Wine Word of the Week: Topping up

This week’s Wine Word of the Week is topping up.

Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Topping up, ouillage in French is the operation of refilling any sort of wooden container to replace wine lost through evaporation. The container should be kept full or nearly full lest the ubiquitous acetobacter use oxygen from the head space to start the process of transforming wine into vinegar. The well-run winery will have a strict regimen of topping up all wooden containers on a regular basis.

Layman’s terms from Kori:
Topping up is the process of adding wine to a barrel to replace any wine that was lost through evaporation.

Wine Word of the Week: Topping up was originally posted on Wine Peeps. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.