Wine Terms to Use to Make You Sound Like a Pro
Being in the wine and spirits industry, I’ve come across a lot of situations where consumers know what they want in a wine but don’t know how to describe it to a professional. Too many times I’ve heard, “I want a smooth wine that’s a little sweet,” used to describe both a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Sauvignon. If that’s you, keep reading.
As a proprietor and a sommelier, I want you to get the most out of your wine drinking experience, and to find wines that suit your preference. Let’s start by breaking down some common terms.
Sweet vs. Dry
This is probably the most commonly misunderstood pair of terms in the wine world. Sweet means a wine has residual sugar in it, like Kabinett or other Rieslings, Brut or other Champagnes, Port, Lambrusco, or Moscato. Dry means without residual sugar, or lower than 4g/l of it. People often say sweet when they actually mean fruity, since fruit flavor is very present on the nose.
I also find people use dry to describe tannins, since tannins create a drying sensation, even though they may very much enjoy lighter-bodied red wines that are technically dry, with no residual sugar.
So how do you properly describe what you’re looking for? If you want a wine that feels “dry,” ask for a tannic wine, or for one that isn’t tannic if you don’t want that drying sensation. Most wines on the market are dry, so this distinction matters. If you want a wine that’s “sweet” but don’t actually like sweet wines like Rieslings or Chenin Blanc with residual sugar, ask for something more fruit-forward and floral instead.
Smooth
This term comes up more than I’d like as a descriptor, and it’s one of the most confusing in the wine world. I’ve heard it used to describe supple tannins, wines with a lot of oak, and light-bodied wines, all at once. In my experience, it’s best to drop this word from your wine vocabulary entirely. If you like a wine, look for other ways to describe what you like about it.
I believe people reaching for “smooth” are usually trying to describe the body of the wine. The best descriptors are light, medium, or full-bodied, alongside tannic or not tannic. Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cinsault tend to be lighter styles of red, while Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah are generally fuller-bodied.
Tannins create the chalky, drying sensation in a wine. The older the wine, the more supple and less drying the tannins tend to feel. Tannins come from both the skin of the grape and the oak barrel. If you like that drying sensation, you like a tannic wine, and if you don’t, you don’t. Common tannic wines include Nebbiolo (Barolo/Barbaresco), Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Sangiovese (Chianti).
Oaky vs. Buttery in White Wines
These two also get mixed up often, and it’s not entirely wrong to connect them: wines aged in oak barrels often go through malolactic fermentation, the process that creates a buttery flavor, though not every oak-aged wine is buttery (our Eds’ Vineyard Estate Sauvignon Blanc, for example).
Oak barrels bring baking spice, coconut, or wood flavors, along with tannin and body. Malolactic fermentation is what gives white wine a buttery, popcorn-like flavor, and it often happens in oak barrels during fermentation, though it can occur in any vessel under the right conditions. All red wines go through malolactic fermentation.
Wines most associated with oak include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Chenin Blanc, among others. Of these, Chardonnay is most commonly put through full malolactic fermentation, though not every Chardonnay is made in that style, so if you don’t usually like Chardonnay, it’s still worth giving one a try. You might surprise yourself.
So how do you describe it? If you don’t like the buttered-popcorn flavor, tell your server you don’t like white wines that go through full malolactic fermentation, or simply that you don’t like a buttery wine. Just don’t say you dislike an “oaky” wine, since that rules out more than you might think, including some Champagne.
I hope these terms help a little! Share some of the wine terms you hear most often.
Cheers,
Amanda