Wine Wednesday: Learn Wine Lingo

If you’re like most college students, you’ve spent the majority of your legal drinking years sipping on Barefoot, Boone’s Farm or whatever wine was on sale at the supermarket. While these wines are just as good as any other, they don’t exactly give you the opportunity to learn the elegant terms that go along with finer wines. Whether it be a cocktail party, a special event or a business occasion, it’s important to come equipped with knowledge of a few wine terms, just in case there’s a wine-loving business executive that you want to impress.

Body

This term is used to discuss the consistency of a wine. If it’s thin and smooth, most people will refer to this wine as having a “light body.” Vice versa goes for heavier, richer wines, which are typically dark in color.

Floral

This term refers to the composition of the taste of the wine. White wines are more likely to be described as floral, meaning light and natural with undertones that physically smell of flowers.

Oaky

This term is used when referring to the taste and color of a wine. When wine is aged in an oak wood barrel, it is typically richer and yields a more appealing color and smell.

Aeration

As wine connoisseurs will emphasize, aeration is an important process in fine wine tasting. Many will use a specific tool to do this, but it can be done by simply uncorking a wine and letting it ‘breathe.’ Being that most wines have been aged for many years, they need time to aerate so the flavors are not overpowering.

Nose

This is the term that is used to describe the smell of the wine. We’ve all seen people breathe in the aroma of their wine before tasting, and wine-lovers refer to this as its “nose.”