Describe a wine eloquently with this GLOSSARY Flashcards
Learn linguistic descriptions to descripe wine in more detail
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with a sharp, sweet-sour, and vinegar-like tang and having increased levels of volatile acidity.
ACESCENCE
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine having TCA.
CORKED
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that has gone beyond its optimum stage of development. Its aromas has faded, its color turned brown and veers towards orange for red wines, and brown or chestnut for white wines.
TIRED
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that has small amounts of visible matter.
HAZY
Characteristic of wines that are unfined and unfiltered.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that appears slightly murky.
CLOUDY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine which is transparent and bright and contains no particles in suspension.
CLEAR
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with a very clear color whose glints reflect the light well.
BRIGHT
A sign of a wine’s quality.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A sparkling clear wine.
BRILLIANT
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is in the process of alcoholic fermentation. It is still cloudy and contains yeasts in suspension. It is rich in sugars, which have not yet been transformed into alcohol. This new sparkling, sweet wine is low in alcohol and cannot be kept for long.
BOURRU (rough) wine
(What is the descriptor for….) …A dry white wine that shows tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide which originate from fermentation. On the palate, a sensation of freshness and liveliness is expressed by this type of wine, which is categorised in between a still wine and a sparkling wine.
BEADY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A smooth wine in which the moelleux aspect dominates the astringency.
SUPPLE
It is obtained by brief barrel or tank fermentation and has a fluid and light texture. Can generally be drunk young.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A pleasantly moelleux wine that is velvety on the palate. It recalls a sweet, therefore sugary sensation.
SMOOTH
Dry wines are smooth, rather than lively or nervy.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A supple, smooth, moelleux and velvety wine with fine, soft tannins.
SILKY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A very sweet wine
RICH
(What is the descriptor for….) …A white wine rich in residual sugar (natural, non-fermented sugar) and very fat on the palate. It typically can achieve exceptional aromatic intensity and sweetness.
SYRUPY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A sweet white wine that is unbalanced due excess sugar and a lack of acidity.
HONEYED
The heavy sugar expression is reminiscent of honey.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with unbearable, candy-like sweetness.
CLOYING
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is unpleasantly sweet with low acidity
MAWKISH
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is dull in flavor and unbalanced due to insufficient acidity.
FLAT
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is unbalanced due to insufficient acidity, lacking backbone.
FLABBY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that has a smooth rather than crisp mouthfeel, typically having a low amount of acidity.
SOFT
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine higher in acidity that makes your mouth water.
BRIGHT
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with refreshing acidity.
CRISP
The word Crisp with wine is more often used to describe a white wine. A crisp wine is most likely simple but goes really well with a porch swing on a hot day.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A slightly, but not unpleasantly acidic wine that creates a sensation of mouthwatering freshness prized for its thirst-quenching aspect.
REFRESHING
(What is the descriptor for….) …A fresh, pleasant and light wine that has a slight, but not excessive, acidic flavor. Less acidic than ‘nervy’ and more than ‘refreshing’.
LIVELY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that makes an impression on the palate with well-defined characteristics and high yet not excessive acidity.
NERVY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine tasting sharp.
TART
(What is the descriptor for….) …An excessively acidic wine. More acidic than ‘nervy’ and less than ‘hard’.
GREEN
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that lacks body, it is often very tannic and/or acidic.
HARD
This is due either to an excessively long barrel or tank fermentation, or excessive acidity (the result of a premature decision to harvest the grapes).
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is smooth and silky.
VELVETY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A drying mouthfeel typically resulting in a rough sandpapery sensation in the mouth.
ASTRINGENT
Is caused by tannins, which bind to salivary proteins, causing them to depart the tongue/mouth.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that with each subsequent sip, makes your mouth dries up making it hard to drink, better to sip.
GRIPPY (tannins)
(What is the descriptor for….) …A very astringent wine. It’s tannin structure is pronounced or rustic. On the astringency scale, it is stronger than unripe and weaker than inky.
RASPY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A harsh, very astringent unsophisticated wine, lacking finesse and which gives the impression of significant dryness in the mouth.
COARSE
A synonym of abrasive
(What is the descriptor for….) …An astringent wine that is tannic and of low quality.
HARSH
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that is rich in alcohol but not spirity, in contrast to a heady wine. Often produced during warm and sunny vintages.
GENEROUS
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine whose alcohol content creates an impression of heat.
WARMING
(What is the descriptor for….) …A thick wine with a high percentage of alcohol.
HEAVY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with a high alcohol content, may even be overpowering.
HEADY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine (very) high in alcohol.
HOT
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine that has an excessive alcohol content, and is therefore unbalanced on the palate. It is expressed by excessive fullness and an ‘alcoholic’ character sometimes with a drying sensation on the finish.
BURNING
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with no flavor a/o substance
HOLLOW, EMPTY
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with low tannins and insufficient body, unbalanced.
THIN
(What is the descriptor for….) …light- to medium-weight wines with good flavors.
DELICATE
A desirable quality in wines such as Pinot Noir or Riesling
(What is the descriptor for….) …A delicate and elegant wine whose balance creates a velvety harmony of flavors and aromas.
FINESSE
Finesse implies that the wine is polishd and sophisticated. Hearty, rustic country wines would not be descriped as having finesse.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with such finesse and balance that it tastes refined rather than rustic. A wine that is NOT big, NOT fruity, NOT opulent and NOT bold.
ELEGANT
Off-vintages are often referred to as elegant vintages as they have higher acid and tend to have more ‘green’ characteristics. Elegant wines may taste like crap when they first release but they also tend to age better.
(What is the descriptor for….) …A wine with a ‘less-is-more’ character
REFINED
Refined is a subset of elegant