To all you wine aficionados out there… 

You know wine, right? And all about the differences between red and white, dry and sweet? Fabulous! But, did you know that there is so much more that goes into wine? There is even preferred terminology when it comes to tasting wine.

When you hear the description “young, mature, brilliant and sweet,” you might think that is the description of an individual, but those are terms also used to describe wines. “Young” means that the wine is immature and is usually bottled and sold within a year of its vintage (the year a wine is harvested). Wines that are meant to be enjoyed “young” are noted for their fresh and crisp flavors.  

As one might expect, a mature wine means that the wine is ready to enjoy. “Brilliant” is a tasting note for wines that appear sparkling clear. Sweet wines have perceptive sugar contents on the nose and in the mouth.  

These are additional wine tasting terms:

• Acidity - the liveliness and crispness in wine that activates our salivary glands
• Aeration - the deliberate addition of oxygen to round out and soften a wine
• Balance - when the elements of wine – acids, sugars, tannins and alcohol – come together in a harmonious way
• Bitter – a taste sensation often caused by tannins 
• Blend – a wine made from more than one grape varietal 
• Complex – a wine exhibiting numerous aromas, nuances and flavors 
• Corked – a term that denotes a wine that has suffered cork taint 
• Demi-sec – French term meaning “half-dry” used to describe sweet sparkling wine 
• Earthy – an odor or flavor reminiscent of damp soil 
• Fermentation – the conversion of grape sugars to alcohol by yeast 
• Finish – the impression of textures and flavors lingering in the mouth after swallowing wine 
• Foxy – a term that describes the musty odor and flavor of wines made from vitis labrusca,a common North America varietal 
• Hot – a description for wine that is high in alcohol 
• Lees – sediment consisting of dead yeast cells, grape pulp, seed and other grape matter that accumulates during fermentation 
• Leesy – a tasting term for the rich aromas and smells that results from wine resting on its lees
• Mouth-feel – how a wine feels on the palate; for example: rough, smooth, velvety or furry
• Nose – a tasting term describing the aromas and bouquets of a wine
• Oak/oaky – tasting term denoting smells and flavors of vanilla, baking spices, coconut, mocha or dill caused by barrel-aging 
• Tannins – the phenolic compounds in wines that leave a bitter, dry and puckery feeling in the mouth
• Yield – the productivity of a vineyard