Minerva

Bland - Implies lack of character, too mild.

Crisp - Firm, brisk, refreshing, zestful. Indicates good level of acidity, particularly in dry whites.

Dry - In relation to wine always means not sweet; sugar fully fermented out.

Finesse - An abstract qualitative term related to refinement, elegance.

Firm - Sound constitution, positive. A desirable quality on the palate.

Flabby - Soft, feeble, lacking acidity on the palate.

Flat - The next stage after flabby, well beyond bland. Total lack of vigour on nose and on palate; lack of acidity; oxidation.

Heavy - Over-endowed with alcohol, more than full bodied; clumsy, lacking finesse.

Meaty - Rich ‘chunky’ nose, almost chewable flavour.

Piquant - A high-toned, overfragrant, fruity nose verging on sharp, usually confirmed by an over-acidic end taste.

Pricked - Distinctly sharper than piquant. Acetic smell, tart. An irremediable fault.

Sharp - Acidity on the nose and palate somewhere between piquant and pricked. Usually indicating a fault.

Sinewy - Lean, muscular on the palate. Usually a wine of some potential.

Stringy - A texture: on the thin and scrawny side, lacking equability.

Supple - Texture, balance: pleasant combination of vigour and harmony.

Tart - Sharp, nose catching, tongue curling.

Velvety - A textural description: silky, smooth, a certain opulence on the palate.

NOTES

Wine appreciation is an interesting semantic field, because its lexemes are largely figurative applications from other fields.

Terms which we would normally associate with music, textiles, food, physique, personality, morality, and behaviour rub shoulders with terms from colour, chemistry, botany, and nutrition.

Because the topic is so subjective, the lexicon plays a critical role.

The relationships between the lexemes define the contrasts of taste which the wine enthusiast seeks to identify.

To learn about wine is first to learn how to talk about wine (M. Broadbent, 1983).