Wine Examiner

WINE WORD WEDNESDAYS

 Wine tasters, through practice, sampling, and yes, the inevitable spitting, develop a vocabulary to document their impressions and describe their experiences.  The majority of wine-speak is copied from tasters before them, though some may be self-created (I tasted a wine that was reminiscent of the inside of my silverware drawer, a term I now call ‘fork.’).  Most of the words used to describe wines are simple and straightforward (like body- the weight and fullness of a wine that can be sensed as it crosses the palate).  A mental tool like word association may help those new to describing what they see, smell, and taste in a wine.  For example, a taster might associate Sauvignon Blanc wines as “grassy”- this may become your trigger word, which may in the future help pinpoint that particular smell. 

The more wines you taste, the broader your vocabulary will become.  Bizarre taste descriptions like ‘sheepdog,’ ‘bilgy,’ or ‘matchstick’ were all borne from an informed place, an attribute someone, at some point determined a wine looked, smelled, or tasted like.  But stick with the basics when starting out; words that already have relative meaning to you.  Wine has such wide-ranging taste sensations that colorful language is, happily, almost unavoidable.

Most terms describe either the appearance, smell, or taste in wine.  A few really basic ones to describe a wine’s appearance:

Bricky- As [red] wine ages, the color goes from purple to crimson, to almost tawny—bricky--when it becomes very old.

Bright or Brilliant- In terms of a wine’s color, this mean the wine is completely clear.  May also be called clarity.

Cloudy- Rather like the opposite of “bright,” a wine that appears hazy rather than brilliantly clear. 

Oxidation- When oxygen in the air comes into direct contact with the wine it causes changes in the wine’s color.  The changes are usually unfavorable but oxidation is a critical part of the winemaking process in particular wines.  It may serve to soften a wine.

Sediment- The fine matter that may collect in the bottle during the wine’s aging process.  Like oxidation, it’s not always a bad thing; many of the world’s leading wines show sediment as they age. 

Viscous- When wine clings to the side of the glass when swirled it’s said to be ‘viscous.’  (Also known as ‘legs’ or ‘tears.’)  This may hint at a wine’ richness.

*Red wines become less red as they age. It will vary with different grape varieties, but     

  young reds are often purple, as time passes they may turn from red, to ruby, to

  practically brown.      

*White wines gain color as they age.  Young whites pass from pale yellow, to straw-like, to deep yellow, to varying degrees of gold, even to amber.

*”Legs” in a wine glass are no substitute for what your palate will show you. 

*Carbon dioxide bubbles are naturally present in all wines.   It is a by-product of fermentation but in most still wines it is at such a small level it can be neither seen nor tasted.  In some young white wines the winemaker deliberately leaves in some of the wine’s natural carbon dioxide to enhance its freshness.

Use what the pros have shared, but have some fun and make up some of your own.  Nail polish remover in a glass, anyone?

Salud!

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