Our Life in Wine

In this month’s blog, we thought we’d clear up some confusing terms that are often thrown around in the wine industry.  Have you ever gone to a wine tasting and heard people talking about dry, sweet, tannic, acidic and flabby wines, but had no idea what they meant? You're not alone. Many consumers find these terms confusing, and it can lead to them not wanting to drink wine, or feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable. 

We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy wine without feeling intimidated or overwhelmed. That’s why we’re de-mystifying these terms and helping our friends understand what they mean.

Dry:  A dry wine means that it has no residual sugar.  This term can often be confused with “tannic” because tannic wines can often leave your mouth feeling dry (see below). Dry is simply a winemaking term for when the yeast consumes all of the sugar in the grapes and converts it to alcohol, leaving no sugar left over.   

Sweet: Wines that are sweet do have residual sugar, unlike a dry wine. Some wine-making techniques allow the winemaker to choose not to allow the yeast to consume all of the sugar during fermentation, leaving some sugar in the finished wine.  There are varying degrees of sweetness with different terms, but we can save that topic for another day.  

Tannic: Tannins are natural compounds found in wines that can impart texture, mouthfeel, astringency, but also complexity in a wine.  It is possible for wines with a lot of tannin to feel as though they have coated your teeth or sucked out all the moisture in your mouth.  It is common to hear words like "grippy tannins" that have more mouthfeel (think terry cloth towel texture) as opposed to "fine tannins" that are softer and just provide a nice backdrop (think cashmere sweater texture).  

Acidic: An acidic wine has a higher acidity level, which can give it a tart or sour taste, or when in balance with other characteristics, can make your mouth water and add a nice crisp freshness to the wine.  Think of an under-ripe blueberry versus a very ripe version.  The under-ripe version has more natural acids in it.  This phenomenon is the same with grapes - the earlier they are picked or the cooler the climate they grow in, the more acidity is preserved.  The later they are picked or the hotter the climate, and they ripen much more like a ripe strawberry with higher sugars and lower acidity. 

Flabby: The term flabby refers to a wine that is lacking in acidity and tannins. It can taste flat and dull. A wine needs a moderate level of acidity and tannin to feel balanced.   

A fun game is to try to identify where each wine you taste sits on a scale of 1 - 5 for each of these!  The more you taste, the more you will pick up on it.  Practice makes perfect!  

Cheers!

-Sarah & Skye