You know the deal; the more some folks learn about a topic, the more shortcuts/slang/acronyms/initials/technical jargon can be tossed around.  I’m here to help you understand those sometimes mysterious words and phrases, thus – Wine Words Demystified!

This week’s word is Brix…

According to Karen MacNeil‘s The Wine Bible:

A measure of the sugar content of grapes before they are harvested.  Used to estimate the ALCOHOL content of the resulting wine

Brix are measured in degrees.  It is an approximation rather than an exact measurement.  Each degree Brix is equivalent to 1g sugar per 100g juice.

It’s pretty common, when reading about a wine or talking to winemaker, for the degrees brix to be mentioned (e.g. the grapes for this wine were picked at 22 degrees brix)

Brix may be measured with an instrument like this…

Though at larger wineries, it may be measured by a digital density meter, or an infrared spectroscopy measuring energy absorption by molecular bonds (now you know why so many winemakers have backgrounds in the sciences!)

Here’s your takeaway regarding brix.  Mind-numbing scientific explanations aside, winemakers and vineyard managers measure brix to help determine when to harvest grapes.  The higher the brix measurement, the higher the sugar content of the grapes.  And the sugar content of the grapes is a key factor in determining the style of wine that will be produced. 

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• Wine Words Demystified – Dosage (enofylzwineblog.com)
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