A Guide to What All Those Wine Words Mean

If you are going to be tasting and enjoying wines, you should know what the wine words are that are. Here is a quick and simple guide that will help you know what the meanings are for. The wine words used most often to describe how tastes, looks and smells.

Feel free to grab this list with you to your next wine tasting and you will blow away your friends with your latest knowledge and terminology.

Aroma-This refers to the smell of a wine.

Austere-This term is used in tasting that portray wines that are so young they have not they develop an aroma that is detectable.

Balance-A well balanced wine is one where all the main components, the acid, alcohol, fruit and tannins are all working so well together that none stands out from another.

Bite-This is a descriptive term if what you are tasting has high-quality degree of acidity.

Bitter-A bitter taste will weigh in at the back of the tongue.

Body-When body is used as word it is meant to express the fullness or texture that is being tasted. This will be affected by the alcohol matter.

Bouquet-This is the aroma, generally of a fruity or floral spirit, that comes from the alcohol and acid.

Breathing-This is when air is allowed to merge with the wine after opening to lessen and further develop the flavor.

Clean-If a wine is described as being clean it means the wine has no foul flavors or odors.

Crisp-A crisp wine is one that has good acidity and taste without being overly sweet. The best example is to compare the expression to the crispness of an apple.

Depth-The wine word depth describes to a wine with lots of character, full of body, and has assorted distinct flavors.

Dry-A dry wine is not sweet. In dry wines all of the sugar from the grapes have, through fermentation, been changed to alcohol.

Earthy-This is a name used to explain a flavor that would draw from the soil where the grapes were grown.

Finish-This attributes to the taste or feeling that is left in the mouth after the mixture you are tasting has been swallowed.

Fruity-When a wine has the flavor or aroma of a fruit this word is used.

Hard-If a great quantity of acidity or tannins is tasted this term is used.

Oak-A lot of wines are aged in oak barrels. This progression imparts a wood or oak flavor that can be detected in some wines.

Tannin-This is a naturally found matter in wines that comes from the grape skins, pulp and stalks. Tannins are the very worthy component in the aging and taste and are responsible for the puckering property you can sometimes experience.

Thin-This term is used when the taste and body is lacking in depth and is not very exciting.

There are more wine words, but these are the most general. Start using these as you taste wines and you will actually sound like you know what you are talking about.