| Aggressive |
said of young wine or older wine that hasn't
mellowed as it should have done |
| Astringent |
mouth-puckering tannin |
| Crisp |
fresh and positively refreshing, especially whites |
| Dense |
solid color and/or densely packed with flavor,
usually positive |
| Fat |
full-bodied with high glycerol, maybe sweet |
| Firm |
good tannin and/or acid |
| Forward |
more mature than you would expect |
| Green |
young and raw, may develop or the grapes may simply
have been unripe |
| Hard |
too much tannin or acid, but can be a question of
youth and time |
| Heavy |
full-bodied and alcoholic, usually used to indicate
imperfect balance, although not in the case of fortified wines |
| Hollow |
wine that has an initial taste and an end taste, but
a disappointing lack of flavors in between |
| Lean |
lacking breadth of flavors |
| Long |
wine the taste of which lasts, a very positive
feature |
| Robust |
full-bodied, ,sturdy wine, usually red |
| Round |
no hard edges, ready to drink |
| Sharp |
a sharp, acid flavor that may simply need time to
soften, mostly whites |
| Short |
no aftertaste, cannot be a high quality wine |
| Simple |
sound, drinkable wine of no great distinction |
| Smooth |
applies to texture, no tannin or acid getting in the
way |
| Structure |
as in good firm structure or poor, ,weak structure;
the balance and strength of the basic components, ie acid, tannin
fruit, alcohol and maybe sugar |
| Thin |
lacking flavor and body |
| Tough |
too much tannin |