eagerly awaits each year to experience what new and exciting Barossa Shiraz wines will be released. Below we have gathered together a glossary of common terms used in relation to wine making.   

Appelation:  a geographical term used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown  

Aspect:  refers to the lay of the land where the vines are planted, includes the angle and direction of a slope and its altitude  

Biodynamic Farming:  a method of farming which uses organic farming methods  

Biodynamic Wine:  a wine produced using the method of biodynamic agriculture  

Canopy:  the parts of the vine which are above ground, particularly the shoots and leaves of the vine  

Canopy Management:  viticultural techniques used to manipulate the canopy in order for it to grow a certain way and yield the best fruit  

Crush:  this is a term used to refer to a harvest period.  It is also a term in wine making that refers to the process prior to pressing, where the grapes are broken, or crushed, and the juice is left to macerate with the skins to release colour into the wine during the fermentation process.  This is particularly important in the making of Barossa Shiraz wines  

Diurnal Temperature Variation:  the amount of change in the temperature that occurs in a wine region from day time to night time  

Duplex Soils:  soil in a vineyard that has two contrasting soil textures layered on each other.  For example coarse sand layered over fine grained clay  

Embryonic Bunch:  this is the tiny green berries that grow during the spring, which will eventually bloom during the flowering period, and when fertilized will grow into fully formed grape clusters.  The amount of embryonic bunches on a vine is a good indication of the potential crop yield for that year  

Field Blend:  a vineyard that has several grape varieties planted, all interspersing amongst each other  

Grafting:  the joint made during the grafting of rootstock to a producing vine  

Green Harvesting:  harvesting of unripe green grapes in order to try to increase the yield of quality grapes, where quality of grape is preferred over quantity of grape  

Hectare:  is a metric measurement of land equal to 10,000m², or 2.471 acres  

High Density Planting:  a method of vineyard management which sees a high number of vines per acre planted in order to improve fruit quality.  Quality of the fruit is improved by making the vines compete for soil nutrients, water etc.  The result is a lower quantity of yield but higher quality of grape, producing a more concentrated flavour in the grape  

Hybrid Grapes:  a grape variety derived from two different species of parent vine  

Neutral Grape Varieties:  white grape varieties that are relatively bland with little aroma of their own.  They are considered neutral because they can be enhanced by being aged in oak to take on certain specific characteristics the winemaker wishes to impart into the juice.  Examples of neutral wines are Chardonnay and Semillon  

Off Vintage:  a vintage that brought many challenges and adverse climate conditions during the growing season, such as lack of rain, sun, or frosts  

Organic Viticulture:  a method of winemaking that does not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides  

Phylloxera:  a minute underground insect that kills grape vines by attacking their root system.  The Barossa Valley is very fortunate and it is because of the region remaining Phylloxera free that some of the Barossa Shiraz vines are the oldest in the world  

Refractometer:  measures the sugar content in grapes  

Ripeness:  the point at which a grape has reached a sufficient balance of acids and sugars  

Terroir:  French word meaning ‘soil’, it is the geographical and physical characteristics of a vineyard which give the resulting wine its unique qualities and properties  

Veraison:  the growth stage of a grape at which it ripens and changes colour  

Vintage:  the year in which a particular wine’s grapes were harvested.  A vintage wine indicates that all the grapes that have gone into that wine were harvested in that year  

Viticulture:  is the cultivation of grapes  

We hope that you have found these terms helpful, and hope that they may shed some light on understanding more about Barossa Shiraz wines, so that on your next cellar door experience, you may be able to appreciate what has gone into producing the popular Barossa Shiraz.  So when you next sit down to enjoy your bottle of Barossa Shiraz you have a greater understanding of how it was produced.