Wine Jargon 101
The world of wine can be a complicated one, and learning the terminology is often a daunting task. You're going wine tasting and want to understand everything you're learning, or you're surrounded by friends at dinner parties throwing words out left and right that may as well be in a foreign language -- we get it. Fortunately for you, we've put together this cheat sheet of common wine-related lingo that will have you sounding like an expert in no time, just consider this your passport to sommelier-hood. Cheers!
Acidity: Acidity is what gives wine its tart or sour kick. It's naturally present in all wines, but it can range from very mild to highly acidic depending on the type of wine.
Aerate: To aerate a wine means to let it "breathe" by exposing it to air. This can soften the taste of the tannins in young red wines (we'll get to tannins in a bit...hang tight.)
Balance: For a wine to be considered well- balanced, its flavors should be harmonious with one another, with no one flavor overpowering the others. Not too sweet, not too acidic, just right.
Big: In relation to wine, the term big refers to wines that dominate a large majority of the flavors on the tongue and in the mouth. A "big wine" can refer to the large presence of tannins or an especially fruit-forward fullness in the character of the wine.
Body: You may have heard someone refer to a particular wine as being light, medium, or full-bodied and been a little lost. Body refers to the fullness of a wine as you drink it. For example, a light-bodied wine would typically be very refreshing and mild, whereas a fullbodied wine has bolder flavors and a lasting aromatic taste.
Breathe: You'll often hear this used interchangeably with aerating, since letting wine breathe is simply the process of exposing it to open air.
Complex: For some, using the word complex to describe a wine is a short-cut term to use when you are trying to pinpoint all the flavors of a multi-faceted wine. Complex wines typically offer differing tastes very quickly from sip to swallow. When you taste a wine you can't easily describe because it has multiple layers of flavors or changes flavors depending on what part of the tongue the wine hits, you can refer to the wine as being complex, but you should spend a little time trying to identify all the flavors to get a better sense - and enjoyment - of a complex wine.
Decant: You can decant a wine by pouring it from its bottle into another vessel, also known as a decanter. This process not only breaks up the sediment in an aged wine, but also aerates a wine before serving.
Dry: A dry wine contains an extremely low sugar content, making it less sweet and generally more acidic.
Finish: After you swallow your sip of wine, that lingering taste in your mouth is what's considered the finish. A quality bottle of wine will often have a long and complex finish, meaning that the aftertaste sticks around for a while and has multiple flavor notes.
Fruit-Forward: Wines are made from fruit, predominantly grapes, but many wines use other non-fruit flavors such as woods, minerals, and plants. "Fruit-forward" wines are those wines where fruit flavors dominate the taste characteristics, more specifically sweeter fruits like strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blackberry, and blueberry. Fruit-forward wines don't necessarily mean the wine tastes sweet as many wines described as fruit-forward simply smell richly of sweet fruits.
Legs: Have you ever swirled a glass of wine and seen the viscous drops trickle in thick streams down the sides of the glass? Those are legs, and their presence can indicate a higher alcohol content.
Nose: Nose is simply another term for the smell or aroma of the wine.
Oaky: An oaky wine picks up flavors from the barrels in which it was aged, and can present itself through aromas like vanilla, cedar, and other smoky flavors.
Palate: Referring to the palate on the roof of your mouth, this is a reference to the feel and taste of a wine in your mouth.
Sediment: Sediment can form in bottled wine that has been aged for over a decade, and is essentially just tannins and other solid particles that can settle to the bottom of the bottle after many years. If you plan to serve an older bottle of wine, hold it up to the light to check for any sediment, then simply decant before serving if you do find any.
Tannin: Tannins are found in the skins, pits, and stems of grapes. Since red wines spend more time exposed to these grape elements to impart their color and flavor, they generally have a much higher tannin content than white wines. Tannins fade out over time to make the wine less dry and bitter, a process that can be drastically quickened by aeration and decanting.
Varietal: A varietal is a type of wine made from just one type of grape, and opposed to a blend, which involved multiple grape types. A Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, would be considered a varietal.
