Native Yeast: Yeast occurring naturally in the winery.

Natural Farming: The use of agricultural techniques with the least impact on the natural balance of the environment.

Nematodes: Microscopic worms that live in the soil and feed on vine roots. Nematodes can stunt the growth of vines, and transmit viral diseases.

Oidium: Another name for powdery mildew, the fungi that can cause severe damage to grape crops.

Phenolics: A large group of compounds, found in grapes and wine, including many color, tannin and flavor compounds.

Phylloxera: A tiny louse that attacks the root system of wine grape vines, responsible for killing over three million acres of vines in Europe in the 1800s. Grafting to resistant rootstock is the only known way to combat this pest.

Pomace: The debris from grape processing which consists of stems, seeds, pulp and dead yeast cells. It can be distilled into brandy and is also called press cake.

Post-Fermentation Maceration: Skin contact with red wines following fermentation. Also called "extended skin contact," the process extracts flavor compounds, color and tannin, resulting in greater varietal character and more developed tannins.

Powdery Mildew: One of several fungi that can cause severe damage to grape crops; also called oidium.

Pruning: Cutting back the vegetative part of the vine after it has become dormant. Pruning affects the size and quality of the next year's crop.

Pump-Overs: The pumping of fermenting red wine over the cap of skins to extract more flavor, color and tannin from the skins.