We want wine to be as approachable as possible, so we’re building a dictionary for some of the terms you will come across when reading more about wine. If you ever find a term you don’t understand, we would love to help.

• Lees

  Lees are the yeast from fermentation that have turned sugar into alcohol until they die. They then fall to the bottom of the vessel they are held in. Gross Lees are larger and normally separated from the wine when they die. Fine Lees are much smaller, so they hang around longer. They can be filtered out, but wines are often aged on these lees to add more body and weight to the wine. Lees impart flavors of yeast(duh), almond, and hay, and can be found in Chardonnay, Muscadet, and all Champagne.

• Residual Sugar (RS)

  Residual sugar is the amount of sugar that remains after a wine’s fermentation has stopped. It is usually represented in Grams per Liter (ex. 10 grams RS). Yeasts convert sugar into alcohol, but they do not usually consume all of the sugar, because too much alcohol can kill yeast or because the winemaker has stopped fermentation on purpose to leave a certain amount of sweetness. The Residual Sugar is a major factor in the sweetness of a wine, but may not fully determine the sweetness of a wine