AVA – American Viticultural Area – The legal definition of a wine region in the United States.
Maceration – The period after the crushing of red grapes when the skins are in contact with the juice to impart color and flavor.
Tannin – Any of a number of astringent compounds that are imparted on a wine by contact with grape skins, seeds and stems, and new oak barrels. The astringency adds texture to the wine and the compounds act as preservatives allowing the wine to age. Over the course of time, the tannins in the bottle form larger compounds. These can grow to be so large that they precipitate out of the wine, resulting in sediment.
