Wine Terms - Have You Ever Heard of Plonk?

In a recent conversation, the term “plonk” came up. And there was the question “What is Plonk?”

Word has it that plonk came from Australian soldiers during World War I, who borrowed the term from a playful mispronunciation of the French vin blanc (meaning “white wine”). But, over time, the meaning has broadened to refer not just to white wine but any inexpensive or cheap wine.

Others have noted that the word “Plonk” sounds like something being dropped or plunked down, which may have reinforced the association with something low-grade.

“Plonk” is most commonly used in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, but you’ll also certainly hear it in the U.S. too.

It doesn’t always imply terrible wine—just cheap or unrefined.

Some keys to identifying “Plonk” include:

  • Extremely generic labels: “Red Blend,” “White Wine,” “Winemaker’s Selection” with no detail

  • No listed vintage

  • Vague wine region listing such as “European Union” instead of a specific country/area

  • Ultra-low prices

  • Heavy oak flavoring from chips or staves

  • High residual sugar to otherwise hide any flaws

So, now you know. If someone refers to a wine as being real “Plonk” they are using slang to say the wine is not good.

Here’s to drinking good wine! Cheers!

Here is a Little Help with Some Obscure Wine Descriptions

The “wine world” can be a bit confusing. And, some of the terminology can seemingly make no sense. So, let’s take a look at a few obscure terms and what they mean…

Angular - A wine can be described as being “Angular” when it has sharp or pronounced flavors in your mouth. The most common is a wine with high acidity being described as “angular.” Also, a young red wine can have a higher amount of tannin which can result in a extreme mouthfeel of dryness or astringency.

Chewy - Wines that are described as “chewy” are in reference to their bold tannin. These tannin compounds can make your mouth feel dry making you want to chew or otherwise clean out your mouth.

Clean - These wines are typically higher in acidity and refreshing. They have no off-flavors.

Fat - A ‘fat’ wine refers to the fact that it big and bold in flavor, but not in a good way. It can feel heavy in your mouth usually due to it lacking balanced acidity.

Flabby - Flabby wines lack acidity and structure making them taste dull or out of balance.

Grippy - This has to do with the mouthfeel of a wine due to big and bold tannins. These wines create a noticeable drying or puckering sensation in your mouth.

Lively - These wines are high in acidity resulting in a refreshing, invigorating experience.

Minerality - This refers to non-fruity, non-herbal, non-spicy characteristics in a wine that remind tasters of stones, wet rocks, chalk, flint, or even salty sea air.

Stemmy - A ‘stemmy’ wine has green, herbal and sometimes bitter characteristics that comes from the wine being fermented in whole clusters, i.e., with the stems.

These are just a few of the many terms that get thrown around in the wine world. Hope this helps in your future wine tasting encounters. Cheers!

Reserva is Actually a Meaningful Term When It Appears on a Spanish Wine Label

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

In the U.S., the term “Reserve” on a wine label is not legally regulated. It can just be a marketing term to get consumer to believe the wine is somehow better than others. Or, it can actually mean that the winery has indeed gone above and beyond with higher quality grapes, longer aging or limited production. So, it’s buyer beware.

But, in Spain, the term "Reserva" is a legally regulated classification that indicates both minimum aging requirements and often a higher quality level compared to standard wines.

The term “Reserva” is regulated under Spanish wine laws (Denominación de Origen - DO, or Denominación de Origen Calificada - DOCa). A “Reserva” wine usually implies better grape selection and greater aging potential than a standard wine.

It should also be noted that “Reserva” is considered a step above "Crianza" and a step below "Gran Reserva" in aging hierarchy:

For Red (“Tinta”) wines:

  • Crianza = 2 years minimum aging with 1 year in oak

  • Reserva = 3 years minimum aging with 1 year in oak

  • Gran Reserva = 5 years total aging with 2 years in oak and 3 years in the bottle

So, next time you’re shopping for a Spanish wine, be sure to pay attention to the label. There are real differences. Cheers!

Residual Sugar in Wine: How to Convert a Percentage to Grams Per Liter and Visaversa

The amount of residual sugar (RS) in wine can be reported either in grams per liter (g/L) or as a percentage (%). They are just two ways of specifying the same sugar concentration. But, how are the two measures related? Well, it’s actually quite simple to do the conversion.

When a wine’s residual sugar is reported in grams per liter, it specifies the grams of sugar in 100 mL of wine. This is so because a percentage is expressed per hundred. So, to briefly get a bit mathematical, since 1 liter is 1,000 milliliters, if you have a wine with a given number of grams per liter of residual sugar, you have to divide that number by 10 to to get the value per 100 milliliters so that it can be expressed as a percentage.

Simply put:

  • To convert grams per liter to a percentage: % sugar = grams per liter divided by 10

    • % Sugar = g/L ÷ 10

  • To convert a percentage to grams per liter: Grams/L = Percentage x 10

    • g/L = % x 10

So, a wine 5 g/L of residual sugar is 0.5% sugar (5 ÷ 10) and a wine that has 2% residual sugar has 20 g/L (2 x 10 = 20 g/L)

Here are some typical amounts of residual sugar in typical wines: