Acidity - An essential element that applies to the citric, malic, tartaric and lactic acids in wine.  It is important to balance the wine's flavors.

Aftertaste - What you taste in your mouth after you swallow the wine.

Aggressive - A harsh taste sometimes caused by too much acid

Alcohol - Too much of an alcohol taste can overwhelm the subtleties in the wine.  Sometimes perceived as peppery or hot. 

Aroma - The scent of the grape rather than the wine making process

Astringent - The tea-like quality that creates the dry, puckering sensation in the mouth as a result (usually) of tannin content

Austere - Tannin or acid can make a wine hard or uninteresting.  

Balance - Wine has several elements that go into its make up - fruit, sugar, acidity, tannins, alcohol and oak aging.  When a wine is balanced none of these elements overshadows or drowns out another. 

Barrel-Fermented - Wine that is fermented in small barrels rather than large tanks.

Barrel Tasting - A special event where barrels are opened and tasted before actual bottling has taken place.  Naturally the wines will be young but it allows serious wine enthusiasts the opportunity to investigate limited releases before buying.

Body - Light-bodied, medium-bodied, full-bodied; the term takes into account a wine’s density and viscosity with reference to the impression of fullness or weight on the palate.

Bouquet - As opposed to aroma (the scent of the grape), bouquet refers to the scent a wine acquires with aging in oak and in the bottle.

Breathing - when you first open some wines (reds in particular) you leave them open at room temperature for a half hour or so (some say longer) and let the air mix with the wine to enhance flavor and aromas. 

Buttery - Think of chardonnay where there a creamy-vanilla flavor derived from the wine’s contact with new oak.

Chemical - An artifact of fermentation that can create unpleasant smells and tastes - often of sulfur or nail polish.

Chewy - Serious tannin!  It usually doesn't interfere with flavor.

Clean - Simple, direct flavor without major flaws.

Closed - Not fully developed. Usually young or can be improved by breathing.

Cloying - Far too sweet.  Not a good thing.

Complex - A variety and range of aromas and bouquets and multiple layers of flavor.

Creamy - A rich, smooth texture (often a quality of fine chardonnay or champagne).

Crisp - A white wine’s sharp, zesty acidity.  It's a good thing.

Delicate - Light but still well defined.

Depth - A wine that appeals to a multitude of levels - from aroma to taste to finish.  It can have more than one characteristic - fruity, buttery, oaky - that compliment each other nicely.

Earthy - A damp earth smell.

Estate-Bottled - Wine made exclusively from grapes grown on a winery’s property and produced by the winery (located in the same AVA where the grapes are grown).

Finish - The taste and aroma of a wine left on the palate after swallowing. A finish that lasts is a good thing.

Firm - Assertive, but not unbalanced, acidity particularly in young wines.

Floral - A taste and aroma of fresh posies.

Fruit - The amount of grape (i.e. fruit) taste in a wine.

Funk or Funky - The rotten smell after a wine has been exposed to air for a long period of time. Often occurs if corking is not done properly.

Hard - A wine (particularly red) with lots of tannin that needs time to mature.

Hot - A relatively high alcohol content resulting in a taste that is peppery.  Technically it's looked down on but we actually thought many peppery wines were wonderful.

Legs - Swirl wine in a glass.  There will be ripples of liquid clinging to the inside of the bowl.  They are an indication of a wine’s body.

Malolactic - A secondary fermentation occurring in most red and some white wines used to convert the grape’s primary malic acid into a softer lactic acid.  This often gives Chardonnays their characteristic mellowness.

Mellow - Speaking of which, a soft, well-balanced wine.

Must - Grape juice and/or crushed grapes before or during fermentation.

Nose - A wine’s aroma.

Oaky - Wines aged in oak, particularly young oak, take on a bit of the barrel’s taste and smell.

Peppery - A wine with a high alcohol content will have a characteristic pepperiness.

Reserve - Usually a winery’s better quality or signature wines.

Residual sugar - The amount of sugar not converted to alcohol during fermentation that indicates a wine’s relative sweetness.

Robust - Big assertive and full-flavored.

Silky - A texture that’s smooth as…..

Smokey - A result usually of aging in charred oak barrels.

Soft - A term characterizing texture and referring to the amount of , and relationship between, a wine’s acid and tannin.

Spicy - Includes a myriad of fruit and spice flavors including cloves, mint, pepper, cinnamon and many, many others.

Tannin - The Derived from the skins, stalks and seeds of grapes, as well as the oak barrels used for aging, it accounts for a wine’s astringency (which is reduced over time) and is an essential element for aging.

Tart - Lots of acidity resulting in a green-tasting wine.

Terroir - A French word reflecting the expression of the Earth, or particular vineyard site, in the finished wine.

Varietal - Derived from the phrase, grape variety, it indicates the type of grapes (e.g. chardonnay). For a wine to be labeled a varietal it must contain at least 75% of the named grape variety.

Vegetal - A wine that smells like wet straw, mushrooms or compost. Not appealing.

Velvety - Smooth texture and deep, rich flavors.

Vineyard Designated - Indicates that at least 95% of the grapes used to make the wine came from the named vineyard.

Vintage - If a vintage date is used on a label (e.g. 1994) it means that at least 95% of the wine must be from grapes grown in that year.