Behind the Bar with Jas Swan
For our first, and certainly not our last, wine related Behind the Bar I had the pleasure of chatting to Jas Swan, sommelier turned winemaker, who started her winery Katla Wines in the German region of Mosel.
Jas and her wines had their first vintage in 2019. I was lucky enough to try a bottle of her Frigg, a botrytised Riesling, smelling of sherry casks and baklava, tasting of honey nut cornflakes and delicate threads of saffron.
If you want to keep an eye out for Jas’ next vintage release you can follow her on twitter here.
I met Jas through Twitter over a year ago, and whilst we still haven’t met in person (one day!) Jas is by far one of the best people I follow; funny, fierce and so very knowledgeable, I learn from her as often as I am inspired. Over zoom and several glasses of wine we talked about unconventional career routes, privilege in the wine industry and making Merlot cool again.
Throughout our discussion we use various wine terminologies that may be new or unfamiliar to you, they were to me when I first started out in wine! I’ve underlined those terms and provided a glossary at the end of interview should you wish to refer to it throughout your read.
So when did you start getting into wine?
Jas: I was working in hospitality in Edinburgh from 2014. I was working in a really fancy restaurant, but I was the receptionist. I had nothing to do with what was going on on the floor with the wines. I used to hang out with the sommeliere quite a lot. She was so shocked at how little I knew about wine, so she signed me up to do a wine course. So I did the WSET Level 2 and that's how I got the initial interest basically.
In 2016, I went on a long trip around the Nordic countries, and I wanted to do some internships along the way. I also wanted to get more into like sommeliering and being on the restaurant floor, which I had basically no experience of at that point. So I applied for a stage at Noma and got it. But it never happened. Then I went to a different Copenhagen restaurant. But while I thought I was going to Noma, I asked a guy in Edinburgh who used to work there, Ben from Edinburgh Food Studio, on how I should prepare myself for it. And he was like, well go and find a bar where they serve Austrian and German natural wines. And the only place in Edinburgh at the time that had any natural wines was Smith & Gertrude. So I worked there for a little bit, and it was such a good work environment, they were so fun.
Then I did these internships, one was in Iceland, one was in Copenhagen and I just slowly rolled into it from there. That's how the initial wine interest started. I was in college in Edinburgh at the time and we had an alcoholic beverages class, which was my favourite class. We were allowed to drink and it was brilliant. That was the same time as doing the WSET so together that was a nice base of knowledge to have. And then I got really more interested in it.
Rachel: Amazing. And that's what, four years ago? And now you're making wine?
Jas: Yeah, it's been crazy. I'm a very impatient person and if I want something I never really see the point of waiting.
Rachel: What made you want to start making wine, as opposed to being a somm
Jas: So I worked in Reykjavik. Out of that internship, I got the job at the restaurant, in Dill, as a sommelier and I really enjoyed it. But you know, Iceland is a small place, you don't get so many wines and I was already in the best restaurant that was there, so there was no place really, for me to go. I just got bored at some point and I couldn't do the fake customer service friendliness anymore. You know, that ‘customer is king’ kind of bullshit. I was starting to lose my patience and I thought I needed to finish with service. And I didn't really know at that point that I was gonna make my wines, I just thought, okay, I'm going to do some internships with some winemakers because I like wine and take it from there and maybe import, there was no intention at that point to become a winemaker yet.
And I went to Ardèche, in the Rhône Valley, basically two really fantastic natural winemakers called Gilles Azzoni. And he's very hippie, very esoteric but also amazing at blending his wines, and I loved it. So I first started there and it was during pruning season so that had nothing had to do with harvest. But we did some pruning, tasted a lot of wines in the evenings and I loved it. And I did an internship with Alexander and Maria Koppitsch in Austria? I went there as well, mostly in the vineyard, then went back to Ardèche to do harvest.
The harvest was amazing and Antonin, the son, said to me at some point, “you know Jas, every intern who went to my dad's place, has also become a winemaker”. I was like for fucks sake, I cannot be the only one now letting the Azzoni family tradition down, but I also never I never thought it was realistic for me. You know, I don't have my own winery and I don't come from a family winery. Where am I supposed to put the stuff? Where should the money come from? I was like, okay, fine, maybe I can do a barrique somewhere.
Then Brexit was announced, and at the time, I still had my flat in Edinburgh - I think Brexit is the biggest bullshit ever - so I decided to sell my flat. And because gentrification happened in that area I totally realised that I was on the absolute privileged side of gentrification there. I made a profit by selling the flat then suddenly, I had money in my bank account and I knew I was never going to have that money ever again, to do this kind of thing. I had also met these Italian winemakers, from a winery called L’Ammidia, they had never studied it and they just went for it. Crazy people, amazing people. They were like “If you have money, now, you do it, you know. You're studying so much anyway, you just need to find a cellar corner and go for it.”
I was already working in a winery in Mosel and my parents were getting pretty old so I can't be away as much anymore. Living in Scotland and Iceland was amazing, working in France as well was such a great experience, but it had to be Germany so I can check in on them. Going to Mosel was kind of like a compromise at the start because I could do my project there and I could go home. Then I put a Facebook post up like “hey, has anyone got a cellar corner I can rent?” And I found one and spent some of my money and bought some tanks.
Then last year already came along, which was my first vintage at the winery I was sub-renting in, I’m not there anymore, but they were an organic winery. And they actually said, you know, if you want to buy some grapes, we can sell you some. So that's sort of how I snowballed into starting my own wines. Without the support from people like the Koppitschs, Azzonis or L’ammidia, I don’t think I would have had the balls to do it.
Rachel: I think that so many people think that in order to make wine you have to come from a family that does it, or you have to have had a certain upbringing. The fact that you just kind of went, no, I love it, and I want to learn about it and then just went for it in the space of about five years is awesome. I think that’s really cool.
Jas: I find myself thinking about this a lot and it’s such a weird, privileged position. By that I mean, to start my project, I couldn’t have done it if I hadn't owned the flat. Owning a flat in your 20s is highly privileged already. But I walk into my friends' wineries, and by no means do they have huge wineries in comparison, but they have their hectares. So in a technical sense, I'm privileged and then I walk in there, and it makes me feel so unprivileged because it's just another level.
Sometimes it frustrates me because I feel like I'm never gonna have that. And on the other hand, if I ever have a really nice room, where I can put more wines in, that would be okay too. To have like a little barn where you can put some tanks and that's hopefully quite nicely isolated, that’ll already be good for me.
Rachel: There was a big discussion on a cider Facebook page recently with a few people saying that anyone can get into becoming a cider maker and that it's not hard etc. But the cost of land and the equipment and then to take time out of a job to make it, you have to have money to do that. It's not something you can just do and it's money people don't have. Especially now, in the middle of a pandemic, who has the money to go, I'm going to start a wine business or a cider business or whatever. I think the fact that you're so open about how you've come to where you are, and very, aware of the privilege and discuss it, is so important, because that very rarely happens.
Jas: Yeah, I think about it so much. But, you know, the theory is, if you want to make a cider, if you want to make a wine, I think anyone can do it, it's just to what level? If you want to make like 10 litres of cider, you can probably scrape this stuff together.
I think a lot of people get super scared of just the initial part of making something like cider or wine, because I think, especially with wine, it's on such a pedestal.
With my interns for example, I had 10 glass balloons, and I said to any of them, hey, if you want to make a glass balloon of wine, so you can have like your own little wine you know, there are the glass balloons, grapes are coming in and we're going to pick grapes anyway, if you want to take a few buckets of grapes off my load, you know, do that.
And the first reaction that I got from a few of the team was just “oh god, I cannot make my own wine”. They're such studious people and they know in theory how to make a wine, they know that you have to ferment grape juice and so on. They've done all the wine courses and so the basic level is there but they’re just like “oh my god, no I could never do that”. I do understand why it is but I think it's a shame that people are so scared to try things when the opportunities are there.
Rachel: I’ve found that people are so scared of wine. When I ask people, what are you tasting? And they just refuse to say because I think they’re just so scared of getting it wrong and there's so much snobbery with wine and so much elitism and right or wrong. Even something as seemingly simple as saying what you taste or buying wine, people are scared of getting it wrong. I can imagine in terms of making wine that must just be 10 times as much?
Jas: Yeah, totally. I mean, the whole wine language thing is fucked anyway. Once I had a Pinot Noir with a guy and he was like I cannot believe how much this Pinot Noir tastes of sandstone. And I was, you know, smelling it and I was like, it smells like a nice Pinot Noir, with cherry and forest notes but I don't get the sandstone, though. And he's like, you need to try again, it’s so much sandstone. And I was like no, there isn’t and that's okay for me.
The most interesting thing I think is if you tell people what they think they should smell, 80% of the time, they will say oh, yeah, yeah. In the restaurant or when I do tastings with people, I try to not explain the wine before they have tasted it. I'll explain afterwards because if I tell them it smells of blueberry, they will smell blueberry.
Rachel: One of the things I love about tasting is that everyone comes up with different things, because everyone has a different history of different foods.
I’ve had so many arguments with people because I said a tasting note and they've told me I’m wrong. Like, no, fuck that. I've had so many people, men mainly, asking what I think and then going no, actually it’s this and I'm like, why did you ask me if you're just gonna say that. People are scared because there's that culture.
Jas; Yeah, totally, also the level of language. There are terms that are just a little bit bullshit. Like you know, minerality is always a classic. Or that fucking sandstone
Rachel: One, what does a mineral taste like? I don't know. And two, I don't lick the ground.
Jas: Well me neither. I think sometimes when I smell or taste a wine, I think I get the idea of what they're trying to describe. But terms like minerality and the fact that the wine language is mostly based on French words. I think it's highly intimidating to people. You know, like, Grand Cru for example, or what's a bâtonnage?
It's very French driven. And for me, it's okay, because I speak some French so I have never been super intimidated by it. But for people who don't speak French, for example, you know, and with all the German wines and the you trockenbeerenauslese and terms like that. It's like what the fuck is it?
Jas; And then there’s the whole Joe Fattorini thing.
Rachel: I was wondering when we would be getting onto this.
*Authors Note: Joe Fattorini is one of the presenters of The Wine Show and has recently been found to be the voice behind #winebitch. #winebitch is a series of crude, hateful and toxic messages, originally sent via whatsapp discussing various members of the wine industry, that were leaked during lockdown under the anonymous name #winebitch. The messages have now been removed from the internet as a result of a cease and desist from the author, but various blog posts have been written on the subject since if you would like to read into the matter further. It’s something that Jas and myself had previously discussed over messenger.*
Jas: If it was not real people it would be really hilarious to read, but the thing is there's actually real people behind it, and quite a few of them are my friends. I think it comes from such a place of misery, jealousy and entitlement. Yeah, um, I think, I mean, it's middle aged white men. It is.
Rachel: What I found really interesting is on Twitter, it's those white men who are either defending him, or basically going, look, he's apologised, we should let him off, or we should let him off because he's cited mental health problems, it's not that big a deal, it was meant to be private. But it's not just not okay, it’s part of a bigger problem.
Jas: But you know, that's always the thing with white people “it’s a lone wolf” “it was someone with mental health problems”. It’s really disrespectful for all the folks that actually have mental health problems. To give them the excuse of mental health is not okay.
I don't know how often I've been mansplained on Twitter and in person. Especially now and sometimes I take it as an advantage that a lot of people think “oh, there's this crazy girl, and she has no idea what she's doing”. And I let them think that, in a way, because I'm the one who has sold my wine in various countries. I'd rather quietly show them the finger. I know what I'm capable of and I think a lot of these guys don't.
Rachel: When I was General Manager of a restaurant, I had a lot of male colleagues who went out of their way to make my life incredibly difficult and I think that’s the best way to prove them wrong. And I guess it makes it worse, because I think they always act out of jealousy anyway, but to just be really fucking good at what you do. And yeah, it’s going to take longer, but I'm going to show you that I'm better than you.
Jas: I remember there was a guy I used to work with. He used to be my manager when I started working in Iceland. I started initially as a waitress and he wouldn't let me try the wines and I was basically there to learn about wine. So I got really frustrated really quickly. But at the start, you know, I was in a new country and I thought, okay, maybe it's a manager thing. And then at some point, we got a new sous chef and he got to try the wines. And I was like, What the fuck?
So I said to him, why is he allowed to try the wine and I'm not. He didn't even give me a proper response, it was so disrespectful. He just winked at me and didn't even say anything and just moved on, you know. So I went to complain. My boss took it pretty seriously and took down the complaint. After that, I got to try the wines and the guy got some shit for it, but okay.
When I moved to London I started working in a pub. One of the managers was asking me about my underwear. So I quit and wrote it in my letter, why I'm quitting. Obviously they made a massive fuss about it. I just left and I never wanted to speak to them again. I never really knew what internally they discussed or anything, but it's just not okay, you know.
Rachel: One of my first waitressing jobs, my manager, he was always very inappropriate in touching me and then, at the end of one shift he held me by the shoulders against a wall and kept saying, I'm worried you don't like me, I'm worried you don't like me, over and over again whilst being very physically intimidating. A week later, I handed my notice in. I didn't say anything to anyone. And then a year later, I bumped into the owners and they were like, yeah, we know, we knew he was being inappropriate. And I thought, then why did you not do anything? There are so many cases where no one does anything, I find it more surprising when management acts on a complaint than when they don’t. Which is why like, I guess, when all the stuff happened with the wine bitch thing, it was horrible, but it wasn’t surprising.
Jas: I mean, I'm so happy I work for myself. You know, when male customers are being condescending. I once had a dry Riesling as part of the wine pairing. I went to the table. I was “I've got the next wine for your course, it’s a dry Riesling” and the guy didn't even let me finish. He was like “oh, honey there is no such thing as dry Rieslings”. And I was like, “well, this one is” and he said “no, they don't exist”. And I go, “Well I'm from Germany” Then I had him “Try this wine. It's dry. If you think this is not dry, okay, we can talk about it again” I mean, the cheek!
Rachel: Do you find you get a different response now you work for yourself, do you feel you get taken more seriously? Or is it the same but different?
Jas: I don't know. Because now I'm in a situation where I'm the boss, with myself. So that cuts out so much hassle…
I don't know if I'm taken more seriously now. I think now that I've actually made my first wines, that makes a difference. And I don't know if it's self employment as such. You know, I think it's more the product I’ve delivered. Last year I went to Iceland to show my pét-nat, it was the only one that was ready and I went to see my old bosses. And I was “hey try this”. I had only made 40 bottles of it, it was just a fun wine on the side kind of thing. He tasted it and said “it's not actually horrible” I laughed and was like fuck you. Then I went to the other boss and he said “that's actually not that bad”.
Sometimes. I don't think there's anything wrong with having to prove yourself, especially when you start something new. My wine now is in the restaurant I used to work for as a Dill Wine. I think it's good to surprise people. And so there's a certain level to taking advantage of being underestimated.
It also gives you more freedom to work, because you have less pressure to produce. If you actually produce something that's shit, yeah, okay no one expected anything else, you hit the low mark. I've always said, you know, if I just produce something drinkable, then I’m happy. That was the bar I set myself last year, and actually turned out that they were also tasty in the end. So it was like an added bonus for me. I didn't expect it.
Rachel: They are amazing wines. I’ve tried a couple of them, the one I loved the most, was it Frigg that was part of the Drinking against Sinking campaign? It just had this gorgeous sherried, vin jaune, honeyed, nuttiness quality to it that was incredible. From a riesling as well! I love Riesling, it’s amazing. But you’re so used to that lime and petrol quality that this one really took you by surprise, so gorgeous.
Jas: I think it's so funny, because last year, the lowest expectation of all the grapes I got was the Riesling. We had a really wet harvest. You know, when you think about your first vintage, you kind of think of harvesting in the sun and healthy grapes. Then suddenly Mosel was drowning in rain and botrytis came along. By the time the Riesling was ripe, the botrytis was going through the roof, and I was picking them like, oh, man, I’m upset now. But I would harvest these grapes, I’m going to take them and honour my work. I was really unsure if this was going to be any good.
And turns out, it's the strongest wine I’ve produced. It has the lowest pH value, it’s the most stable. You can drink it three weeks later after being open. It's a really strong, physically strong wine.
It’s everything but a typical Mosel Riesling. I think for me, it always reminded me more of, you know, going towards Jura. And I'm okay with that, you know, because I'm not from Mosel. So I don't worry about making Mosel wines as such. I just want to make wines that I think are tasty to myself, mostly.
Rachel: But also, there are enough Mosel wines, that’s been covered. You may as well do something new and different with what you have, which is brilliant.
Jas: Yes, exactly. Thank you. I’m super happy with it, it puts me in a nice position. That's actually the privilege I have again, I don't come from Mosel. I don't come from a family winery. I don't have parents who nag me that I need to make the same wines that the family has always made. That's also a privilege. And I have a huge freedom to make a Botrytis dry Riesling, to blend shit together how I feel it would be cool to do.
Rachel: What are your plans for this vintage?
Jas: So my vintage is all in now. I have eight different wines now and I've tripled the production. I mean, we say plans, I’m just gonna see what I want to do with it. My Pinot Gris and Riesling blend went into barriques a few days ago. I'm leaving them outside to age, apparently that's good for cold stabilisation, so I want to give that a try. I have a Gewurztraminer, that I macerated for two weeks and is hanging out in a barrique as well.
The only wine that's gonna come back from last year is a wine called Sigyn. Which is a Regent and Riesling blend, but this year, there's also a little bit of Dornfelder in it, but just like 10% or something. All the other ones, I think they are gonna be completely different, so they're not going to have the same names.
For example, I have two different Rieslings this year one comes from the Nahe Valley. I worked there with my friend who grows organic grapes. Then I have the same vineyard where Frigg comes from here in Kroev. But this year, the vineyard I harvested in dry weather, so there was no botrytis. So I don't think Frigg will be back. I think just the character of Frigg was that botrytis.
So this year with that vineyard, I did five days semi carbonic maceration with the Riesling. And now it's also in barrique and I'm thinking of calling it Fulla. Fulla in mythology is the handmaiden of Frigg. That's sort of what I'm trying to do with it, where it's sort of similar but different and that there's kind of a family resemblance or something.
I did a direct press Pinot Noir and added Dornfelder to it. It’s a really bright pink. I have a lot of rosy and orangey pastel colours in the cellar at the moment. It makes me worry a little bit about how to sell five wines that look kind of similar. But they are really different characters, so it's okay.
I also have my two rainbow wines. What a colour! One is Pinot Gris, Regent, Riesling and Cabernet Blanc. So that's the one rainbow wine, which I'm thinking of calling Kiki. I’ve bottled that already and it’s going to be a pét-nat. Then I've got another rainbow wine, which is Merlot, Kerner and Gewurztraminer as a blend, and I'm thinking to bottle that as a pét-nat as well.
So that's sort of what I've got bubbling away at the moment. I've got a direct press Merlot, which is a rosé. I wanted to do a Blanc de Noirs, but it turns out I missed the time. I mean, it makes sense. Champagne is always harvested really early, and I always thought it was purely for acidity, but it's also for colour. If you pick Pinot Noir or similar too late and you direct press it, you get colour, which is no good.
Rachel: I always thought they picked early just to get that high acidity and low alcohol, I didn’t know it was for colour as well, but that makes sense.
Jas: Yeah it does, I just wasn’t completely aware of it. So I had a Merlot, as well as a Pinot Noir, I wanted to direct press and turn into a Blanc de Noirs, but yeah that didn’t work as well and now I have a rosé *laughs* But that's how it goes. And I think it's important, rookie mistakes will always happen.
Rachel: I saw your tweet last week about making Merlot cool again
Jas: I think it's really interesting with Merlot, how overrated people think of the grape variety itself. Merlot is such a good example of it. So often, my colleagues are showing wines and at wine fairs and the customers tasting them will say “oh, yes it’s amazing, what is it?”. Then the wine maker says, oh, it's Merlot. They always say, ah, and lose interest. Let's say, for example, with my rainbow wines, how is anyone going to know what Gewurztraminer, Kerner and Merlot taste like as a blend? So that's why I don't think anyone will ever see a wine from me that's just got ‘Merlot’ as a name.
I like the fantasy names. They're all named after female Norse goddesses, which I love. There's really cool stories to them. I'm a feminist, and it's really important to me, but also, with my wines, I want to send a message, but I like to be subtle about it. I don’t want my wines to be bought because of the name itself, I just want them to be nice wines that anyone can enjoy.
Rachel: I guess it’s not wanting people to buy your wine because of the female aspect, but because they’re good wines that just happen to be made by a woman and named after women.
Jas: And I think, I mean, like, my name is on the label, but it's just Jas Swan, and really? That can be Jason. That can be Jasmine. You know?
And I always sit between the chairs about it. Am I a feminist if I'm not loud and shouting about it? I don't want people to buy my wine just because I'm a woman. But also on the other hand, female winemakers need to be more out there. So I'm like, you know, I always find myself sitting in between the chairs and trying to find what's the best way for me to grow with it.
Rachel: I think it's so difficult. I was putting together some questions for this and I was like, I don't want to ask the question of, what is it like to be a female winemaker? Because men never get asked that. What is more important to me is that you as a person are a winemaker, and you're making wine. Every woman will have that in her career. What is it like to be a female X, what is it like to be a female Y? Well I’m not a female winemaker, I am a winemaker. Men don’t have their gender put in front of their job roles, so why should we have to?
Jas: I think it's always very interesting with the 50 Best Restaurants and how they have a special category for the best female chef. And that female chef barely appears in the main list.
I think it's always interesting, coming back to these middle aged men who think we're so equal nowadays. Then you see how they talked about #winebitch and it's like, oh, my God, we're back in the fucking 60s but with better internet connection, you know.
I was just thinking, you know, in a way, like, last night, when I was reading a text, I had this really frustrating thought and was like, why are we actually trying to be equal with them when they're not equal with us? And I feel like the thought is quite anti feministic in a sense.
I personally feel like every time something horrible happens, most of the time it's men, of course there’s a lot of women fucking up all the time as well, you know. But there’s an intention when men fuck up, there’s an intention that is really scary.
Rachel: Well, there's a difference between humans having flaws, as we all do and the intimidation and aggression that comes from men. Their flexing of the power they have and the reminder that comes with that. And you’re right, I don’t want to be the same as a man. There are very few men I meet who have qualities I aspire to have, but the vast majority of people that do are women and non-binary people. I just want us to have more space to be who we are as opposed to being what they are.
Jas: Yeah, exactly. I have a lot of male winemaker friends. I just feel like, at the moment, the stupid ones managed to be so incredibly loud, I’m much more aware of it. I think the more you're out there, the more shit you will hear. Being active on Twitter, for example. I would probably cut out so many male dominant voices, just by not being on Twitter, but I'm on it. So I'm aware of it, but sometimes a little bit of ignorance is bliss.
I mean whenever guys reply to my tweets, I'm okay with hearing it and I want to hear male voices. I just don't want to hear the obnoxious ones I’m hearing at the moment, like it's 80% of what I hear. I have so many male friends and also online, you know, I think we have always really good discussions. Just someone always takes it over the edge.
Then there's people like Jamie Goode, for example, Brad from Nyetimber, Finton Kerr as
well. I have really good wine conversations with and really enjoy them.
Rachel: What I really like about the way you use social media is you're so generous with your knowledge. I love, whenever you do Instagram stories that are about different aspects of winemaking and wine and you get really technical. They're really interesting. And you do the same on Twitter as well, you have lots of very open conversations, and people like me wouldn't have access to stuff like that. Which I think is the good side of it, because you get to learn more in a way that wouldn’t ordinarily happen.
Jas: I think it was last year when I decided that social media is full of bullshit. And that if I wanted to be on it, it had to have some kind of content to it. When I came back to Germany, there was a period when I was briefly living with my mom, and in my hometown, and I don't have any friends there anymore.
So I had nothing to do on a Saturday night but then I opened a wine book and then I was like maybe I should make an Instagram story or something, I think the first one I did was about biodynamic preparations. And I really liked it.
You know, ignoring all the mansplaining and everything. I've managed to get such good help from Twitter. If I have a question, I'll put it on Twitter and usually I’ll get the answer in like five or ten minutes. So that's the advantage of it, there’s this whole Twitter village that we kind of live in and I really like it. Like you and Helen! When you asked me to do the interview I was like, of course, but I also knew it was just going to be a chat with friends you know.
Rachel: Yeah, that's it. Earlier I was like, oh, I'm really nervous, but also I'm actually really excited because we've been chatting for like a year now, this is really cool that we actually get to meet, not quite in person, but like, almost as close as you can. Among all of the bullshit, there is this really nice online community who are so generous and knowledgeable and then you become friends because they are kind and lovely as well, it’s so nice.
Jas: So cute. We're doing the opposite of the wine bitch, we’re doing wine love.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS (in order of use)
Stage: Staging is an unpaid internship, popular in the hospitality industry, where someone will work briefly for free in another restaurant or bar to learn new skills. The term originates from the French word stagiaire, meaning apprentice, or intern.
Barrique: A barrique is a term for a barrel that traditionally holds 225 litres.
Glass Balloons: Otherwise known as a Demijohn, glass balloons are glass vessels holding several litres that can be used for the small scale fermentation of alcohol.
Grand Cru: This is a French term, referring to the quality level of a vineyard or an area’s terroir. It is the highest and commonly the most expensive wine classification in the French appellation system.
Bâtonnage: Name given to the method of stirring lees (dried yeast cells) back into the wine to add more flavour and texture.
Trockenbeerenauslese: a tier in the German wine classification based on a wine’s sweetness. Trockenbeerenauslese wines are made from grapes dried out on the vine and therefore have very high sugar levels.
Pét-nat: Short for pétillant natural, these are wines that finish their first and only fermentation in the bottle, creating a soft sparkle to the wines.
Vin Jaune: French for yellow wine, this is an oxidised white wine made in the French region of Jura.
Botrytis: Also referred to as noble rot, this is a fungus which attacks grapes as they are ripening, causing a change in flavour profile and an increase in sugar levels.
Cold Stabilisation: A winemaking method used to prevent tartaric acid crystals forming in the wine after it has been bottled.
Macerated: The practice of soaking unfermented grape juice in its skins after pressing. This adds tannins, flavour and colour to the wine.
Semi Carbonic Maceration: This is when whole bunches of grapes are put into a fermentation vat. The weight of the bunches press the grapes, releasing juice and the fermentation process begins.
Blanc de Noirs: Traditional method sparkling wines made from black skinned grapes only.
