TASTING
TERMS
Wine “lingo”
was established to create some common descriptors
that could be used when discussing such
a highly subjective drink. Using these words
helps others understand your interpretation
of a wine, and can come in handy at your
local wine retailer or restaurant. But don’t
feel pressured to have to use any of these
descriptors. You can describe a wine in
any terms you want. It is easier if you
think of wine tasting terms as those that
describe how the wine smells and those that
describe how it tastes or feels in the mouth.
The following are a few basic tasting terms
you may have heard:
acidic: Wines need natural acidity
to taste fresh and lively, but an excess
of acidity results in an acidic wine that
is tart and sour.
barnyard: An unclean, farmyard,
fecal aroma that is imparted to a wine because
of unclean barrels or unsanitary winemaking
facilities.
body: The viscosity of
the wine (a wine can be as thin as water
or as thick as cream)
big: High in alcohol. A
big wine is a large-framed, full-bodied
wine with an intense and concentrated feel
on the palate.
blackcurrant: A pronounced
smell of blackcurrant fruit is commonly
associated with certain Rhône wines.
It can vary in intensity from faint to very
deep and rich.
bouquet: “Don’t
ever use this word when describing wine!”
buttery: A buttery wine
is one with the taste or aroma of butter
or butterscotch. It is usually used to describe
white wines and often results from the wine’s
time in contact with yeast during barrel
fermentation.
chewy: If a wine has a
rather dense, viscous texture from a high
glycerin content, it is often referred to
as being chewy. High-extract wines from
great vintages can often be chewy, largely
because they have higher alcohol hence high
levels of glycerin, which imparts a fleshy
mouthfeel.
complex: One of the most
subjective descriptive terms used, a complex
wine is a wine that the taster never gets
bored with and finds interesting to drink.
Complex wines tend to have a variety of
subtle scents and flavors that hold one's
interest in the wine.
concentrated: Fine wines,
whether they are light-, medium-, or full-bodied,
should have concentrated flavors. Concentrated
denotes that the wine has a depth and richness
of fruit that gives it appeal and interest.
Deep is a synonym for concentrated.
crisp: High in fruit acidity
(in a positive way)
earthy: May be used in
both a negative and a positive sense; however,
I prefer to use earthy to denote a positive
aroma of fresh, rich, clean soil. Earthy
is a more intense smell than woody or truffle
scents.
fat: full-bodied. A hot
year for the crop causes wines to attain
a super sort of maturity, where they are
often quite rich and concentrated with low
to average acidity. Often such wines are
said to be fat, which is a prized commodity.
finish: the wine’s
aftertaste
flabby: Not enough acid.
A wine that is too fat or obese is a flabby
wine. Flabby wines lack structure and are
heavy to taste.
fruity: The fruit the wine
is made from (the grape) or another fruit
flavor is perceptible
green: Green wines are
wines made from underripe grapes; they lack
richness and generosity as well as having
a vegetal character. Green wines are infrequently
made in the Rhone, although vintages such
as 1977 were characterized by a lack of
ripening.
jammy: When wines have
a great intensity of fruit from excellent
ripeness they can be jammy, which is a very
concentrated, flavorful wine with superb
extract. In great vintages such as 1961,
1978, 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1995, some of
the wines are so concentrated that they
are said to be jammy.
musty: Wines aged in dirty
barrels or unkept cellars or exposed to
a bad cork take on a damp, musty character
that is a flaw.
oaky: Can taste the oak
imparted from aging in an oak barrel. Many
red Rhône wines are aged from 6 months
to 30 months in various sizes of oak barrels.
At some properties, a percentage of the
oak barrels may be new, and these barrels
impart a toasty, vanillin flavor and smell
to the wine. If the wine is not rich and
concentrated, the barrels can overwhelm
the wine, making it taste overly oaky. Where
the wine is rich and concentrated and the
winemaker has made a judicious use of barrels,
however, the results are a wonderful marriage
of fruit and oak.
peppery: A peppery quality
to a wine is usually noticeable in many
Rhône wines that have an aroma of
black or white pepper and a pungent flavor.
plummy: Rich, concentrated
wines can often have the smell and taste
of ripe plums. When they do, the term plummy
is applicable.
raisiny: Late-harvest wines
that are meant to be drunk at the end of
a meal can often be slightly raisiny, which
in some ports and sherries is desirable.
However, a raisiny quality is a major flaw
in a dinner wine.
spicy: Wines often smell
quite spicy with aromas of pepper, cinnamon,
and other well-known spices. These pungent
aromas are usually lumped together and called
spicy.
tannic: The tannins of
a wine, which are extracted from the grape
skins and stems, are, along with a wine's
acidity and alcohol, its lifeline. Tannins
give a wine firmness and some roughness
when young, but gradually fall away and
dissipate. A tannic wine is one that is
young and unready to drink. "Hard"
wines are too tanic while "Soft"
wines are not.
tobacco: Some red wines
have the scent of fresh tobacco. It is a
distinctive and wonderful smell in wine.
vegetal: An undesirable
characteristic, wines that smell and taste
vegetal are usually made from unripe grapes.
In some wines, a subtle vegetable garden
smell is pleasant and adds complexity, but
if it is the predominant character, it is
a major flaw.
woody: When a wine is overly
oaky it is often said to be woody. Oakiness
in a wine's bouquet and taste is good up
to a point. Once past that point, the wine
is woody and its fruity qualities are masked
by excessive oak aging.
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