Wine Tasting Terminology

Choosing a wine shouldn't be stressful, it should be interesting, experimental and exciting! The more you know, the more confident you'll be about choosing a wine to suit you, your occasion and your personality.

So, let's have a look at some of the gobbledygook you will hear about wine:

Body

You hear this term used a lot in wine descriptions. So what exactly constitutes the "body" of a wine?

It's the summation of three components:

1. Ethanol:

... which generates feeling of warmth, sweetness, mouth-filling, to hot and spicy in higher concentrations. Light-bodied wines have lower alcohol concentration than full-bodied.

2. Residual sugar:

... determines the sweetness of the wine. It's basically unfermented sugar - that is, sugar that has not been coverted to alcohol during fermentation. Residual sugar also gives weight and glycerol-like smoothness to the wine..

3. Tannins:

... contribute astringency, dryness, and mouth filling sensations in red wine.

Astringency

Astringency is a tactile, drying sensation in the mouth from tannins. These can be described futher as powdery, chewy or gritty.

Ever wondered how astringency actually occurs?

Astringency is caused by the interaction of saliva proteins and red wine tannins. When the tannins meet saliva, they bond with the saliva protein molecules, which in turn lose their solubility.

This bonding can be observed as streaky red filaments in the spit bucket after expectorating the wine. Having said that, consider yourself now formally warned not to look into the spit bucket!

The loss of proteins from saliva and mucus in the mouth causes a loss of lubrication. This gives the drying, puckering sensation.

Colour

White is not white and red is not red! Colour is usually described in terms of:

Depth: eg pale, bright, vibrant, deep, and

Expanded Colours: eg white wine can be described as straw, amber, golden, etc; red wine can be purple, red, brick-red, pink etc

Therefore you might descibe a wine as 'pale straw' or 'deep amber' or 'deep red' or 'vibrant purple'

Nose

The nose refers to the overall smell of the wine - including primary fruit characters and the influences of winemaking. For example you may detect plums and berries in a red wine, as well as vanillan aromas from oak treatment.

Palate

Palate refers to the overall taste of the fruit and winemaking flavours, as well as tactile sensations experienced in the mouth. This leads us to discuss:

Sweetness

Sweetness is pretty much self-explanatory, and is experienced all over the tongue. Excessive sweetness is termed "cloying". Sweetness in a wine is hopefully balanced with adequate acidity.

Acidity

Acidity causes the crisp, drying sensation given by a wine. It can be described as spritzy , or lively, but most often (hopefully!) you'll see it termed balanced - indicating enough acid to offset sweetness.

Heat

Alcohol creates warming sensations, but excessive heat from unbalanced wines gives an overbearing hotness on the back of the mouth.

Freshness

This one's a bit obvious. Surely you don't need explanation? Ok, freshness is a descriptor usually reserved for "drink on release" wines that exhibit fresh, crisp fruity aromas and flavours.

Bitterness

Bitterness is not something you really want to find in your wine. It is experienced usually on the back of the tongue, and is more than likely the result of over-pressed grapes. Bitterness comes from seeds and stalks when they are pressed too hard during the initial stages of winemaking.