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Glossary of Portuguese Terms
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Adega: A building
containing lagares (fermentation tanks) in which the wine is
made.
Aguardente:
Brandy; the white spirit used for fortification.
Alambique:
Spirit still, used in Douro for making bagaceira.
Aloirado:
The Portuguese term sometimes used for "tawny"
Armazém: A
building used for the storage of wine; generally called a "lodge"
in
Gaia
and in Douro.
Bagaceira:
A drink destilled from Bagaço.
Bagaço: The
pressed skins, seeds and stalks of the grapes.
Balseiro:
Upstanding wooden vat.
Baumé: A
winemaking term, used mostly in Europe, describing the sugar
content of the
grapes, must and wines.
Barco Rabelo:
Traditional Douro boat, gondola-shaped and with a sail and a
long
paddle
for steering, used until this century for transporting casks
of
Port down-river to Vila Nova de Gaia.
Branco:
White - as in vinho branco and Porto branco.
Cadastino:
Registry of vineyards, graded "A" to "H"
on the basis of points awarded
for
variables connected with land (26 per cent), vine (30 per cent)
and
climate (44 per cent).
Casta: Grape
variety.
Cesto da Vindima:
Harvesting basket.
Colheita: Vintage.
Used, more particularly, to refer to aged tawnies made from
a
single vintage.
Cuba:
Vat. Upstanding large wooden storage container, sometimes made
of concrete.
Cuba de fermentação:
Fermentation tank, made either of concrete stainless steel,
or
resin painted steel.
Cuba de cimento:
Concrete vat used
for storage.
Dorna:
Small tank in front of a lagar used for adding spirit
as the must draw off.
Engarrafadores: Producers
of estate-bottled Port.
Lagar:
The traditional vessel for fermenting Port. Made of stone, it
is a large,
rectangular,
shallow and open vat where a handful of workers tread the cap
of
must down into the juice to assure proper extraction during
fermentation.
Manta:
The "cap" of grape skins and seeds which rises to
the top of fermenting grape
juice.
Mortórios:
"Mortuaries" - The name given to vine terraces either
abandoned or
planted with olive trees after the phylloxera plague.
Mosto:
Must - The fermenting grape juice prior to fortification on
to becoming wine.
Patamar:
A vineyard terrace; specifically, one with slightly sloping
shoulders
and no retaining wall, made by bulldozing along the contours
of a hillside.
Pipa:
A "pipe" is a cask of variable capacity containing
wine. The Douro measurement is
550 litres;
a Vila Nova de Gaia lodge-pipe for storage normally contains
620
litres.
Tonel:
A large wooden Cask, of a variable capacity from about 20 to
60 pipes, for
storing wine.
Uva: Grapes.
Videira:
A vine.
Vindima:
The vintage.
Vinha: A
vineyard.
Vinho: Wine. |
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