Jargon Busting- "Texture" in Wine
Our lovewine guru, Sam Kim sheds some light on the real meaning behind some confusing wine terminology.
You can feel the textural difference between a silk scarf and a leather jacket. But texture in wine is much more difficult to describe let alone believe there’s much difference among varieties and styles. Mind you, they talk about texture in music too. If it helps, ‘texture’ can be replaced with ‘mouthfeel’ when describing wine.
For example, you could describe texture or mouthfeel of fruit juice as being juicy, vibrant, zesty, fruity, lively, refreshing or succulent. While full-cream milk (there was a time when everyone drank this) can be described as being milky, creamy, smooth, rounded, mouth-filling, mouth-coating or silky (silky compared to juice anyway).
All sorts of things influence texture/mouthfeel of a wine, including fruit intensity, acidity, level and type of tannins, sugar, glycerol etc.
So in the spirit of stretching our imagination, we wine-writers pretend as if a wine has texture/mouthfeel of something entirely different, but it does help to differentiate one wine from another. In fact, I think it provides more ‘feeling’ to a wine than the flavour profile. You may feel a wine makes you feel lifted and energized because of its freshness, zingy mouthfeel and crunchy-apple-like vibrancy. Or feel calm and relaxed after a glass of smooth, supple pinot noir.
Here are some texture/mouthfeel words.
Sauvignon Blanc: zesty, juicy, lively, zingy, vibrant, edgy, sharp, crisp
Chardonnay: smooth, creamy, fruity, opulent, generous, rounded, expansive
Pinot Gris: fruity, smooth, silky, rounded, oily
Riesling: lean, taut, juicy, fine, elegant, refine, linear, sleek
Viognier: rich, smooth, oily, velvety, fruity, opulent
Pinot Noir: smooth, silky, velvety, supple, elegant, flowing, seamless, graceful
Cabernet/Merlot: firm, grainy, solid, bold, dense, fruity
Syrah/Shiraz: supple, fleshy, rich, powerful, opulent, velvety, plump, weighty, luxurious, cuddly, plush, succulent
Coming up in next week’s ‘Jargon Busting’ – what on earth is ‘structure’ in wine.
Tags: Sam Kim, wine words, wine learning, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Riesling , Viognier, wine, pinot noir, Cabernet Merlot, Wine Orbit, Syrah, pinot gris
Category: Jargon Busting
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