As lovers of wine, everyone has their favorite wine, but sometimes describing the taste may be quite a challenge. If you are always checking out online wine shops or perhaps you just want to brush up on wine terminology, then you should know the following wine terms.
1. Acidity
This term is used to describe how crispy or lively wine is. The acidity of wine gives the wine its sour taste like that taste of lemon juice or lime juice. So, next time, when checking out wines on an online wine shop and you see a wine description as fresh, sour or crisp, you should know that the description is referring to the wine’s acidity.
2. Body
The body of the wine can be full, medium or light. It describes how full the wine is in your mouth. Wines with lighter bodies are more acidic, less alcoholic and have lower tannin, and their taste will generally last longer in your mouth. Medium-bodied wines usually refer to red wines with low alcohol levels and low tannin while full-bodied wines have high alcohol levels (above 14%) and high tannin levels as well.
3. Blend
This refers to a wine that is made from more than one variety of grape. For instance, a “GSM” blend is a mixture of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre.
4. Complexity
A complex wine is a type of wine with different flavors, nuances and odors which all come together to change the flavor of the wine from when you take the first sip to another taste at the point of swallowing. Usually, these wines are also called layered wines. On Thisdayinwinehistory.com you can read more about the wine history, American wine history, wine maps, wine regions, and much more.
5. Depth
The depth of a wine refers to the characteristics of the wine from the aroma, texture to the taste and finish. The depth of wine is closely related layers of the wine and how long its taste lingers.
6. Dry
Dry wines refer to wines that are not sweet. That is, there is no noticeable sugar taste in them. This is the category that most wines fall into, and it is as a result of converting most of the sugar in the fruits into alcohol. A bottle of dry wine can contain up to 10 grams of sugar, and it will still be classified as dry wine because of the taste.
7. Earthy
This is referred to as herbaceous or savory and earthy wines are mostly sour or bitter. They also have a taste or odor that feels like grass, damp soil or green bell pepper.
8. Fruit-Forward
This refers to wines that have a sweet, fruit-like smell. This does not necessarily reflect in the taste of these wines. Fruit-forward red wines have flavors like blackberry, cherry, blueberry, toffee and raspberry while white wines have categories like pineapple, mango, vanilla, caramel and peach flavors.
9. Fermentation
This is the process of adding yeast to the grape sugars to turn them into alcohol. During this process, the sugars are converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
10. Finish
This is what a type of wine tastes like after swallowing a mouthful of that wine. Every wine has an aftertaste which could be sweet, bitter, smoky, earthy, smoky or a combination of any of the above. Excellent wines have complex, long and rich finishes.
So, next time, when surfing through an online wine shop, you can have an idea of what these wine terminologies mean and how they apply to the wine you have your eyes on.
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