Bones of a wine review

Before you can read and get anything out of a wine review, it's important to know what they're actually talking about.

The basic terms you'll see in a review are:

1. Bouquet - this is the way it wine smells to you.  For example, does it smell fruity or nutty?  Do you smell more citrus than fruit?  Bouquet can be interchanged with nose or aroma.
2. Taste - this may seem simple but it is SO not!  This is where the slurping and gurgling part of wine tastings comes in.  The flavors of the wine can change from the time you take the first sip so it is important to sip and gurgle.  The pros do this trick of aerating the wine into the nasal cavity to make the flavors come out.  I don't recommend doing this as a beginner...the results may not be pretty!
3. Finish - this refers to any flavors that you may taste after you have swallowed the wine and how long the flavors last.

Most reviews are a lot more complicated but for the sake of your attention spans and my beginner's skill sets, I'll keep mine brief.  


Hope you enjoy!