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.