Wine Drinkers Glossary

General Terms Used To Describe The Characteristics Of Wine

I am glad to go over these terms on this page so if some blowhard thinks he knows
everything about wine you will stand a chance of shutting him down a notch when YOU start using terminology that HE doesn't know!

As in any industry, Wine drinking has it's own set of verbiage that the aficionados like
to throw around.

Here we go with the English words, beyond this section will be French terminology, weeeee!

Big: full bodied, high in alcohol, 14% or more. Strong character. Not necessarily a fine
wine or a very agreeable wine.

Bouquet: The unique fragrance of a great, mature wine. Young wines that are not fully
matured do not have bouquet but but they do have aroma.

Breed: Mature wine made from the better grapes with outstanding balance, flavor and
bouquet.

Character: This means "type" or what distinguishes one wine from another. Not always used
in the positive sense. A wine may have to much character as thus be a poor drinking wine.

Clean: A wine with a simple flavor, not bold, bitter or abnormal.

Course: Heavy common wines without breed.

Distinguished: The best of all the superior wines.

Dry: Wines that have no sweet flavor at all.

Earthy: Wine with a special heavy dull taste caused by the vines being grown in heavy
soil. The German equivalent is Bodengeschmack, the French is goute de terrior.

Elegant: A very fine wine but usually a little light in the body.

Firm: A good tasting wine with great balance.

Flat: A wine that is dull in taste because of its low acidity. A sparkling wine or
champagne that has lost carbon dioxide.

Flowery: A very light wine with a perfume type bouquet.

Fresh: A fully matured wine at its peak that hasn't been stored so long as to have lost
any of its characteristics.

Fruity: A term mostly used with young wines, representing a fruity flavor still because
they haven't fully matured yet. Very rare in matured wine.

Full-Bodied: The thickness or substance quality of the wine. A wine can be heavy, medium or light bodied. Naturally fermented grape juice wines are usually heavy bodied. Sherry or Muscatel wines are fortified with alcohol and are usually considered light bodied. The added alcohol cuts the naturally heavy grape body of the wine.

Foxy: Wine with a slight musk aroma or bouquet. Concord grapes tend to make a foxy wine. Europeans do not like foxy wines at all, but Americans drink more foxy wine than others types and seem to prefer such a wine.

Hard: An unripe, or austere wine that is not very good to the taste. Some of the finer
wines are hard when young but develop into wonderful wines with age.

Maderized: A wine that prematurely has an over aged taste or a wine that has changed its color. Sherry is a good example of a maderized wine. Sherry is usually a low grade or poor wine that is stored in a heated room to change both color and taste. It develops a burnt flavor that only a few people desire. Sherry is basically a ruined wine in controlled
conditions.

Off: A wine with an abnormal flavor, bouquet or aroma.

Ripe: A well balanced, fully matured wine of great quality. Coarse wines are never
described as ripe. Fruity flavored wines that have reached their peak can also be called
ripe.

Soft: A wine with low acidity. A mild and usually very pleasing wine but not considered an
especially good wine. A wine low in character.

Sour: A wine that has started or already has, turned into vinegar.
 

How a wine turns into vinegar:
If the fruit was not properly prepared there can be some wild yeast that gets mixed into
the fermentation process and transfers to the bottle. After aging a while this wild yeast
keeps working and will sour the wine over time. When bottled it may taste great and 2
years later when you open a bottle to impress your friends on your wine making
abilities....BAM wow, are they ever impressed! NOT!
 

Spicy: White wines of great breed and origin, sometimes will have a fruity flavor and are
called spicy. Vermouth is a poor quality wine with spices added, mostly cinnamon, to make its value and salability better.

Tart: A wine high in normal fruit acid. A good drinking wine but could be a bit sharp for
most. Usually made from fruit that has not fully ripened.

Woody: Wines that have been left to long in the barrel and have picked up the flavor of
the wood. Can go slightly bitter if left in the barrel to long.

French Terms Used To Describe The Characteristics of Wine

Charnu: Means - fleshy. Full bodied wine, soft yet fairly ripe.

Charpente: Means - well constructed. A firm, clean, good tasting wine.

Court: Means - short. A wine with not enough flavor.

Gouleyant: Means - easy to drink. A fresh fruity wine made from white grapes and almost
ready to peak.

Gras: Means - fat. A ripe, full bodied wine of breed.

Louche: Means - cross eyed. A cloudy poor quality wine

Moelleus: Means - marrowy. A semi-dry wine.

Nerveux: Means - vigorous. A well balanced good wine with a lively flavor.

Race: Means - racy. A wine that has breed and class and is obviously a very good wine.

Seche: Means - dried or withered. A wine that has lost its freshness, taste and flavor.

Tendre: Means - tender. A young, fresh, light bodied with a slightly fruity flavor and a
wine that will mature quickly.

Tuile: Means - tiled. A young wine that has gone wrong and whose normal crimson color has changed to a pinkish or reddish brown

The 9 General Laws of The Wine Drinker

1. After 3-4 years a white wine has matured and will not get any better.

2. After 10 years a red wine will be too old and will start going dead in taste and aroma.

3. Red wine is not usually served with fish but is acceptable to serve with the strongest
of flavored fishes like Salmon, Striped Bass, Tuna, Swordfish and Black Bass.

4. Sweet wines are not usually served with the main course. The English, Spanish and
German peoples will sometimes prefer a sweet wine with may main dishes.

5. Smoking anything be it cigars or cigarettes will dull your senses of smell and taste.
Obviously not something to do while trying to enjoy a light flavored wine!

6. The best wine glasses are tulip shaped. Fill to about 2/3 so that the aroma can fill
the upper 1/3 of the glass to test the aroma.

7.There is nothing wrong with screw on caps. A bottle with a screw on cap can be stored
without the hassle of turning or making sure it's tilted to keep the cork wet. Screw on
caps are generally associated with cheaper wines but some bottlers are starting to use
screw on caps for their better wines as the screw on caps provide stability in taste and
are guaranteed to keep all foreign agents out in any conditions, even under water!

8. Do not rely on any list of vintage years as they mean nothing at all. One year may
prove to be the best for one winery and yet a winery just 50 miles away could have a poor
wine that year. The only real way to tell is by taste and smell. When you find a good year
for the winery of your choice, stick with it, buy several cases and store it properly.

9. Do not ever keep wine in decanters, not even the sealable types. When you open a bottle
you must drink the contents a in a reasonably short time.
 

Go To How To Make Homemade Wine Home Page Where You Can Get The Resources Needed To Make Your Own Homemade Wine And Impress Your Friends!
 

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