If you want to learn about wine, let me give you some advice: don’t search for “glossary of wine terms” on Wikipedia. Well, let me re-phrase: if you’re looking to get onto the board of directors at Wine Spectator magazine, it might be good to start here. If, however, you just like wine and want to learn a little more about it, steer clear. Just go wine tasting instead, preferably with us. Our take on wine vocabulary is this:
Like it – Drink it. Don’t like it – Don’t drink it. Done!
Below, you’ll find some Wiki wine terms that we found hilarious; don’t ever, ever expect to hear even one of these spoken by our servers at Ponte. Read on for a chuckle:
Glossary of [people really say these?!] Wine Terms
Autolytic: Aroma of “yeasty” or acacia-like floweriness commonly associated with wines that have been aged sur lie.
Barnyard: Certain off flavors of wine, often caused by the bacteria brettanomyces; generally more negative than farmyard.
Blowzy: An exaggerated fruity aroma. Commonly associated with lower quality fruity wines.
Compact: Opposite of “open knit”. A wine with a dense perception fruit that is balanced by the weight of tannins and acidity.
Fat: A wine that is full in body and has a sense of viscosity. A wine with too much fat that is not balanced by acidity is said to be “flabby” or “blowzy”.
Hollow: A wine lacking the sense of fruit.
Linalool: The characteristic flowery-peach aroma associated with Muscat and Riesling wines. It derived from the chemical compound linalool.
Reticent: A wine that is not exhibiting much aroma or bouquet characteristics perhaps due to its youth. It can be described as the sense that a wine is “holding back”.
Well, did you laugh? Hope it at least put a grin on your face today. Hope to see you soon!
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