We have compiled some basic information about wines. This could be your starting point about wines and enjoying wine for beginners. Hope you enjoy enhancing your basic knowledge on wine and find this an exciting experience into the World of Wines. The Three Main Types of Wine

Still Table Wine

Alcoholic strength, usually 8 – 14.5% (by volume).
Red Wine: made from red grapes
White: Made from white grapes, or red grapes without skins, giving a colorless juice
Rose:  Usually made from red grapes only (the skins are removed when sufficient color has been obtained).

Sparkling Wine

Alcoholic strength usually 13- 14% (by volume)
First as still wine is made, then the sparkle is obtained either by a second fermentation in bottle (Methode Champenoise) or by a second fermentation in tank (tank or chamat method). The effect can also be obtained by injecting carbon dioxide gas under pressure.

Fortified Wine

Alcoholic strength usually 18 – 21% (by volume). White or red wine to which grape spirit (Brandy) has been added either after fermentation (eg. Sherry, Marsala, Sercial and Verdelho Madeira) or during fermentation (eg. Port, Malmsey and Boal Madeira).

Since you know the different types of wine, check out

Check out some of the common Wine Tasting Words – enrich your knowledge on wine!

Acidic: A sharp, citric taste

Aftertaste: Also known as FINISH. Describes the taste left in your mouth after swallowing the wine

Aging: Letting wine get older to develop it’s flavor

Apple: A crisp, fruity flavor that you find in some Chardonnays

Aromatic: Grape varieties that have a spicy character, such as Riesling

Balanced: A good mix of all components in a wine

Bitter: An aftertaste, usually associated with tannin or the fruit of young wines

Body: The feel of the wine in your mouth, light, medium or full depending on the wine’s alcohol and extract

Buttery: A flavor descriptor in reference to rich, full-bodied Chadonnays that has gone through malolactic fermentation

Closed: A young wine not yet expressing its bouquet or flavor

Complex: Wines with many different positive qualities often compounded flavors

Crisp: A great apple freshness in white wines

Decanting: Cellar-aged bottled wine is poured slowly and carefully into another vessel, usually a glass decanter, in order to leave any sediments in the original bottle before serving

Dry: A wine that is not sweet

Fruity: A wine with good fruit extract

Gamy: Rough and ready

Grassy: Slightly vegetal-tasting undertone often of the overall character of Sauvignon Blancs and certain other grape varietals

Legs/Tears: When an alcoholic wine is drunk and the glass is put back down, drips of the wine slide back down the inside in long streaks, looking sort of like legs.

Nose: The bouquet of wine

Oaky: The toasted vanilla or coconut smell and taste imparted by oak barrels

Palate: Describes how the wine behaves in the mouth cavity, primarily used to summarize flavors & textures

Round: Flavors and tactile sensations giving a feeling of completeness with no dominating characteristic

Short: A wine with little aftertaste

Soft: A well-rounded wine with mature tannins and little evidence of acidity

Tannic: Red wines have tannins, which gives you that dry, astringent taste derived from the stems, pips and skin of the grapes

Taste: The basic sensations detectable by human tongue. Scientific opinions defines these as sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

Tight: A term for young wines

Toasty: The barrel smell and taste imparted in oaked wines

Unbalanced: Excess of one or more elements in wine

Vanilla: Component detectable in the nose of a wine Well-balanced: Perfect harmony between all the wine’s elements

Now, that you understand some of the basic Wine Tasting Words, check out our Guide to Wine Tasting page and learn how to perform your own wine tasting.

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