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Demystifying Wine Tasting Language
- Aftertaste
- The flavor that lingers in your mouth after you swallow the wine. The length of the aftertaste is perhaps the single most reliable indicator of wine quality (see Finish).
- Aroma
- The primary smell of a young, unevolved wine, consisting of the odors of the grape juice itself, of the fermentation process, and, if relevant, of the oak barrels in which the wine was made or aged.
- Astringent
- Having mouth puckering tannins; such a wine may merely need time to soften.
- Austere
- Tough, dry and unforthcoming, often due to a severe tannic structure or simply to the extreme youth of a wine.
- Balance
- The ratio of a wine's key components, including fruitiness, sweetness, acidity, tannin and alcoholic strength. A balanced wine shows a harmony of components, with no single element dominating.
- Body
- The weight of a wine on the palate, determined by its alcoholic strength and level of extract (see Extract). Wines are typically described as ranging from light-bodied to full-bodied.
- Bouquet
- The richer, more complex fragrances that develop as a wine ages.
- Closed
- Not especially aromatic, most likely due to recent bottling or to the particular stage of the wine's development. Dumbis a synonym.
- Corked, Corky
- Contaminated by a tainted cork (affected by a mold known as 2,4,6-trichloroanisole), which gives the wine a musty, wet cardboard smell. Bad corks are a major problem, as they can ruin otherwise sound bottles. By most accounts 2 to 5 bottles out of 100 are affected by bad corks.
- Crisp
- Refreshing, thanks to sound acidity.
- Earthy
- Can be a component of complexity deriving from the wine's distinctive soil character or a pejorative description for a rustic wine.
- Extract
- Essentially the minerals and other trace elements in a wine; sugar-free dry extract is everything in a wine except water, sugar, acids and alcohol. High extract often gives wine a dusty, tactile impression of density. It frequently serves to buffer, or mitigate, high alcohol or strong acidity.
- Fat
- Rich to the point of being unctuous, with modest balancing acidity.
- Finish
- The final taste left by a sip of wine after you swallow. Wines can be said to have long or short finishes (see Aftertaste).
- Firm
- Perceptibly tannic and/or acidic, in a positive way.
- Flabby
- Lacking acidity and therefore lacking shape.
- Fruity
- Aromas and flavors that derive from the grape, as opposed to the winemaking process or the barrels in which the wine was aged.
- Green
- Too acid, raw or herbal; this may be due to under ripe grapes or stems but may simply mean the wine needs time to develop.
- Grip
- An emphatically firm, tactile finish.
- Hard
- Too tannic or acidic; often a characteristic of a wine that needs more time in bottle.
- Hot
- Noticeably alcoholic.
- Jammy
- Slightly cooked flavors of jam rather than fresh fruit, often a characteristic of red wines from hot climates.
- Lean
- Lacking flesh and body. Not necessarily pejorative, as some types of wines are lean by nature.
- Middle Palate
- Literally, the part of the tasting experience between the nose of the wine and its finish. The impact of a wine in the mouth.
- Mouth Feel
- The physical impression of a wine in the mouth; its texture.
- Nose
- The aroma or bouquet of a wine.
- Oaky
- Smell or taste of the oak cask in which the wine was vinified and/or aged; oak notes can include such elements as vanilla, clove, cinnamon, cedar, smoke, toast, bourbon and coffee.
- Oxidized
- Possessing a tired or stale taste due to excessive exposure to air. An oxidized white wine may have a darker than normal or even brown color.
- Powerful
- Generally high in alcohol and/or extract.
- Sharp
- Unpleasantly bitter or hard-edged.
- Soft
- Low in tannin and/or acidity.
- Spritz
- The faint prickle on the tongue of carbon dioxide (pétillancein French), generally found in young, light white wines.
- Steely
- An almost metallic taste often noted in wines high in acidity and/or made from mineral-rich soil —especially Riesling. Supple, round and smooth, as opposed to noticeably tannic or acidic.
- Sweet
- A term applied not just to wines with significant residual sugar but also to those that show outstanding richness or ripeness.
- Tart
- Noticeably acidic.
- Tough
- Generally, a red wine that shows excessive tannin.
- Vinous
- Literally wine-like, in terms of liveliness and acidity; but often used to describe the overall impression conveyed by a wine beyond simple fruitiness. This can include subtle flavors that come from the soil that produced the grapes, as well as from the winemaking and aging process.
- Volatile
- Slightly vinegary due to a high level of acetic acid, referred to as volatile acidity (VA). But a minimum level of VA often helps to project a wine's aromas without resulting in an unstable bottle. "High-toned" is jargon for faintly volatile, and is not necessarily pejorative.
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