The Auswine Forum

Dear forum members

As a member of this group I am often amazed by the ability of certain people to describe tasting notes. I would love to be able to do this also and long to be able to say something other than "nice" when I describe a wine. What websites, advice or references can I go to/get the find the generic desriptors necessary to convey a wines wares/assets/tastes?

Morning Luke... a good place to start is Robbert Geddes' book "A Good Nose and Great Legs".

Reading online will help if you search for sites held by Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers... Wine Diva is a pretty informative site for Aussie wines and regions.

First, I think you might need to learn to 'taste' wine and not just 'drink' it! I know it sounds silly, but there's a difference. Robert's book should assist with that.

Luke W wrote:Dear forum members

As a member of this group I am often amazed by the ability of certain people to describe tasting notes. I would love to be able to do this also and long to be able to say something other than "nice" when I describe a wine. What websites, advice or references can I go to/get the find the generic desriptors necessary to convey a wines wares/assets/tastes?

Here you go....

http://www.aromadictionary.com/wineredlist.pdf

http://www.aromadictionary.com/winewhitelist.pdf

http://www.aromadictionary.com/winemakinglist.pdf

http://www.aromadictionary.com/mouthfeelwheel.gif

http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/taste.htm

I've got a great tasting descriptor spreadsheet that was written for MW students but I don't reckon I can post that

Hello Luke

I came across a small fold-out (size of a credit card) titled "Essential Wine Tasting Guide" which I found very useful, obtainable through
www.essentialwinetastingguide.com - highly recommended.

My approach is untutored and therefore open to criticism, because I use wine language in my own, idiosyncratic way. However, in company, it works well, one, because it makes other people happy to give their own opinion, and two, it leads to discussion and clarification of what is meant.

Some terms I have come to understand through discussing what I'm drinking with others who know, and sometimes I simply think of the food equivalent to the wine (ie, cloves, butter, cherries, chocolate, liquorice).

But I think at first it is good enough and useful enough just to use your imagination and your palate.

Thanks guys

I'll wade through these and learn a new approach - much appreciated

Luke,

Once you have had a look at that other stuff and have had a chnace to absorb some of the info, you may find this helpful. http://www.torbwine.com/useful.shtml and then go to TORB's Tasting Sheet.

You can use it to help you pull together some of the info contained in the other links, when you try and make notes.