In Defense of Wine Speak Discipline

by Seema Tikare

I am sure every discipline has its share of navel gazing.  Perhaps more in the wine industry than others.  For example, when we use words like “linearity” or “searing” or “stiffening the mid-palate.”  Sometimes even I, after seven years of intensive study and work, am not sure what people mean when they say these things.  And it is hard to get away from the idea that some of the language is simply pretentious.  But bear with me.

Consider the challenge.  We have a limited vocabulary to express flavors, smells, textures in the mouth and overall enjoyment.  Most wine drinkers fall back on a rote list of descriptors such as fruit, flowers, herbs, minerals and sweeteners, with a few other modifiers such as smoke, leather and earth.  This limited range of adjectives often does not convey the entire experience of tasting a wine because it is simply too difficult to encapsulate a sensory journey.  

But smell and flavor are so intimately entwined in our memories and experiences that we must often struggle to find the right descriptor.  If I say “tamarind,” will you know what I mean?  If you say “nettles,” will I know what you mean?  As in many professions, Wine Experts need to be able to speak to a very broad range of people with a very broad range of tastes, backgrounds and preferences.  And again, as with many professions, we need to be able to speak both technically to our peers and use more accessible language for laymen and enthusiasts.  (Un)Fortunately, we have settled on a set of common terms that make sense to most people.

However, flavors and aromas are not the only important aspects of wine.  Describing wine accurately also requires using some more arcane terms to convey such facets as the body, texture, complexity, intensity and overall balance of a wine.  In technical terms, these last five aspects of wine are often more important than the nose or palate.  Grape varieties bring their own special magic to wine - that is why we use so many different types of grapes.  And the process of making wine - using wild or cultivated yeasts, temperature of fermentation, length of time on the skins, aging in oak or stainless steel and so forth - also brings different smells and flavors to bear.  But it also affects those other five factors and, in some ways, those are the more important parts of the wine for us.

So…does the wine feel silky smooth?  Chalky?  Viscous?  Which part of the mouth do you feel these sensations in? Does the wine make your mouth dry?  Or does it make your mouth water?  Does it linger pleasantly on your palate?  Examining all these aspects, in short, is complicated.  You want to give your customer just enough and not too much information.  You want to talk about the wine in a way that genuinely conveys its full goodness but not overwhelm the reader or drinker.  And you want to give enough guidance so the customer can appreciate the history or winemaking or location of where the wine comes from, which always makes it more interesting and enjoyable no matter whether you are a novice or experienced hand.   

So, if some writers or sommeliers use language that is too ornate or go on at length about the wine’s “ethereal quality” or its “finesse,” bear with them.  Appreciate their enthusiasm because often the more they have to say about a wine - pretentious sounding or not - the more they appreciate where it comes from, who made it, why it is special and how much you might enjoy it.

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