How to Describe Wine

How best to describe a wine?  Wine excites the senses so that is the place to start!  WSET courses that I have taken use the following categories and questions to best describe the qualities of a wine:

Appearance

What is the clarity of the wine? (clear or hazy)

How intense is the colour? (light to deep)

What is the colour? (A rose wine could described as pink, salmon or orange)

Are there other characteristics of note? (petillance, legs and tears, deposits)

Nose

What is the condition of the wine?  (clean or is faulty)

What is the intensity of the wine? (light to pronounced)

What are the aromas? (primary aromas = fruit and flowers, secondary aromas = winemaking, tertiary aromas – ageing)

What is the development? (youthful to tired)

Palate

How sweet is the wine? (dry to luscious)

How acidic is the wine? (low to high based on a mouth watering sensation)

How tannic is the wine? (low to high based on an astringent mouth drying sensation)

How much alcohol is in the wine? (low to high based on a viscous mouth feel and a burning sensation after spitting)

How much body does the wine have?  (low to high based on three factors: alcohol, tannins and flavour intensity)

What are the flavours? (primary flowers = fruit and flowers, secondary flavours = winemaking, tertiary flavours – ageing)

How is the finish? (short to long based on how long the wine stays with you after you have tasted it)