How to walk the walk and talk the talk in the wine world
By Matthew DeBord
HQ 83 | AUTUMN 2013
One of the things that new arrivals to wine drinking complain about most often is the intimidating glossary of terminology and jargon that they have to deal with. Isn’t wine just a beverage? Why do I have to understand all these technical words, like “tannin” and “extraction,” much less more esoteric concepts, such as “finish” or “midpalate attack?”
The short answer is that, of course, you don’t. Wine can be enjoyed with absolutely no understanding of its specialized language. If you think a wine tastes good, you can say … “OMG! This tastes awesome!” If you think the entire bottle should be poured down the drain, a wincing “Yeecchh!!!” will more than suffice.
However, as you sample more and more wines, you’re going to want to talk about them, and this is where the wonderful world of winespeak comes in. Conversation about one’s budding connoisseurship requires shorthand – otherwise you’ll invariably get bogged down in using too many words to explain some smell or taste experience that could be neatly summed up with fewer words.
This new vocabulary doesn’t need to be extensive. So to get you started, I’ve created a quick glossary of some of the most common winespeak terms. Then you can decide for yourself if you want to dive deeper.
Bouquet: One of the most old-fashioned, yet still useful, winespeak words. This is how the wine smells after it’s been aged in the bottle. Older wines have a “bouquet,” while younger wines haven’t acquired one yet.
Nose: An artful – or not, depending on your patience with metaphors – way of characterizing the way the wine smells in the glass. Obviously, you typically put your nose in or close to the glass to smell a wine, and that’s the origin of the term. But it can also mean a more complete rendering of the wine’s overall smell, with…
Aroma: Allowing a taster to single out more specific smells. For example, “The merlot has a complex nose, with aromas of warm plums and toasted oak.”
Color: Pretty simple one here, but not without nuance. A wine with good “color” looks clear, fresh and inviting. A red with good color, for instance, shouldn’t be brown. It should be red, violet, purple. If it’s been aging for a while, some browning is okay.
Mouthfeel: It is what it sounds like – the way the wine feels in your mouth. This concept is made up of numerous factors, ranging from the wine’s level of alcohol to the temperature at which it’s served. But at root, it’s all about how robust the basic fruit flavor is. A rich, powerful wine – like a California Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah – will create a more abundant mouthfeel than a crisp Italian Pinot Grigio.
Dry: Straightforwardly, a wine, red or white, that isn’t sweet. The vast majority of wines we now drink are dry. A few, like Riesling and Moscato, aren’t.
Tight: A wine that’s probably been designed to be aged and is, at a young age, ungenerous with its various flavors. Give it five or 10 years. However, a wine that needs to air out a bit after the cork is pulled can also be “tight.” These wines are also sometimes called “firm.”
Breathe: As in, “This wine is tight – let’s let it breathe.” Exposure to oxygen can allow a “tight” wine to “open up,” or become more easily drinkable. This is one reason older wines, which are supposed to be tight, are usually decanted prior to being drunk.
Dumb: An older wine that might have tasted fresh when it was first bottled, but that’s now “shut down” in middle age and isn’t giving up very much in the way of pleasures. Not a sign that the wine is bad, just an indication that it needs more time in the cellar.
Bright: We want our wines, for the most part, to taste as if they’d enjoy being drunk. A bright young wine is fresh, inviting and encourages us to come back for another sip, another glass, another bottle.
Tannic: Tannins are compounds in red wines that make your tongue feel sort of furry. They’re an indication that the wine is about serious business – untannic wines are sometimes called “flabby” and aren’t expected to hold up in the cellar. They are also poor companions to red meat. A tannic wine – say, a California Cabernet or French Bordeaux – loves a thick, grilled steak. For what it’s worth, a wine with a lot of tannins is said to have good “grip.”
Acidity: Technically, the overall amount of acid in the wine. In terms of winespeak, an expression of how crisp or “structured” the wine is. A wine with a lot of rich fruit flavor can seem boring if that fruit isn’t counterbalanced with acid. Lighter reds and whites that’s haven’t spent much time in oak barrels usually have higher acidity, and they tend to go better with a wide range of foods. Wines with notable acidity are said to have good “cut.”
Finish: Once you’ve smelled, looked at and tasted the wine, the action hasn’t ended. Wine will leave a lingering impression on the palate. A simple, young wine can have a “short” finish, while an older wine can have a “long” one. Some tasters even time the finish. They will also try to pick out different flavors that present themselves. A fruity red wine might have a finish that tastes like coffee or chocolate. A low-quality wine, on the other hand, might have a sour finish.
As I said at the beginning, this is far from an exhaustive list of winespeak terms. I didn’t get to “extraction” because it’s too technical, nor “midpalate attack” because…well, it’s too pretentious! But this should provide a start – a short list of terms that will put you on the road to fluent winespeak.
