Ten wine terms you need to know!
Getting into wine is one of the most exciting and fun experiences any new wine-lover undergoes and knowing your basic wine terms is a must. The nuanced world of wine is often complex; seemingly a mix of agriculture, geography and culture! But with every new topic to discover there are some basic wine terms every novice should know…
Dry
This is a fun one because it’s really easy for the wine novice to know and understand, but one of the wine terms you need to learn. ‘Dry’ simply means an absence of noticeable sugar. What does that mean? Well essentially there is usually a tiny trace amount of undetectable sugar in wine. If you can’t taste this sugar at all, it is considered to be a ‘dry’ wine.
Sweet
Sweet is less clear-cut as dry. Between the spectrum of ‘dry’ and ‘sweet’ there are many variables, including ‘off-dry’, ‘medium’ and ‘semi-sweet’. Generally speaking ‘sweet’ wines are dessert wines. There are many ways that a wine can be made sweet, including allowing fermentation to stop before all the sugar is converted into alcohol or through Botrytis/noble rot (the fungus that eats the grape left on the vine for too long) making the wines very sweet.
Acidity
Ah, acidity, one of the four fundamental principles that make up the overall structure of a wine. Acidity can be identified by salivation in the mouth, similar to the effect of sucking on a lemon. White wines have more noticeable acidity than red, due to lack of balancing tannin, but red wines can be acidic too. Acidity balances well with sugar in wine, allowing fruit flavours to come to the forefront of the drink.
Tannin
Tannin is the astringent and bitter flavour that seemingly covers the mouth when drinking wine. Tannin can be more noticeable in red wines, but ultimately exists in both. The four most tannic grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Syrah and Tannat – so keep an eye out when buying these wines so you know what to expect. The chemical compound that makes up Tannin is also present in black tea, cranberries and grape juice (the unfermented kind).
Alcohol
Alcohol is a structural component to the wine, and is indicated by the ABV (Alcohol By Volume) percentage labelled on the bottle – all wines must have this stated legally. Low alcohol wines are considered below 11% ABV, medium would be 11-13.9% and high is anything over 14%. Interestingly, alcohol is the reason you may feel a hot or burning sensation at the back of your throat – reminiscent perhaps of a much weaker shot of Vodka.
Body
Body is fundamentally difficult to describe, but it’s the way the wine feels in the mouth, almost focusing on touch rather than taste. It is created from all the structural components above (acidity, tannin, sugar and alcohol). Alcohol is often the biggest indicator of body; with higher alcohol levels giving the wine a fuller body, consider a Zinfandel against a Pinot Noir.
Corked
You don’t have to be an avid wine drinker to know when something isn’t quite right. If your wine smells like wet dog or damp cardboard or simply ‘yep that ain’t right’ then it’s likely a fault in the wine known as ‘cork taint’. Cork taint is caused by the chemical Trichloranisole, or TCA, and ruins the fresh, fruit forward flavours of a wine.
Vintage
Vintage, while seemingly so, isn’t a fancy term at all; it simply means the year a wine’s grapes were harvested. By knowing when the grapes were harvested, you as the consumer, can decide what is best to buy and drink. For example, rosés should always be drunk young, ideally within a year of their release. Interestingly, some vintages are of note, for example a bottle of Champagne with a vintage on the label is important and assumed to be of a higher quality – as vintages are rarely ever declared in the Champagne region. (Learn more about the Champagne region by visiting our France wine guide.)
Nose
The lines between smell and taste can be blurred when it comes to drinking wine. But a lot of our understanding of the way wine tastes actually comes from its smell! So make sure to swirl the wine in the glass extensively, give your wine a sniff and identify the aromas you smell before you taste. Take short, sharp sniffs – like a dog would – and then you’ll be able to gain a greater understanding of how the wine is interpreted on ‘the nose’.
Finish
Got to finish with the ‘finish’. In essence, the finish is the length of which the wine’s desirable sensations remain in your mouth. For example, if you’re drinking a lovely Viognier, the rose petal flavour may linger on the palette long after you’ve swallowed; giving you a long and lovely finish to the wine. Generally speaking, a long finish is an indicator of high quality.