How Do I Describe a Wine?




Wine magazines, blogs, publications, and other sources many times use terms and sayings … incomprehensible to the uninformed. What do all these exotic terms really mean? If I was crazy about a wine, how would I describe it to my friend and convince her to try it too?



Let’s walk through the basics of tasting together!



1. Color

Start with the color in the glass. Well ... does it give us any useful information? Of course yes, and even more often than one might think. Start with how clean the color is. Is it cloudy, a sign that the wine is unfiltered, and the producer is rather bohemian and is drawn to natural wines? Maybe a white wine is brownish or has an intense deep yellow color that probably predisposes to oxidation and generally fainted fruit aromas close to their dawn?

None of the above is certain, but it gives us clues to be suspicious of the next stage.



2. Aroma

If you are one of the village crazies who swirls their glass for hours, sniffing endlessly, and

enjoying the magical aromas of your wine, … I sympathize!

But what do I generally look for in this category?

Intensity: in other words, how strong is the aroma I am smelling? Is it immediately extrovert like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a well-made Greek Muscat, or is it mildly aromatic and elegant like an Assyrtiko from Santorini? Set a five-point scale, and rate the intensity!

Complexity: Smell extensively. Smell again. How many aromas can you recognize? In a cheap white wine do you find a little lemon, or at best a little more of white peach? As enjoyable as it is (we said ... good company is important) it is still a wine of little complexity. Do you have a glass of a single vineyard aged Xinomavro from 80-year-old vines, and a devotee to quality producer? Then, you take a deep breath and immediately find two or three different fruits, some sweet spices from the oak, and much tertiary aromas from the aging, like mushrooms or forest floor after rain. So there you have it: You have the definition of a complex wine. Set a five-point scale, and rate the complexity!



3. Mouthfeel

Here we have even more to review:

Sweetness: is the wine completely dry, does it have a hint of sugar and is semi-dry, or is it semi-sweet and sweet?

Acidity: is the wine quite sour like a Santorini or a Rhoditis, is it moderately sour like mostreds, or just short of medium like a Viognier or a Preknadi? Set a five-point scale, and rate the sharpness!

Tannins (amount): Most reds, but also some whites, have that astringent feel that we like so much when they pair with a protein and balance our meal. So initially, we have to quantify them in terms of their feel,

regardless of the texture they give us in the mouth. Set a five-point scale, and rate the amount of tannins!

Tannins (feel): Irrespective of the quantity above, tannins also have mouthfeel: exotic descriptions such as soft, smooth, ripe, round on the one hand, and green, unripe, and dusty on the other, might be useful.

Alcohol: It’s not that hard to figure out how much alcohol a wine has, but we still don’t really care. What is useful is to classify the feeling of alcohol. Is it well integrated into the wine and goes unnoticed, or does it

give off a warm sensation?

Body: A favorite debate of wine lovers everywhere, which repeatedly (wrongly) also defines a quality index for the wine being tasted. It is the sensation of how thick and full the contents of the glass feel in the mouth.

Is it thin and watery like a Moschofilero made in the tank, or thick and full-bodied Chardonnay that has spent months in oak? Set on a five-point scale, and rate the body!

Flavour Intensity: The exact equivalent of the intensity in the aroma, since here we also have the aromas of the mouth and their intensity. Set a five-point scale, and rate the intensity!

Finish: A great indicator of quality! When we taste a wine, and swallow it, how long will we have the taste in our mouth? Will it disappear immediately like it always does in bulk, or

will it stay there for (perhaps) whole minutes like it does in say a Santorini or a twenty year old Oloroso Sherry?



These are the basic categories, and anyone who wants to indulge more can put into playdetailed descriptions of perfume groups, or talk about texture, oily or creamy, define the

sensation of bubbles in sparkling, define aging potential, define reasonable price (ah... long discussion) and more.


In the meantime, enjoy your wine with good company, and be tempted to describe it!


Cheers.

Thank you


Stavros Moustakas Oktapodas DipWSET

Wine & Spirits Consultant