Glossary

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• Acetic

  A taste that develops usually from being exposed to oxygen. It tastes in varying degrees like vinegar.

• Acidity

  Acid is the ingredient that gives wines their "life" or "crispness" - all wines, including red need to have enough acid. Wines made for aging need more acid to survive the aging process. Tasters commonly refer to wines high in acid as "youthful".

• Aroma

  The smell

• Aromatic

  Fancy name for characters identified in the way a wine smells - most commonly used for floral and herbaceous tones.

• Astringent

  Usually describes a wine with high "tannin".

• Austere

  Normally describes a wine with restrained fruit character, and sometimes used to describe a wine with very restrained taste overall.

• Balance

  Describes how well the various taste components of a wine exist with each other. Namely the fruit, acid, tannin, alcohol and wood characters seem to complement each other well.

• Big

  Normally used to describe a big-bodied wine - the liquid has a "thick" consistency. Can also be used to describe flavours that are very forward or a high alcohol content.

• Bitter

  Taste descriptor. In some wines it may be a fault.

• Body

  The weight and texture of a wine. The liquid has a "thick" consistency.

• Bouquet

  The smell of the wine. Technically used to refer to the smell of an aged wine, however is increasingly used to refer to young wines as well.

• Buttery

  Taste descriptor used to describe rich, rounded oily flavours. Often associated with wooded Chardonnay's or aged Semillon. Also often a result of malo lactic fermentation.

• Chewy

  Often associated as a descriptor for big bodied wines, or wines with a high amount of tannin.

• Clean

  Refers to a wine with no obvious faults or defects.

• Closed

  Refers to wines where the flavours do not readily reveal themselves, both smell and taste.

• Complex

  A wine that demonstrates a number of different flavour components.

• Cooked

  An overripe, hot, sometimes burnt flavour to the wine. Can describe a wine that has been damaged by heat, or a wine that has been produced in a hot climate.

• Corked, cork taint

  A fault caused by a faulty cork. Results in a dull wine when evident in lesser amounts, and a mouldy smell in large amounts.

• Crisp

  Usually refers to high acidity, but in a positive way.

• Deep

  Refers to either an opaque colour or a full colour tone to the wine.

• Delicate

  Lightness in either smell, taste or touch. Or all!

• Developed

  Refers to how the wine has changed with age.

• Distinctive

  A character that is unique to the wine, or that is recognisable above the other flavours.

• Dry

  A wine that is not sweet! Dryness is actually a difficult concept in wine - most still table wine is technically "dry" but many tasters will taste some sweet flavours, usually provided by fruit or alcohol.

• Dull

  Usually describes a lack of the proper amount of acid in a wine.

• Dumb

  A negative term to describe a wine that is not giving off its flavour elements in taste or smell.

• Earthy

  Smell or flavour like earth or soil. Can be dry and dusty or damp and soil like. This is not a negative, although many think it is - it is merely another flavour descriptor.

• Elegant

  Normally describes lighter style of wine of a high, complex standard.

• Fat

  A heavy bodied wine. Sometimes describes the way the wine "spreads" over the tongue in a wide, coating manner when tasted.

• Finish

  The aftertaste, especially the length of flavour. A great wine's flavour will linger in the mouth - a short wine is not a good thing!

• Firm

  Usually describes a wine that is "tight" in structure - sometimes difficult to separate the flavour elements.

• Flat

  Dull, usually a wine lacking in acid.

• Flavour

  The taste of the wine.

• Fleshy

  A combination of the body of the wine and the forwardness of the fruit - a "fleshy" wine normally has up-front fruit and a heavy body.

• Flinty

  A dry, minerally character that is often associated with Rieslings.

• Flowery / Floral

  Smell of flowers. (Sometimes taste too!)

• Forward

  The flavours of the wine, or one its components, "jump" out at the taster. Quite often associated with fruit characters.

• Fruity

  Smell and Taste characters of fruit, most often the following - apple, blackcurrant, cherry, citrus, pear, peach, raspberry, or strawberry.

• Full-bodied

  A large weighted wine, often with full flavour

• Green

  A sour or tart character that suggests unripe fruit. It can confusingly also be used to describe grassy, herbaceous characters.

• Grip

  Most often used to describe the texture of the wine's tannins and suggests at a long finish.

• Hard

  A "tough" wine to drink. Normally associated with high tannin, but can also suggest high acidity.

• Harsh

  Too much tannin or acidity.

• Herbaceous

  Flavours or smells consistent with herbal, grassy or hay characters. Often mint, thyme, rosemary, sage, all spice and pepper are named as spice or herb characters.

• Honest

  Simple, uncomplicated wines with good flavour and no flaws.

• Legs

  The runs of wine that drip down the side of a wine glass after it is swirled. Suggestive of the weight or body of the wine and the alcohol content. The thicker and "slower" the legs dissipate, the weightier and higher the alcohol.

• Length

  The aftertaste, or lingering of the flavour of the wine.

• Light

  Refers to the weight or body of the wine.

• Lively

  Usually describes a high acid content that "lifts" the wine.

• Long

  A "long" wine has a good finish, or a lingering aftertaste.

• Maderised

  An oxidized wine, usually brown in colour. Usually a fault from aging.

• Mature

  A wine that has been aged to peak drinking.

• Meaty

  A full bodied wine with firm tannin, solid acid and fruit flavours. Copes with full flavoured meat meals!!

• Mellow

  A smooth wine, soft, easy to drink.

• Mouldy

  A wine that smells of mould or a rotting smell. Can be caused by cork taint or actual mould or bacteria infiltrating the wine.

• Muscular

  A full flavoured and full bodied wine - usually has good tannin and acid levels.

• Musty

  Stale, wardrobe-like smells - sometimes caused by cork taint.

• Nose

  The smell of the wine

• Nutty

  Nut-like characteristics in the smell or taste of the wine

• Oak

  Flavour and smell of oak or wood - this comes from the aging in oak barrels. Often gives characters of smoke, vanilla, chocolate and charcoal.

• Open

  A wine that is very forward in its characters

• Oxidised

  The wine has become "off" due to too much oxygen exposure. It gives off a dull, vinegary flavour.

• Rich

  A full, potent flavour, often complex..

• Ripe

  Mature, fully ripened fruit characters.

• Rough

  A wine of harsh flavours, often from acid or tannin.

• Round

  Smooth and well-developed flavour, with little coarseness from acid or tannin.

• Sharp

  Extremely prominent acid.

• Short

  An abupt finish. Hardly any linger in aftertaste.

• Silky

  A smooth, soft texture to the wine, often associated with tannin.

• Simple

  A very straightforward wine of little complexity.

• Smoky

  Smell and taste character hinting at smoke - derived mainly from the use of oak.

• Soft

  Would refer mainly to the tannin or fruit texture.

• Sour

  One of the four primary taste descriptors; sourness is mainly an acidic sensation.

• Spicy

  Wines that have a spice-like flavour will include flavours such as clove, mint, cinnamon, or pepper.

• Spritz

  A slight prickle of carbon dioxide, either just short of being fully sparking, or more a fault as it appears in a still wine. It is sometimes done purposely by a winemaker in a still wine to give a sensation of "liveliness" to the wine.

• Steely

  A high acidity leading to a steel like flavour sensation. Often found in Riesling.

• Structure

  The way the wine is "put together" - the sum of all the wines components, including the fruit, acid, alcohol, tannin and oak.

• Sturdy

  A full-bodied wine with good length. Often also meaning that the wine is well balanced.

• Sulphur, SO2

  An anti-oxidant used in making most wines as a preservative.

• Supple

  A wine that adapts to circumstance - will match most foods, weather and situations.

• Sweet

  Sweet is fairly self-explanatory. It can be built into wines by not converting all sugar during fermentation to alcohol, or adding unfermented grape juice to the must. Technically "dry" table wines can also have elements of sweetness produced by ripe fruit and alcohol.

• Tannin

  Tannin is produced from the skins, pips and stems of grapes and is most prominent in red wines where the wine is made by being in contact with the skins for longer. It is represented by a dry, puckering sensation like that found in strong tea. Tannin is a component that helps red wine age, and during this process is forms sediment in the bottle.

• Tart

  A sharp, sour taste in acid flavours.

• Thick

  A heavy bodied wine.

• Thin

  Lacking in body or with little flavour.

• Tired

  A wine that is on the downward spiral in the aging process. Past its best.

• Tough

  A hard or tannic wine, often very dry.

• Vanilla

  Having the taste or smell of vanilla. Produced through use of oak.

• Velvety

  A smooth wine that is not quite as "soft" as being "silky".

• Vinegary

  Having the smell of vinegar, often through being oxidized.

• Volatile, Volatile Acidity (VA)

  Smells of acetic acid and/or ethyl acetate, quite disagreeable when excessive though a tiny amount may enhance aromas.

• Watery

  Lacking in flavour and/or quite small in weight or body.

• Weak

  Lacking flavour or length.

• Weighty

  Strong, full-bodied

• Woody

  Excessive aromas of wood, common to wines aged overlong in cask or barrel.

• Yeasty

  A bready smell, often associated with Sparkling wines.

• Young

  Often indicates high acid and/or tannin. Hints at the fact that the wine may improve with aging.