How to Describe Wine | Wine Terminology and Tasting Notes to Pick a Wine You WILL Enjoy

Описание: In this video, you will learn how to use the proper wine terminology to describe how you want a wine to taste. To do this, you will learn common wine terminology, wine tasting terms, hear examples of how to describe a wine you enjoy, and discuss wine journaling.

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Table of Contents:
Intro 0:00
Red Wine vs. White Wine 1:08
Basic Wine Descriptions 1:34
Describing Wine Tasting Notes 3:04
Wine Description Examples 3:53
Wine Journaling 4:28

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So you’re at a restaurant or a wine store and you ask the sommelier or worker what wine they recommends and the server replies with, “Well what type of wine do you like?”

Today we’re going to show you how to describe the type of wine you want to buy or drink so you can sound like a pro.

The first question you need to ask yourself is do you like red wine or white wine.
This will depend on what type of wine you feel like drinking that day. remember, the food you will be pairing with the wine could affect this deciseion.
Also, if you are planning on drinking wine without food, it could also affect the decision of whether you would prefer a white or red wine.

Second, you need to understand the terms used to describe wine

A good place to start is to know these basic wine terms that describe a wine.

Light or Bold
Bold Wine - a wine that has a more intense flavor
Light Wine- a wine that has a less intense flavor

Smooth or Tannic
Tannic wine - a wine that has a bitter after taste
Smooth - a wine that has less of an after taste

Soft of Acidic
Soft wine - a wine that does not burn in the back of your throat after drinking it
Acidic wine - a wine that has a higher acid concentration which can give the wine a tart taste

Sweet or Dry
Sweet wine - a wine with more residual sugar with a sweeter taste
Dry wine - a wine with little residual sugar that has a crisp taste

Light bodied vs full bodied
Light bodied - a lighter consistency and flavor of wine. For example skim milk.
Full bodied wine - a fuller consistency and flavor of wine.

Next, you want to consider what types of notes and flavors are your favorites in wine. And this just consists of flavors do you like to taste in a wine.
For example: do you like a wine that has hints of red fruit notes, such as cherry or strawberry.
Or do you prefer wine that has an oaky notes (which often tastes like vanilla) or one without an oaky flavor.

Popular wine notes include:
Red fruit notes, black fruit notes, dry fruit notes, citrus fruit notes, tree fruit notes, floral notes, oaky notes, earthy notes, spicy notes, aging notes, tobacco, leather, chocolate, vanilla

If you don’t know what each of these terms mean, please refer to our previous video on wine terms for how to use these terms. We go much more in depth on this wine tasting terminology.

Now we’ll give you a couple of examples of how we would describe some wine we enjoy drinking.
For example: The type of wine I (Olivia) enjoy is a Bold, Smooth, Acidic, and Dry wine. This can be a way to describe a Pinot Noir or a Malbec.
I (Ken) enjoy a Bold, smooth, tannic, dry, full bodied wine. This could be a description of some Cabernet sauvignons

Last, a good way to learn more about what type of wine you like is by using a wine journal. With a wine journal, you keep track of different types of wine you have tried, how you would describe the taste of each wine, the different flavors and notes in the wine, and what you liked and disliked about each wine.

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