Wine Vocabulary - All Those Funny Words

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California boasts more than twenty different winegrowing regions, each with distinctive personalities reflected in the landscape, the wineries and the wines, and even familiar spots have undiscovered back roads and spectacular but less-visited regions within the region. In fact, California now has 107 different American Viticultural Areas or AVAs, delimited winegrowing areas recognized by the federal government. Wine is a signature product of California and an important part of the cultural and physical landscape of the state. California is the fourth largest wine producer in the world and Golden State wineries produce 90 percent of all U.S. wine!

Body is the tasting term referring to viscosity, consistency, thickness, or texture. Wine with "Body" often has a higher alcohol or sugar content than normal. The tannin, also, is a major component of what is called "body" in a wine. A best way to comprehend the feeling of "body" in a wine is to think of milk. Recall the difference in mouthful of skim then full cream milk, then cream. Wine is usually classified as light / medium/ or full-bodied.

A friendly copy editor came by the other day, as copy editors sometimes do, with a logical question that wasn't easy to answer.

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California boasts more than twenty different winegrowing regions, each with distinctive personalities reflected in the landscape, the wineries and the wines, and even familiar spots have undiscovered back roads and spectacular but less-visited regions within the region. In fact, California now has 107 different American Viticultural Areas or AVAs, delimited winegrowing areas recognized by the federal government.

"I don't know that much about wine," she said. "But I have a little trouble relating to something that you say tastes like 'old leather' or 'melting road tar' - and you seem to like it."

She's got a point.

One of the most challenging things about judging wine - and telling other people about it - is that so much of its appeal is to our senses of smell and taste.

Since we humans don't use smell or taste nearly as much, or as effectively, as we do sight, hearing and even touch, we lack a well-defined, precise vocabulary to describe aromas and flavors in terms that mean the same thing to everyone.

It isn't easy to do that accurately, vividly and effectively without drifting into intolerable vagueness, dropping into incomprehensible jargon or using the kind of precious language that makes people think you're a wine snob.

Furthermore, a lot of the terms that most accurately describe frequently occurring scents in wine are not words that we usually associate with edible things. Oak, cedar and pine, for instance. Moss, leaves and grass. Yes, even tar and leather.

Although details are understandably sketchy, it is believed that, around 6000 BC, grapes were being grown and wine was being made in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).

It's also important to understand that these scents and tastes rarely dominate the wine. Typically they add a small but significant element to a larger pattern, as a colored thread might highlight woven cloth or a French horn's theme add texture to an orchestral chorus.

In other words, the hints of chocolate and coffee in some California red wines and the nuances of coconut, figs and dates in oak-aged Chardonnay don't make the wine taste like a milkshake or fruit salad; they are subtle, often elusive parts of a larger whole.

That "tarry" quality in a California Merlot that puzzled my friend, the editor, is not an unpleasant scent to me but one of great nostalgia, evoking memories of youthful hikes along the edge of country roads on hot summer days.

During the Dark Ages, vineyards were maintained by the monasteries as a source of communion wine. These wine producers laid the foundations for much of the modern wine industry throughout Europe.

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September is the perfect time to take to the road or gather friends around your dining room table to experience the flavorful results of California’s winemakers’ labors and celebrate the 2006 harvest season just getting underway. With a special proclamation from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, designating September as the time to acknowledge the commitment of the state’s 2000 wineries and 5000 winegrape growers to “the highest standards of excellence,” special events abound in wine regions throughout the state, and many retailers and restaurateurs are putting the spotlight on California wine with promotions and seasonal menus.