How to Use the Lingo of a Wine Enthusiast

Whether you’re dining out with colleagues, or hosting a small gathering with friends, it’s always impressive to be able to comment about the wine you’re enjoying. But what to say? Something more than, “this tastes good,” is preferable and never say “smell” when talking about the scent of a wine. Master a few of these simple phrases and vocabulary words, and you’ll have anyone convinced that you’ve been a wine connoisseur for years, even if you’re just a novice.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Practice

How to Talk Like a Wine Enthusiast

1. The smell of a wine is called its “nose.” If someone says that a wine has a huge nose, the person means the wine has a very strong smell.

2. If a wine taster detects the scent of lemon in a wine, the person might say “there is lemon in the nose,” or “there is lemon on the nose.”

3. There are two parts of a wine’s scent. One is the scent of the wine’s ingredients and its environment while being created--for instance the grapes that were used. This is called the “aroma.” The other is the scent the wine gets as it ages. Older wine tends to take on a more woodsy or earthy scent. The scent attributed to the wine’s age is called its “bouquet.”

4. When a wine taster refers to the taste of a wine, the person uses the word “palate,” which means the overall impression the wine leaves in your mouth. One might say, “this wine’s palate is a tad acidic,” or “this wine’s palate is well blended.”

Tips & Warnings

• Wine tasters don’t use the word smell when commenting on a wine’s scent because smell has a negative connotation, like odor. Instead, wine aficionados use the word aroma.

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