Words that describe wines

A glossary is what we find at the end of a book where the author writes down words he uses constantly to impress readers but does not remember the meaning of. So let’s look at some other commonly dropped wine terms in polite society.

Tannin: The bitter sensation associated with red wines only. Different grapes produce wines with different amount of tannins — Cabernet/Shiraz being the most to Gamay being least. Tannins leave a furry/velvety coat on the inside of our mouth which gives the effect of dryness. Tannins are what give red wines their super-structure and ability to age for long. Remember, it is one thing to have a young tannic wine with promise (pedigree hound) and another to have a crude red with harsh tannins (a rodent).

Dry: The sensation of lack of saliva in the mouth. Whites are generally drier than reds. A racy Chardonnay is a good example of a dry beverage. Not to be confused with the parched-throat-after-a-rough-night syndrome (read: hangover).

Fruity: An after-taste like one experienced after eating a fruit basket. Wine has no fruit extracts added hence to find cherry flavours in a Burgundy red means that the sensation left behind is similar to one felt on eating cherries.

Full-Bodied: The sign of the alpha-male…Drinks only “full-bodied” wines! It implies a wine with a lot of complexity of aromas and flavours and a robust structure, which will help it to age gracefully.

Acidic: The same as sucking on a lemon. The intense rush felt on the sides of the tongue, which in adequate doses can be quite refreshing and tongue-twisting in excess.

Terroir: Pronounced “Ter-wah’, it’s that never-translated French term which refers to the summation of all factors responsible for the quality of a certain wine …in short one word that sincerely justifies a hefty price tag.

Balance: A wine is a tightrope walk attempt. If the alcohol (burn in throat), acidity or tannins are disproportionate, the wine is said to have taken a tumble off the rope. If the wine lacks balance and nothing (except a good tight hammer to the winemaker’s head) can ever change that.

After-taste: Connoisseurs prefer the “aromatic persistence of the wine”. It is a measure of how long the flavours last on the palate although snottily enough the unit of measurement is called Caudalie.

Legs: Legs in wine have no tactile significance whatsoever. ‘Tsk-Tsk’ those who tell you they can tell a dry from a sweet wine by the leg formation inside the glass.

Retrolfaction: A nice one to drop around. Your mouth is connected to your olfactory bulb (smelling centre). What we perceive here may or may not conform to what we were smelling earlier; in other words more notes may become apparent. This is called retrolfaction and most oak-aged wines show a nutty/buttery nuance at this stage. That’s all folks, or as the French would say — Voilà!