Gallo of Sonoma - Glossary

Sensory Evaluation: Tasting a wine and describing what you see, smell, taste, and touch.
Soil: The sediment at the surface of the earth capable of supporting the growth of plants, including vines. See Gallo of Sonoma Signature Soil.
Sonoma County: Located 60 miles north of San Francisco. With its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and San Pablo Bay, this area has cool breezes and fog in the morning and evenings, and brilliant sunny afternoons — the classic climate required for growing high-quality fine-wine grapes in California.
Standard Upright Fermenter: Fermenter that pumps the juice at the bottom of the tank to the top and sprinkles it over the Cap of skins that has formed. Also called Upright Fermenter.
Structure: The framework of wine, made up of acid, alcohol, and tannin content. Great wines must have a good underlying structure to support flavor components such as fruitiness.
Super-AVAs: Large, regional AVAs that generally follow county lines. They are named North Coast, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay, Sierra Foothills, and South Coast. See also "American Viticultural Area (AVA)." The term "sub-AVA" is sometimes used to describe smaller AVAs within larger AVAs.
Sur Lie Aging: Aging process in which wine is left to lie on its lees.