The Wine Dictionary
Fresh: Used to describe a wine that is younger or lighter in flavor and in body.
Fruity: A pleasant fragrance and flavor found in many varieties of wine. Additional descriptors and notes found in this category may include: apple, apricot, bananas, berry, black currant, cherry, citrus, fig, peach, quince, plum and prune.
Herbs/Spices: Spice notes are often encountered in red wines. Specific notes to mention may include: basil, clove, dill, herbaceous (or weedy, is a general term to describe the smell or taste of soil covered herbs most prominent in merlots), mint and peppermint.
Hot: Used to describe a wine that tastes and smells more like alcohol than any other flavor.
Late Harvest: Wine that is created from grapes that are left on the vine longer than usual. This type of wine has higher sugar content. See Ice Wine.
Legs: The rivulets (also referred to as “sheets” or “tears”) formed on a glass when the wine is swirled. The more prominent the legs, the more body the wine will have.
Matchstick: An odor that comes from an excess of any sulfur dioxide added to a wine. This odor will usually dissipate.
Ice Wine – Wine that is created from grapes picked in the winter. It has very high sugar content and is very syrupy.
Mellow: Used to describe a wine that is soft and smooth in flavor and body.
Tannin: Is present in all wines. It is a bitter tasting note that derives from the preserving of the wine during often long aging periods. For comparison, bite into a grape seed to taste pure tannic essence. An “austere” wine is a prestigious wine that has a strong, pleasant bitterness that comes from the tannins present in the wine.
Thin: Describes a wine that is more or less weak and watery, one lacking in body or alcohol.
Ullage: The distance between the where the cork stops and the wine begins in a bottle that is stood upright. In an older vintage, a large ullage is to be expected. In a younger vintage, a large ullage could indicate leakage and oxygen spoilage.
Vegetable: Similar to fruit notes, some wines have notes reminiscent of unmistakable veggies. These may include: asparagus, green bell peppers, green olives, mushroom and tomato.
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