Wine is the best companion on a special evening, and sommelier is a very relevant discipline and profession in restaurants like Venetiis. A good dish must be paired correctly so that the diner can combine flavors, smells and textures and enjoy the experience to the fullest.
What should we know when evaluating a wine? What are the characteristics that are taken into account when tasting or categorizing? The most used terms are divided into two groups, the objective and the subjective. Let’s get to know them!
Objective concepts to know a wine
These terms appear in the technical sheet provided by the winery that made the wine. Here its composition, its origin or its fermentation time are determined, all the elements that give it its flavor.
We find words such as the variety of the grape, the winemaking process, the origin and environment, the ripening system and time or the degrees of alcohol.
Obviously, as you can see, these concepts are the same regardless of the taster who faces a wine. Personal tastes do not influence here, unlike in the next batch of concepts, which are completely subjective.
Subjective concepts
Below we show you a series of terms that will help you define all the sensations you experience when tasting a wine. Many times our palate is not properly educated and we do not know how to relate the flavor to a specific word when evaluating or suggesting a wine, so it can be very useful:
Flared or holed. It is a wine that is not classified as sweet but it does offer sugary sensations
Steely. It is detected in young, pale whites that appear to have the shine of steel.
Fruity. It brings us vegetable or fruit aromas. This expression is widely used but incorrect, the proper way is “fruity”.
Astringent. It is applied to wine with too much tannins present and that produces a sensation of dryness and narrowing in the tissues of the mouth. It can also be called “rough”.
Happy. It is light, fresh, without aromatic complexities.
Shiny. It is a wine that looks completely transparent against the light, without lumps or impurities.
Fleshy. It is said of the wine with body and well combined that produces a rich physical impression as it passes through the mouth.
Raw or tender. This is the name given to young and unfinished wines.
Weak or short. Applies to those with few pronounced characters.
Decrepit. It came completely unbalanced due to excess age.
Elegant. Balanced wine, which produces suggestive sensations in the nose and mouth.
Gap. It is said of the wines that they disappoint throughout the journey of the mouth due to their many deficiencies.
Full. Wide flavors that fill the palate. Pasty. It is normally applied to whites and cavas that are excessively dense in the mouth and rich in sugar.
Scented. It came with intense aromas.
Chopped. Vinegar, past. Unctuous.
Oily, that sticks in the glass and is smooth in the mouth.
Vigorous. It causes powerful sensations in the mouth. It is tasty, full-bodied and with a well-coordinated acidity and level of tannins and alcohol.
