Acetic; This is what happens when the wine is exposed to air. It develops a vinegary taste or smell.
Acidity; All wines contain some level of acid. The acid level needs to be in a proper balance with the other components and fruits in the wine so that you should be able to taste the crispiness and liveliness of the wine. This acidity is also vital in the aging process of the wine.
Aftertaste; This is the impression of flavor that you will get once you have swallowed the wine. It is also called the “finish” of a wine.
Aroma; The smell of wines, especially that of young wines.
Aromatic; This is a term that this used for wines that have a distinct aroma, especially those with herbs and spices in them.
Astringent; This term is used when the tannin level in the wine dries out the mouth.
Austere; A somewhat hard tasting wine, where the character and fruitiness have been restrained.
Big; A full bodied powerful in aroma wine.
Bitter; This is usually considered as a fault bit it is also a characteristic of certain Italian wines.
Body; The weight and texture that is found in wines. You can describe a wine as light bodied or full bodied.
Bouquet; The intermingling of aromas that fine aged wines produce.
Breed; This is the term that is referred to as the bloodlines of the wine grapes. It is also used when noting the soil, the grapes and the techniques that are used to produce a good quality wine.
Chewy; This term is used to describe wines that have an unusual thick texture to the wine. It feels like you need to chew the wine before you swallow it.
Clean; Fresh wines that seem to have no defects. This term also refers to the aroma, appearance and flavor of the wines.
Complete; A mature wine that has a satisfying feel and a great aftertaste on the palette.
Complex; This is where you will find a combination of flavors and aroma elements in various types of wines.
Corked, corky; The wines smell like cork rather than wine. This is because it was bottled in correctly.
Deep; A wine that has many layers of taste that slowly reveals itself.
Delicate; A light fragrance, body and flavor in the wine.
Distinctive; An elegant and refined character in the wine that sets it apart.
Dry; There is a little amount of sugar in the wine.
Earthy; You can detect this in certain wines. The smell and flavor is bit like the earth or soil.
Elegant; A refined charactered wine. This is usually to describe a stylish and quality wine.
Extra dry; You can find this term on champagne bottles as they describe the wine.
Fat; A wine that is full of flavor and body.
Fine; A distinguished wine.
Flat; A wine that is lacking in liveliness. Also a wine with an insufficient amount of acid.
Flavor; Describing how the wine tastes.
Full; Describes a wine that has a rich body
Green; A tart wine that is made from unripe grapes. Also has a lack of fruit flavoring.
Grip; Firmness of structure and flavor.
Hard; Stiff and undeveloped.
Heady; High in alcohol and very full bodied.
Herbaceous; Aromas that are reminiscent of fresh grass or hay. It can also be a characteristic of some wines like Cabernets.
Honeyed; You will find a taste or smell that is like honey.
Intricate; The interweaving of subtle flavors and aromas within a wine.
Legs; The rivulets of wine that you see running down the sides of the glass after swirling or sipping the wine.
Length; The lingering aftertaste that you get from a wine.
Light; This refers to wines that are light in alcohol, weight and texture. The feeling that you get in the mouth when you drink the wine is also described as light.
Lively; A fresh wine that has vitality and crispness.
Mature; A fully developed, ready to drink wine.
Meaty; This is a wine that is firm in structure with a chewy, fruity taste.
Mellow; A smooth, soft wine that has no harsh characteristics.
Noble; Wines that have a great balance and a harmonious expression. The wines that are made from these types of grapes are considered as the finest wines in the world. You can find Merlot and Cabernet among this lot.
Nose; The smell that comes from the wine. You can get “good nose” or a “bad nose”. A term used to detect faults in the wine.
Nutty; A nutlike aroma that develops in some wines.
Oak, oaky; This is the flavor and aroma that comes from aging the wine in oak casks or barrels. The taste is a mixture of vanilla, spices, smokiness and cloves.
Open; You can get the full character from the wine.
Oxidized; Flat, stale wines. Wines that have a sherry like and flavor and aroma. The state where wines becomes spoiled due to exposure to air.
Petillant; A light sparkle that can be seen in the wines.
Rich; A full, opulent wine with good body and aroma.
Ripe; Mature, fully ripe fruit.
Robust; A powerful, full bodied and heady wine.
Sharp; Biting or acidic.
Smoky; The aroma and flavor that a wine can get from being aged in an oak barrel or casket.
Sparkling; This is used where there are bubbles that are detectedable in the wine.
Spicy; A wine that has the characteristics of spices like cloves, mint, pepper and cinnamon.
Structure; The way that a wine in made with regard to its proportions and composition.
Supple; A wine that is yielding in flavor and is ready to drink.
Sweet; This usually indicates the presence of grape sugar that have not been completely converted to alcohol.
Tannin; This is a natural substance that is found in the skins, stems and seeds of certain grapes. This substance is also a major component in the structure of red wines.
Tart; A sharp wine that is acceptable to drink if it is not acidic.
Thin; Lacking in body and flavor.
Tired; Where a wine is past its peak flavor development. Old.
Vanilla; You will get this scent from the aging process of oak caskets.
Velvety; Smooth and very rich in texture.
Vigorous; A wine with a firm, strong body and flavor and a lively fruitiness.
Vinegary; Having the smell of vinegar.
Watery; Thin and lacking in any flavor.
Weedy; You will get the flavors and aromas of grass or hay. This scent becomes unpleasant only in excessive amounts.
Weighty; Forceful, strong, full bodied and powerful – terms to describe wines.
Woody; The aroma that comes when wine has been over aged in barrels or casks.
Yeasty; A bread smell that can be sometimes found in wines that have gone through a secondary fermentation process like champagne. Can be appealing if it is not excessive.
Young; Simple fine wines that have yet to become mature. Still undeveloped.
Rylee
What makes wine add such a touch of sophistication to just about anybody? Is it the jewel-like color or the fancy glasses we drink it from? Is it because it represents special occasions for many of us? Is it because we associate it with formal events and celebrations? Maybe it is because we don’t really understand wine very well and feel that those who do have a little extra touch of sophistication about them.
Language
The language of wine gives us wine drinkers the image of sophistication. Often those who do not drink wine are not familiar with wine terminology like tannin, body, acidity, oak, fruitiness, legs and aromas. Wine lovers often debate the different types of wine, the right or wrong way to serve it, whether to decant or not and the flavors and aromas detected in it. They also discuss where wines are from, good years versus bad ones and so much more. It definitely can lead non-wine drinkers to think that we are more sophisticated than the norm. It can also make people think we’re a little pompous!
Reputation
Wine is, by and large, the drink of choice for many special events and for celebrations. Therefore people have come to associate it with people enjoying themselves. When you add wine to just about any occasion, suddenly things are more joyous and people feel like it is a special event. Wine’s reputation makes it sound like a sophisticated choice to drink, unless of course it comes in a box!
Rules
Now most wine drinkers know that there are no hard and fast rules for enjoying wine. However, wine has the reputation of having rules about what temperature to serve it at or what wines go with what foods. Yet in reality, it is all about your taste. Some people serve their red wines chilled or even with an ice cube in it because they simply cannot palate room temperature wine. Others simply enjoy their favorite wine with whatever meal they prepare, regardless of pairing suggestions. It is all about what you like.
Discovery
One of the things that adds to the mystery and sophistication of wine is that there is always something new to try and learn about. There are new wines, different vintages and wines from different regions or different producers to explore. The variety of wine is endless. For many people who enjoy wine immensely, life can be all about discovering new favorites, visiting wineries, making wine at home or learning about wine.
It is a complex subject. For anyone who wants to learn more about wine, there is much written about it. There are books, magazines, web sites and more. Although one of the best ways to explore new wines and learn about them is through wine tasting. Whether you do a wine tasting at home or go to an event, trying it yourself and talking with other wine lovers is the best way to make wine discoveries.
Wine is a sophisticated drink. It is very complex, but can nonetheless be enjoyed by anyone. Whether you have the desire to understand it or not, wine is a wonderful way to relax, enjoy a meal or just liven up a get-together.
Beatriz
The process of matching food and wine is highly subjective and inexact process.The old rules like having red wine with red meat and white wine with fish and poultry do not hold well these days because in this fast moving world experimentation regarding the match of wine with the food recipes and no one follows these hard and fast rules. The pairing could be on your own will and wish. You can hear the suggestion about the new mix and match suggestions on an everyday basis.Vineyard tours and wine tastings are a great way to try to try the different wines and learn more as to which wine you favor the most. Then you can begin with trying the foods and wines you favor the most. While pairing food and wine, the goal is synergy and power. The wine should not overpower the food, and even the food should not overpower the wine.Try and match the food with the wine in such a way that it flavors the food in a better way. Wine in itself tastes better than the food; wine has a similar significance as that of spice in food. Wine when drunk along with your food produces different sensations.A good match can bring out the nuances that can enhance the flavors and bring very good characteristics of both the food and wine.Good food and wine pairing is achieved when there are similarities and contrasts between the taste and intensity.Rule of thumb that will help in better pairing of wine and foodIn case you take a wine for a gift to a dinner party, then there is no need to worry about the matching of the wine with the food. A good wine to be taken as a gift to a dinner party is a very good idea. A grand party deserves better wine than hamburgers and chips.When you serve wines it is important that you serve lighter wines before full-bodied people. It is important that you serve dry wines before the sweet flavored wines. Lower alcohol wines must be served before higher alcohol wines.Try and balance the flavor intensities. Serve light wines with light food and serve heavy wines with heavy food.While pairing wines with the food consider the preparation of the food, serve the lighter wines with food that is steamed. The wines which have strong alcohol content should be paired with food that is grilled, roasted or sautéed.Pair cheese and wine. In some European countries the best wine is reserved for cheese course. Red wine goes well with mild to sharp cheese. Intensely flavored cheese goes well sweeter wine.So before you decide on the pairing of wines with the food course it is always important that you taste the wine.
Salma
Attending wine tasting events can be a great experience and a lot of fun, although a lot of people choose not to attend out of fear - or not knowing what to do or what to expect. Even though there are no mysteries to wine tasting, there are some things that you should always remember.During a wine tasting event, women are always served before the men. Some tastings will serve you bottled water between tastings, so you can clean your mouth out and be ready to taste the next wine that is served. When you take the wine, you should always handle the glass by the stem, to avoid heating it with your hands. There will also be crackers and other goodies on hand as well, to help you cleanse your mouth between wine tastings. As you may already know, you can tell quite a bit about the wine by the color. When you attend a wine tasting for the first time, you’ll notice that the glasses are clear. This helps you to examine the wine better. There should also be white tablecloth on the table as well, to help you see the color the wine more clearly. You should never go by the name of the wine alone, as it can easily fool you. You’ll also notice the more experienced wine tastes swirl their wine around in the glass before they taste it. Although it may look weird, slightly swirling the wine actually helps to bring out the flavor. Most wines have been aging in bottles for long periods of time, sometimes even years. When the wine is swirled around in the glass, the swirling will release the flavors in the wine and bring them out when the wine is tasted.At wine tastings, you’ll need to look at the wine, smell it, then after swirling it around in the glass - taste it. Smells play an integral part of the process, as you’ll get a lot more from the wine by smelling it first. Wine has quite an intriguing aroma, which helps to bring out the taste that wine is so well known for. Once you have smelled the wine, you should allow a few moments to take in the smell and think about the wine that you are smelling.Last but not least, you’ll want to know how to properly taste the wine. Your tongue has taste buds in the front and the back, which helps to detect flavors. Wine is full of flavors, and how you taste it will make the biggest impact. When you put the wine in your mouth, you should always swish it around in your mouth for a few seconds, and allow the flavors plenty of time to dance on your palate. Once your taste buds have started to discover the wine, you can think about what you are tasting. After swallowing the wine, the aftertaste that remains in your mouth should give you even more of an idea as to the type and flavor of the wine.Before you attend a wine tasting, you should always learn as much as you can about the many different flavors and varieties of wine. This way, you’ll have a better understanding of what you should look for in both taste and flavor. Even though you may be new to wine tasting, you should never pass up an opportunity to go. You’ll get a great experience in the world of wine tasting and get to experience wines that you may have never heard of before.
Regina
Wine is truly a wonderful loved epicurean beverage all over the world. It is a drink to be savored, with many different intricate, delicate or even bold aromas and flavors mingling together to provide a truly enjoyable experience. There are many different varietals of grapes, which add to the excitement because each kind of grape used has different characteristics and even the geographic location where the grape is grown can add nuances to the bottle of wine you end up purchasing. Wine accessory gift sets can really help you experience some of the world’s best wines and can be a well-deserved gift to some of the most special people in your life. Wine accessory gift sets can also be an excellent deal if you’re looking to try new wines or indulge in your favorite wines. Find the right wine accessory gift set can provide you with a great bottle of wine as well as beautiful glasses or useful and decorative items such as wine bottle stoppers or novelty cork screws.
If you know little about wine, it’s best not to just jump right in and purchase the first wine accessory gift set you see. If you’re buying for a wine enthusiastic, it’s best to know what type of wine they truly enjoy. There’s nothing worse than buying a wine snob a couple of bottle of a wine he detests. People can be vary picky about what kind of wine they like, and will boycott a brand, a particular type of grape, or an entire country. Also, the biggest division between wine lovers is the difference between the white and the red. Some people will drink both kinds, but there are many people who won’t touch one of the other. It is also important to know the taste of the person or people you buying the wine accessory gift set for. Do the glasses or bottle stopper reflect their sense of style. Will the items fit in well with their home décor or be packed away into a box never to be seen again?
If you really want you gift to be a hit and not forgotten, as with all gifts it really pays to know enough about the recipient’s personal tastes.
Where Do You Find A Wine Companion Gift Set?
Some great places to find the perfect wine companion gift set is your local wine store, winery, or wine tasting room. These places are staffed with just the right people who are passionate about wine and willing to help you with your every need. They will go out of their way to make sure you’re picking the perfect wine accessory gift set, and bottle of wine if the set doesn’t include one. If the wine accessory gift set of your choice doesn’t include wine, the worst mistake you’ll make is to not buy a few bottles to go with it, especially if it is a special occasion.
You can also find great websites online that sell top notch wines and wine companion gift sets to go along with them. If the recipient lives in certain states, there are some laws that will prohibit the actual shipment of wine, so in these states a wine accessory gift set is all you can purchase. Whatever you circumstance, with just a little thought your wine accessory gift set will really come off as a hit.
Robyn
Even though many just assume that wine tasting is sipping, swishing, and swallowing - many are amazed to find that it’s actually a bit more. Wine tasting is more of an art, an art that is used to distinguish the taste of fine wines. Wine can be a tasty and refreshing drink - if the bottle was stored correctly and aged properly.Wine tasting begins with the swishing. The reason why wine tasters swish the wine around in their mouths is to get the taste. Both the front and the back areas of the tongue contain taste buds, although neither one has any distinct sensation in taste. Taste buds can detect food and liquid that is bitter, salty or sweet, without a problem. To get the proper taste from wine however, you need to swish it around in your mouth and allow your taste buds and sense of smell to bring out the unique and fine flavors in the wine.When you have a cold however, the wine can taste very different. When tasting your wine, your sense of smell has a major impact on the taste. What many fail to realize, is that over 75% of our taste is due to our sense of smell. When we have a cold, our sense of smell is affected. Therefore, when eating or tasting wine with a cold, the taste will appear different. Wine tasters all over the world will tell you that tasting wine is more about a sense of smell than the actual taste buds.The art of wine tasting is indeed an art. Wine tasters do however, follow some general guidelines and rules that judge how great a wine is. These techniques can help you bring the most out of your wine, providing you follow them and know how to bring out the taste.The first thing to do with wine is to look. With wine, you can tell quite a bit about it by looking at it. You should always start by pouring the wine into a clear glass, then taking a few minutes to look at the color. As far as the color goes, white whines aren’t white, but actually yellow, green, or brown. Red wines on the other hand are normally a pale red or dark brown color. Red wine gets better with age, while white whines get more stale with age.Next, is the smell of the wine, which you should do in two steps. You should start with a brief smell to get a general idea of the wine, then take a deep, long smell. This deeper smell should allow you take the flavor of the wine in. The more experienced wine tasters prefer to sit back a bit and think about the smell before they actually taste the wine. Last but not least, is to taste the wine. To properly taste the wine, you should first take a sip, swish it around in your mouth, and then swallow. Once you swish the wine around in your mouth, you’ll bring out the rich and bold flavors of the wine. After swallowing, you’ll be able to distinguish the after taste of the wine, and the overall flavor.Once you have looked at the wine, smelled it, and finally tasted it, you’ll be able to evaluate the wine from a taster’s standpoint. This is the easiest way to determine the quality of the wine, and whether or not it has been properly stored and aged. As with all things in life - the more you taste wine - the better you will get at distinguishing the unique flavors.
Layla
The pleasure people get from wine is an ageless joy that has been enjoyed for centuries. Whether you have enjoyed with your meals, alone with that special someone, in social situations, a great wine is remembered by the drinkers even after the bottle is gone. The romance that we have with wine has been apart of our existence since the dawn of time. Our history of winemaking shows that wine has been around from at least 8000 years and archeologists have found evidence that man has been making mead (a honey based wine) around 10,000 years ago. When you are learning How to Make Homemade Wine you need to know that throughout history wine has been an important part of life for many peoples.
The truest form of wine is those made from the fruit called grapes, its juice is fermented and bottled with great care. In the world there are many types of grapes, however by far the highest quality wines are made from the European wine grape Vitis Vinifera. It has the delicate balance of flavors, sugar, aromas and other great qualities needed for a good wine are available in this type of grape. The grape is thought to have been found in the Caucasus region of Europe. The area is surrounded by the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus Mountains and is located in the modern nations of Georgia and the southern part of Russia. Vitis Vinifera has been cross bred with many hundreds of grape varieties, each suited to the geography of it location and produced to have its own distinct types of wine.
The art of viticulture (growing grapes) and the art of viniculture (growing grapes for wine) are many thousands of years old. In Mesopotamia, now modern day Iraq, which sits between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River were the very first civilizations in history to cultivate grapes and where viniculture was fist practiced, some thousands of years ago, In the Code of Hammurabi, is the earth’s first written law that contains the laws governing how wine should be made and sold over 4000 years ago.
We may never find out how the men learned how to make wine from grapes. The ancient Greeks have stories that tell us that Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and vegetation taught the ancient Greeks how to grow grapes and what process was needed to make wine. The Greeks became the first people in recorded history to plant vineyards for commercial use and to market those grapes to people of other countries over 3500 years ago.
Wine was a very popular drink for the ancient civilizations and was also held to be sacred as well. Wine was a part of many religious rituals and celebrations. The Greeks with their love of sea travel spread the news about growing grapes throughout the Mediterranean basin. They taught many other peoples the art of making wine, and how to grow grapes which is evident in the planted vineyards that showed up in lands from the Black Sea in the East to the East side of Spain in the west.
Wine drinkers of today would have been disappointed in the Greek wine of yesterday. The wine was stored in such a way that the flavor tasted more like turpentine than the wine of today, this is due in part to the fact that the storage vessel were lined with a resin substance that mixed into the wine to give it this awful taste. In addition to that, they flavor the wine with many different spices, herbs, flowers and even some perfumes; they also cut the wine with water before drinking it.
Then the Romans came along and borrowed some of the Greek culture for growing grapes when they conquered this civilization. Viticulture moved from the Greek to the Romans. When the Roman Empire expanded, viticulture expanded as well, vineyards were planted in many different areas all over Europe, in places that would later become France, Germany, Italy and England. The many vineyards under the Roman rule are still producing grapes for wine today.
Around 476 AD, the Romans fell at the feet of the German invaders. Europe settles a setback in political and scientific areas, with the institutions of learning stopping for a while. Viticulture survived the ravages of this problem because the Christian Religion picked up the making of wine, these early monks helped to preserve the method of wine making and even took over the vineyard that were necessary to practice them. The monks taught each other how to make homemade wine for sacraments and other religious reasons.
The renaissance in Europe along with the many travels of Columbus brought a revival of trade, science and as well as many other areas. The Europeans expanded to the New World, they took along wine making and by the 1500’s viticulture was introduced to the South Americans in Chile and in the 1800’s Spanish missionaries were growing grapes in California.
In North America, Leif Eriksson, stumbled upon the abundance of grape vines growing, on his voyage in 1000 AD, he called the area he found Vineland. Even though there were many grapes, they were not suitable for wine making. The species of grapes was called Vitis Lambusca, which thrives in New England all the way to Indiana and all the way down to Georgia. Good wine from these native grapes was almost impossible to make. The European wine would not grow on the soil and in the climate of North America, The viticulturalists from France went to Delaware to try and turn the Vitis Lambusca wine into good wine, they were unsuccessful.
A gentleman named John James Dufour was the one to have the first success in viticulture with these grapes in the 1800s. From the work that Dufour did, others took up his work and started the process of crossbreeding, nourishing and cultivating until they had the very first good grapes. From these efforts many different types of grapes emerged, places like Concord, Niagara, and Delaware were getting the American East their start in the wine industry. Ohio, New York and New Jersey developed even more important wine producing regions. About this time wines from California appeared, it was discovered that the European grapes could grow in these areas, because of the climate and the type of soil found there.
Then the bottom fell out of the European wine industry, with the introduction of the eastern American root louse, phylloxera, to the vineyards of Europe. The insect destroyed most of the European varieties in Europe, Australia and even in California. Almost all of the worlds stock of the Vitis vinifera was destroyed. However there were some American varieties that were unaffected by the parasite, and the European grape was saved by grafting the European variety of grapes with the American rootstocks. The European vineyards recovered from the disaster and were on the comeback all in the middle of the 19th century.
Today wine is produced everywhere and is drunk by millions of people In North America the grapes are hybridized by crossing them with European and American varieties have completely changed how wine tastes and is produce throughout Eastern United States. This study of the history of wine is great for learning what made the wine that you drink or make tastes so good.
Alondra
