Wine Term: Finish Variations: Exit, Resonates, Waves, Length Alternate Usages: Finish of, exits with, resonant waves of, resonates with, with great length What it really means: The aftertaste of the wine Ok, never good to say the wine has a banana “aftertaste” – it sounds so much more…
Finish
Palate
Wine Term: Palate Variations: Entry, Flavor, Flavour, Hint, Invokes Alternate Usages: On the palate, redolent with, on the entry, upon entry, with flavors of, detecting hints of, invokes flavors of What it really means: How the wine tastes Ah! The moment of truth! It took forever for your…
Bordeaux
Wine Term: Bordeaux Variations: Bordeaux Blend, Bordeaux-style Blend, Right Bank Blend, Left Bank Blend, Meritage, Claret Usage: Do you have any [insert any of the above]? What it really means: A red wine blend, generally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, made from the grapes of Bordeaux First…
Pours
Wine Term: Pours Variations: Color, Colour, Rim, Core Alternate Usages: The wine pours, out of the bottle, in the glass, rim of, core of What it really means: The way the wine looks in a wine glass Is it clear, cloudy, bubbly, red, white, pink? Is it thin…
Nose
Wine Term: Nose Variations: Bouquet, Aroma Alternate Usages: On the nose, aromatics of, hints of, bouquet of, notes of What it really means: The smell While you’re correct that a wine “smells” a certain way, you’ll never want to say it that way, it is just uncivilized. Quickest…
Open & Closed Wine
More than just pulling the cork out and shoving it back in, open and closed in regards to wine are important terms for describing your experience with the juice. You’ve most likely heard the term “letting the wine open up” at some point in your wine journey. Opening…
What is Inoculation?
To inoculate a wine is to add an active yeast culture to the must (juice) to activate fermentation. Winemakers choose certain known strains of yeasts to achieve desired results. You may have heard the term ‘native yeasts’ used in the wine world at some point on your journey. …
