Analysing Wine from A to Z

Heading to a wine tasting?  You may find yourself initially struggling to pinpoint just which one wine is the best.  However, when you understand all of the components involved, making that decision gets a little bit easier.

Wine Glossary

A

• Acidity: A wine's acidity is detected as a sharpness of the mouth, specifically around the front of the tongue. It should be well-balanced in all wines. White wines  are known for their acidity, as it is what gives these wines their body and taste, and provides a refreshing sensation. In reds,  it adds grip and balance. Without acidity wines can be dull, while too much acidity makes a wine difficult to drink.

• Aftertaste: This refers to the taste left on the palate after the wine has been swallowed. The length of the aftertaste is often used as an indicator of the quality of the wine.

• Aroma: Wines are made to have a particular set of aromas, from fruity to flowery to woody to spicy. Some aromas can help complement very specific foods. Keep in mind that the term is often used for referring to young wines, and is not to be confused with bouquet, a term dedicated to older, more mature wines.

B

• Balance: One of the keys to a good wine is balance. It is also referred to with terms like smooth or harsh. Wines described as having balance are a harmonious combination of tanninnorm, aciditynorm, texture and flavour.

• Bead: This is a tasting term used to describe the size of the bubbles in a glass of sparkling wine  or champagne.  Some people say that the smaller and more persistent the bead, the finer the wine.

• Body: A tasting term. A wine with plenty of flavour, alcohol, extract and tannin may be called full-bodied.

• Bouquet: As a wine's aroma becomes more developed from bottle ageing, the aroma becomes a bouquet that is hopefully more than grapes.

C

• Corked: This is a tasting term used to describe wines contaminated by trichloroanisole (a corked wine is not one with bits of cork floating in it). This chemical compound is the product of mould infection in the cork. Said to affect 5% of bottles (some say more, some less) it is one of the main reasons behind the increasing use of screwcaps and synthetic closures. It may result in a wine that simply lacks fruit and can be difficult to spot, or it may be horribly obvious, with musty, dank aromas and flavours, rendering the wine completely undrinkable.

• Cru: This term means "growth" in French and used to classify many wines. However, its meaning varies by region. For example, in Burgundy  "grand crus" are the best vineyards, while in Bordeaux  the term relates to the châteaux that own the land; they are the Cru Classé estates. In Champagne  it applies to whole villages.

D

• Dry: Essentially this is the opposite of sweet, although a wine that tastes dry still contains sugar, perhaps just a few grams per litre. The term 'dry' can also be used to describe the tannins or mouthfeel, while it refers to the dry, puckering sensation the wine imparts.

E

• Entry: A tasting term. Describing the wine on 'entry' is to describe your impression of the wine as it lands in your mouth. The tasting continues with midpalate, finish and length.

• Extract: This refers to the solid compounds in wine, such as tannins. Increasing the level of extract results in more colour and body. It may be increased by leaving the wine in contact with the skins for longer during cuvaison, although too long will result in an unbalanced wine that seems 'over-extracted'.

F

• Finish: The finish is how the wine tastes at the point of, and just after, swallowing. After finish comes the length. You will also want to look at the definitions for entry and midpalate.

• Forward: This denotes a wine which is felt by the taster to be developing quickly; it will be ready to drink before the date that is generally expected for the vintage.

G

• Generous Wine: This wine is easy to drink because it gives off flavour easily.

H

• Hectare: The most commonly used measurement of area in viticulture. One hectare equals 10,000 meters squared or approximately 2.5 acres.

• Hollow: This describes a wine that lacks flavour and texturenorm, often through the midpalate.

• Hybrid: A hybrid grape results from a cross  between a Vitis Vinifera variety--such as Riesling  or Pinot Noir --with an American vine. 

I

• Integrated: This is a tasting term. When the components of wine (such as tannin, oak, and acidity) fade as the wine develops, they are said to have integrated.

J

• Juicy: Wines with abundant, obvious fruit flavours with accompanying medium-to-full palate weight.

K

• Kosher: Wine produced in strict accordance to Jewish dietary laws. 

L

• Legs: This refers to the tear-like tracks that a wine makes down the side of a glass  after it has been swirled. It may be related to alcohol or glycerol content--it's a matter of contention. It's not really essential for assessing the quality of a wine, although some tasters do pass comment on the legs.

• Length: This tasting term describes how long the flavour of the wine persists on the palate after it has been swallowed. A lengthy persistence of flavour may be taken as a sign of quality, but to time it, as some people do, is going too far.

M

• Madeirisation: Wines that taste Madeirised--like the appley-flavoured Madeira--are probably oxidised and therefore faulty. This generally only occurs in white wines ; the resemblance to Madeira comes from the fact that oxidation is an intrinsic aspect of this unique wine. This oxidation occurs as the wines are heated in the estufa, so it may be that wines that taste Madeirised have been the victim of poor storage.

• Midpalate: After taking a mouthful, hold it in the mouth, and see what you get from the wine. Does it have enough flavour and texture? What are the tannins and acidity like? When describing how the wine develops in the mouth, you are describing the midpalate. Describing your immediate impression would be to discuss the wine's entry. Then swallow, to judge the finish and length.

N

• New World: The New World includes North  and South America,  Australia  and New Zealand.  The New World countries have seen explosions in quality and quantity of wine within the last few decades, although some have been producing wine for centuries.

• Nose: The 'nose' of a wine describes how that wine smells.

O

• Oak: The oak tree is an important source of wood for barrels.  Although other woods, such as cherry, have been (and still are used), oak is the number one choice for wine barrels and this storage can impact the wine's flavour.

• Old World: In wine-speak the Old World refers to the European nations--France,  Germany,  Italy,  Spain,  Austria  and so on--with a long history of viticulture. In some instances, particularly in Burgundy and the Mosel, grapes have been grown for over a thousand years with the express purpose of making wine.

• Oxidation: The degrading action of oxygen on a wine (or any other substance) is known as oxidation. Hence exposure of the wine to oxygen in the winery is carefully controlled, although not necessarily completely avoided. Exposure to oxygen during racking and ageing in barrel can be of benefit to the wine. Once a bottle of wine has been opened for some time, or if oxygen has seeped past a faulty cork, the oxidised wine will taste off.

P

• Palate: This refers to either an individual's personal taste or to the taste and structure of the wine.

• Pétillant: This is a term used to describe a lightly sparkling wine. Pétillance may occur in many wines not intended to be sparkling at all, such as top German Rieslings  which may often be bottled with a small amount of residual carbon dioxide, hence the sparkle.

• Propriety Labels: These are created and owned by wine producers to represent wine of consistent style and quality.

Q

• Quality: A term used to describe how good or bad a wine is. Quality wines can be found at all price points.

R

• Racking: The process of racking  involves transfer of wine from one container, such as a barrel, to another. Carefully done, the lees may be left behind in the first barrel, resulting in a partial clarification of the wine.

• Regional: This refers to wines displaying the aromas, flavours and structural attributes that are characteristic of the region in which the grapes  were grown.

S

• Sediment: A harmless deposit that forms at the base of a wine bottle  when compounds such as acids, anthocyanins, tannins and proteins precipitate. It is most commonly seen in aged wines. 

• Structure: When a wine is described as having structure, the taster is referring to the tannin and acidity levels. These elements give the wine a presence in the mouth; without them wine would tend towards a flabby, fruit flavoured drink.

• Sulphur: It may be used in winemaking as a method of terminating fermentation. Excessive use may result in an unpleasant moth-ball or burnt match aroma from the wine.

T

• Tannins: Found in grape skins, pips and stalks, tannins are harsh, bitter compounds which, if present in large amounts, make a wine difficult to drink; they leave a dry, puckered sensation in the mouth. Tannins may also enter the wine from oak barrels.  Tannic wines are generally destined for ageing, and the tannins polymerise to form sediment with time.

• Texture: The texture of a wine describes how the wine feels in the mouth--is it silky, velvety, rounded, or smooth? It is a more specific term than body, which describes the general impact of the wine.

• Toasty: Toasty means literally means just that--smelling or tasting of toast. It may reflect 'toasting' of the barrels, when they may be placed around a fire (sometimes as they are made), the flames altering the physical and chemical composition of the surface of the wood, and subsequently this will have a significant effect on the flavour of the wine.

U

• Ullage: The small pocket of air in the bottle between the top of the wine and the cork.  Most wines are bottled for immediate consumption and the ullage should be small, and of no concern. When purchasing older bottles, however, the ullage can be an indicator of the quality of the wine. It is certainly an indicator of price--wines with a lot of ullage will fetch a much lower price than those with wine up to top-shoulder or into the neck of the bottle.

V

• Vertical Tasting: A tasting of one wine from different vintages, usually presented in chronological order.

• Vintage: A seemingly innocuous term that turns out to mean many different things to different people. The 'vintage' simply refers to the year the grapes were grown.

W

• Weight: This refers to the heaviness of a wine. Wines can be referred to as light, medium or heavy weight. (Using milk as an analogy, full cream milk is heavier in the mouth than skim milk.)

XYZ

• Yeast: Aromas and flavours can be reminiscent of yeast. Sparkling wines  are often described as yeasty, due to extended ageing in the presence of yeast lees.

• Zesty: This is used when the wine has the lift and flavour intensity associated with a citrus zest.

Related Guides

Wine Classifications Deciphered	White Wines	Red Wines	Food and Beverage

External Links

• IntoWine.com: A directory for wine enthusiasts and wine businesses.
• TheWineDoctor.com: Learn more about tastings, vineyards, and food pairings and pick up some great wine advice along the way.
• Wikipedia.org: Wikipedia offers a glossary of even MORE wine terminologies for you to browse through.
• WineAustralia.com: Explore different types of Australian wine and learn more about wine tastings in your area.