An important step in mastering any subject is learning its jargon. Wine is no exception. A familiarity with the terms used to describe a wine makes tasting it more enjoyable and enables you to better share the experience.
Readers of this column know that many wines have a varietal nose; a ruby red color; and are clear, crispy, well-balanced, dry or off-dry, and so on. The words used to describe a wine are many, and the vocabulary of a wine lover flows easily, impulsively and often without the least hesitation. Words are needed to describe at least five qualities of a wine — its color or appearance; smell; taste; body and structure, or feel of a wine on the palate; and aftertaste.
THE APPEARANCE OF A WINE
Words that describe the appearance of a wine include:
Brilliant — remarkably high clarity.
Clear — transparent, without sediment or filmy cloudiness.
Cloudy — opposite of clear, indicative of something wrong with the wine.
Maderized — a wine past its prime with a brownish tinge due to oxidation or age.
Purplish — a young color, deep in red wine, indicating it will take time to mature.
Ruby — a rather dark red, often indicative of the youthfulness of a wine.
THE SMELL OF A WINE
How a wine smells is indicative of its quality. The smell of a wine is often referred to as its “nose.” Words used to describe it are:
Aroma — the perfume of a wine, derived from the grape species out of which it is made. The aroma should convey a typical varietal nose.
Bouquet — the complex smell arising with maturity in good wine.
Complex — scents within scents, suggestive of many different analogies with fruits (apples, pears), flowers (violets) or nuts (walnuts).
Corky — smell of a bottle that has a moldy cork.
Foxy — characteristic smell of the native American grape from which New York wines are mostly made, as, for example, the concord.
Heady — attractively high in alcohol.
Lively — a fresh, frank, good smell of a wine that is young and will last.
Musty — an unpleasant smell, probably from a barrel with a rotten stave.
Sour or acetic — a wine gone sour through contact with the air. Smell of vinegar.
Spicy — a wine with a pronounced and special aroma or taste, piquant but natural.
Sulphury — hot, slightly prickling to the nose. Often found in cheap white wine in which sulphur is used as a preservative. Sulphur is not harmful but should not be apparent.
Yeasty — wines with odor of yeast, or fresh bread.
TASTE OF A WINE
A large vocabulary is needed to describe the taste of wine.
Acidic — tart, freshness of natural fruit. A high acidity helps to age a wine, and make it a suitable dinner wine.
Astringent — the mouth-puckering taste quality in young red wine with much tannin. Indicative of a long-lived wine.
Bitter — excessive tannin from stems, stalks or seeds, too long in wood.
Clean — a well-made wine, well stored.
Dry — without sweetness.
Earthy — a special flavor that certain soils give to wines. Disagreeable if too pronounced, but a great Burgundy is always earthy.
Flat — lacking acidity, insipid.
Flinty — dry, clean, sharp taste usually from soils in which the vines grow.
Fruity — wines with a definite and attractive aroma and flavor of fresh fruit; true of young fine wines.
Smooth — without harshness.
Sweet — detectable amount of residual grape sugar.
Tart — too high in total acidity, green.
Thin — deficient in body; watery.
Woody — stored overly long in wood, usually oak.
FEEL OF A WINE
Words are needed to describe how a wine feels on the palate.
Big — of robust character, a compliment.
Body — the feel of a wine in the mouth, tangible to the tongue.
Fat — well-fleshed; not a desirable characteristic in itself.
Full-bodied — opposite of thin; high viscosity, weighty on the tongue.
Hard — austere, without much charm.
Nervous — vigorous and fine.
Robust — sound, sturdy, full-bodied.
Thin — deficient in body, watery, poor.
Velvety — smooth; feel in the mouth of an excellent wine that is mature, mellow, fine-textured and soft.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF A WINE
Words are needed to describe the general character of a wine.
Balanced — quality of a wine in which the sugar and acid are in harmony.
Character — when the salient taste characteristics are asserted.
Coarse — a young wine without breed, lacking finesse.
Common — ordinary wine, no outstanding characteristics.
Distinguished — an exceptional wine of balanced harmony.
Elegant — a flattering term for a truly fine wine.
Finesse — a wine with class or distinction; out of the ordinary.
Rough — poor, cheap, badly made wine.
Sturdy — wine that indicates it can stand aging.
Young — a comparative term; wine not yet at its peak, still improving.
There is no end to the words that can be used to describe a wine. Be as original as you can in describing the wine you are tasting. I have used words from the above list in talking about wines in this column.
