

Aftertaste: The "shadow taste" remaining in your mouth just after swallowing a sip of wine. Important in wine tasting because it can reveal an extra attribute or fault. In general terms the longer the taste lingers the better the wine.

Aging: Term describing the storing of wine under certain specific conditions for the purpose of improving the wine. Aging of wines (usually reds) for long periods in oak barrels adds oak-flavour and makes the wine more complex. After bottling, further aging in sealed bottles develops a pleasing taste and odour characteristic.

Alcohol: Many different compounds in nature are classed as "alcohols" chemically. In wine only one exists in significant amounts - ethanol. Other alcohols, if present, occur only in minute amounts and are usually thought of as flavour components. Alcohol adds a sweetish taste to wines, or hotness if present in too high a concentration. Conversely, if its alcohol content is too low, a wine may be thin, unbalanced and lacking in body.


Amontillado: A type of Spanish sherry, medium in colour and sweetness between Fino (light and dry) and Olorosso (heavier and sweet). Amontillados are known for a distinctively nutty flavour not possessed by the other Sherry types.


All grapes, as all wines, grown within any certain appellation are not necessarily superb; neither are they necessarily plonk. Nevertheless, wines from certain appellations usually sell at higher prices than do similar wines from "lesser" appellations, regardless of how others might rank them.




Astringency: Sensation of taste, caused by tannins in wine, which is best described as mouth drying sensation, bitter or puckery.


Auslese: German word meaning "selection." In German wine law, auslese has a specific meaning which requires that the wine be made only from selected bunches of grapes, riper than others.