Describing a Wine

Common Descriptive Terms

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Aromatic	Has a pleasant or distinctive smell
Beefy	Lots of Flavour, Full Bodied
Coarse	Rough and Ready (usually cheap wine)
Creamy	Resembles texture and/or flavour of cream
Crisp	Fresh and Invigorating
Dense	Lots of Colour or Flavour
Earthy	Earthy or Minerally Taste and/or Smell
Flat	Lacking in Freshness or acidity
Green	Young or Unripe
Heavy	Full bodied and Alcoholic
Herbaceous or Herby	Flavours of Grass and Herbs
Hot	Overcooked, and/or strong alcohol taste
Jammy	Jam like flavours, usually from hot climates
Long	Long lasting flavour in the mouth
Meaty	Rich flavours, or literaly meaty flavours
Oaky	Smells and/or oaky taste
Rich	Depth and Breadth of Flavour
Rough	Cheap wine see Coarse
Round	No sharp tastes, ready for drinking
Scented	Scented Purfumed, usually floral
Sharp	Acidic flavour, decanting can help give a smoother taste
Short	No aftertaste or the taste dies quickly
Smooth	No acid or tannin
Stewed	Cooked fruit flavours
Structure	Description of the balance of acid, tannin, fruit and alcohol
Tannin	Bitter, mouth drying taste
Thin	Little flavour or body
Vegetal	Leafy and herbaceous
Watery	see thin