Dec. 31, 2021, 1:30 a.m.
Sotto Voce: The Sotto Voce Glossary
E - Words: 893 - Last Updated: Dec 31, 2021 Story: Complete - Chapters: 28/28 - Created: Dec 24, 2012 - Updated: Apr 13, 2022 5,809 0 19 0 2
Sotto Voce Terminology
Music Terms:The wines of Rhapsody are all named musical terms. Each of these names not only describes an aspect of music, but also highlights characteristics of the wine. The terms and the wine they represent include:
Allegrezza: In music, Allegrezza means to be performed brightly. It is cheerful, joyful. The Allegrezza wine is a Roussanne, a Rhona white similar in character to Viognier. It is typically a wine with pronounced florals, grass or citrus tones, and is lighter in both color and flavor than a Chardonnay, but softer or rounder in flavor than most Sauvignon Blancs. It is also sometimes used as a blending wine to soften deep reds.
Appoggiatura: In Italian, appoggiatura means roughly "to lean against." In music, it is a leaning note, a type of grace note that supports and is held for half the length of the note that follows it. For an interesting take on the apppoggiatura, listen to this story from NPR. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/13/146818461/the-ballad-of-the-tearful-why-some-songs-make-you-cry
Appassionato: Impassioned, played with strong emotion. At Rhapsody, the Appassionato is a Syrah, a rich red wine also known in some regions as "Shiraz". Syrah is a big red, but can taste lush and velvety.
Fortissimo: In music, fortissimo means to be played loudly. Wine which has been fortified means that it has had another alcohol, often brandy, added during or after fermentation. Fortissimo is Rhapsody's Port, a sweet, strong dark red dessert wine.
Mezzo: Moderately, in the middle. A voice between soprano and contralto is a Mezzo. The Mezzo wine at Rhapsody in a Zinfandel, which is a moderate red wine often characterized by pronounced fruit, often the essence of berries, on both the nose and the palate.
Sotto Voce: In a quiet, soft voice. Sotto Voce is Rhapsody's premier and very limited reserve blend. It is based on Syrah, which can be complex, both rich and delicate, with other Rhapsody grapes (most likely Roussanne). Blaine describes Sotto Voce as particularly subtle, a wine that evolves on the tongue and through its exposure to oxygen.
Wine Terms
I have already posted a link to a Wine Enthusiast wine glossary that should be useful if you are unfamiliar with any wine terms, but I will also be adding to my own list as jargon or winemaking terms are used in Sotto Voce.
Brix: The Brix scale is a system used to measure the sugar content of grapes and wine, which ultimately determines its alcohol content. Each degree Brix is equivalent to 1 gram of sugar per 100 grams of grape juice. The grapes for most table wines have a Brix reading between 20 and 25 at harvest. About 55 to 60 percent of the sugar is converted into alcohol, so multiplying the Brix by .55 will provide and estimate of the alcohol content of the wine. Grapes with 20 Brix will make a wine with about 11 percent alcohol.
Cap: After grapes are initially crushed, the juice and skins are stored in containers for the early stages of fermentation, where they form a solid top, or "cap", which is "punched", or pushed and stirred, each day to break the material up and help the3 fermentation process.
Crush: Both a verb and a noun in winemaking, crush is both the period of time right after harvest when grapes are crushed and the act of crushing the grapes, typically with a machine called a crusher-destemmer. This starts the fermentation process.
Free Run: The free run is juice obtained from grapes that have been crushed and perhaps fermented, but not pressed. This is the purest and generally considered the highest quality juice.
Glassy-winged Sharpshooter: The Glassy-winged Sharpshooter is a leafhopper insect that damages a variety of plants. They are a significant threat to grape crops both as a host for lethal Pierce's Disease and by feeding on plants. GWS lay a mass of eggs on the underside of leaves, and cover them with powdery white protective secretions. After the nymphs hatch, they feed within the vascular system of the small stems on the plant where the eggs were deposited.
Malolactic Fermentation: Also known as malo or MLF (not that MLF...), a secondary fermentation in wines by lactic acid bacteria during which tart tasting malic acid is converted to softer tasting lactic acid.
Must: The combination of crushed grapes and skins that ferment together before the skins are pressed and separated from the juice.
Oenology/Enology: The chemistry/science of winemaking. It can be spelled either way, and represents the "E" in college "EVO" (enology & viticulture) programs.
Pierce's Disease: Pierce's disease is caused by a strain of the bacterium that kills grapevines by clogging their water-conducting vessels (xylem). According to the University of California, the disease destroyed more than 1,000 acres of grapevines in Northern California between 1994 and 2000, causing $30 million in damages. There is currently no known cure for Pierce's disease. Researchers have developed hybrid grape stock that has shown promise resisting Pierce's disease.
Powdery Mildew: Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that can significantly reduce crop production. It is controlled through chemical methods, genetic resistance and careful farming methods.
Press: Both a noun and a verb in winemaking, a "press" is a device in which the crushed grapes, including juice and skins, are placed and "pressed" to extract and separate all of the juice from solid matter. The remaining solid matter is known as the "cake".
Viticulture: The agricultural science of grape-growing and vineyard management.
Worm: The 'screw' in a corkscrew.
Comments
You're welcome! I'm glad it helps.
This is very helpful, thank for doing this.
THANK YOU!! I'm really glad you're enjoying it. Notes like this mean a lot to everyone who writes, myself included. Sotto Voce will keep reposting regularly, absolutely. It's going to be a reasonably lengthy story, so I'm pacing myself! So far, I'm having no problem posting to a regular weekly schedule. It typically updates Sunday evenings, Pacific time (thought RL has gotten in the way once or twice).And just a reminder to anyone reading this, Sotto Voce got caught in that awful S&C programming glitch, so if you rely on that home page "Most recent updates" section, this story will never appear there again. The admins graciously updated manually for me once, but also let me know they would never do it again. There are a few ways to follow: Remember that it updates on Sundays, "favorite" it so you get email reminders of updates (that IS working, thankfully), follow it on AO3 or follow me on tumblr at GirlieSportsJunkie, where I post reminders and previews.
Ok so this story is absolutely incredible. The knowledge behind all of the wine and the instant attraction to want to know more about the relationship between Kurt and Blaine and knowing that Kurt needs to stay unbiased for the competition, the knowledge of Sebastian's past with Blaine that will surely come up and possibly him even trying something with Kurt, and also knowing that Kurt only has one year and a time limit to this whole competition has me truly entranced in this story. It's beautifully written and I would absolutely love to read more. If you have this posted somewhere else with more chapters or just haven't updated yet, please just let me know either way because this story is incredible and all I want to do is read more!! Please keep going. :)-Jackie
<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7ys11wYTp1ql8qts.gif" alt="Cheers!" width="245" height="245" />
oooh i love klaine and i love wine = perfect combination
This is wonderful. I can't wait for you to continue it.
I'm so glad you did this, because when I think "worm" and drinking, I usually think tequila.. (: Thanks for doing this!
<img src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130113215332/glee/images/7/72/Blaine_wink.gif" alt="" width="500" height="282" />
THANK YOU! (and it will be updating ealy today because of Easter stuff later on...) For the terminology, have you looked at the Sotto Voce Glossary yet? I'm trying to make sure I keep it up-to-date with any technical wine terms. If anything's missing, just drop me a note and I'll try to add it. :)
I have recently found this story and have really enjoyed it, although I do not understand all the terms, that has in no way veered my attention from the overall story. I hope this is updated again soon.
THANK U FOR THE INFOMATION, NOW U NEED TO UPDATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I need to re-read this story! :) hoping that there are more chapters to come!
Every Sunday, and wrapping up this month... Thanks!
this is a lovely story. i hope you are able to update soon, i can't wait for more.
Girlie, hope you are OK, not hurt or anything else. I starter worrying about you come 7:00 pm eastern time. I hope you were out just having some fun. Thanks for a great, great story beautifully written. Your a genius.
Right here: http://www.scarvesandcoffee.net/viewstory.php?sid=7518&chapter=25
Where is the epulag.