How Insiders Talk About Wine

Those who love wine, sell it, collect it, and write about it are part of a subculture, and with that comes its own lingo. A word like “legs” takes on a whole new meaning when looking into a wine glass.Sometimes, it can feel like this insider talk is part of the gate-keeping of wine, but really it’s a way for those in a tight-knit, global industry to help understand each other. It’s no different than any other niche industry or subculture. Who outside of finance knew what a credit default swap was before 2008? All you need is a little context to help get a better picture of what is happening in these little-known little worlds. Below are a few wine topics, words, and ideas bandied about or hotly debated by those in the know.Balance: This should fall under taste, but the idea is so … conceptual, it seemed more appropriate to discuss with culture. A wine in balance is one where all of the structural components are aligned. Whether acid, alcohol, tannin, sugar, or fruit concentration, the feel of the wine is svelte, fluid, flowing, connected. No one element should be too over the top or hidden against the rest. While there is a dash of subjectivity to the term in regard to personal taste, there are wines that are objectively balanced and out of balance. When you have one, you know.Bojo: Shorthand for wines from Beaujolais, France. They are made from Gamay, usually simple, fruity, and mineral, with moderately high acid, a medium body, and low tannins. Not popular with the public, they are very often the drink of choice for industry professionals. Court: Short for the Court of Master Sommeliers. A trade and education organization for certifying sommeliers through rigorous examination. There are three levels, certified, advanced, and Master, who give verbal answers to theory, service, and tasting questions. It is considered the hardest test in the world. A film called “Somm” that follows three men on the journey to becoming a Master Sommelier brought lots of outside attention to the group. The Court has also gone through several scandals in the last few years involving both cheating and #Metoo accusations. Legs: Maybe the most meaningless aspect of wine, erroneously attributed to high-quality offerings by some critics. Legs are the streaks that form on the sides of a wine glass from glycerol or sugar or both. They do not indicate quality.MS: Stands for Master Sommelier, the top title awarded to those who pass the three-part exam given yearly by the Court. There are 273 people with the MS title in the world. MW: Stands for Master of Wine. The title is awarded to those who pass the other hardest test in the world, a three-part exam through the Institute of Masters of Wine. Most MWs do not work in restaurants and tend to focus on other parts of the trade like auctions, buying, selling, retail, law, consulting, or winemaking. Since 1953, 498 people have passed the exam.Natural: Entire books have been written on the subject and I may add to the series myself one day. It is a non-regulated term with various meanings depending on the user. The most dogmatic definition is wine made from organically or biodynamically farmed fruit, with nothing added, no yeast, no sulfur dioxide, in fermentation and aging vessels that impart no flavor and are bottled without fining or filtration. Some feel the addition of some sulfur dioxide for stability and to ensure against wine flaws that emerge after bottling is acceptable, but only at very low levels. Others feel that farming does not need to be certified organic or biodynamic, just practicing. Some people who drink natural wines feel themselves a part of a disparate counterculture movement committed to consuming and promoting wines they deem better for the environment and themselves. There has been a tendency to dogmatically embrace the ethos over quality and stability and not apply the same strictures to other parts of the process, like labor, packaging, or sales. Wines with funky wine flaws are referred to as Natty.Orange: A style of wine, maybe the oldest, that has seen a revival in the last few decades. All grapes originally were red. Slowly, some vines mutated and berries lost their color. For thousands of years red and white grapes were made the exact same way: The skins of berries stayed in contact with the juice during and after fermentation, which extracts compounds called phenols, including color and tannins. Eventually, winemakers started pressing the juice away from the skins of grapes, resulting in clear wine in the case of white grapes, or rose colored in the case of reds. The original style of whites with the skins fell out of favor for a couple of centuries. Then a few winemakers in the north of Italy and Sicily started experimenting with this nearly forgotten style — well, except in Georgia, which had never changed its methods and where the world’s experts on orange wine live. Now the style is all the rage, giving us orange- or yellow-tinted bottles of white wine that have tannin like a red wine. They are meant to be drunk at cellar temperature and are best with food. Orange is not the same as natural, though there is a prevalence of natural winemakers to experiment or those who specialize in orange wines, which is where the confusion probably lies.Sommelier/Somm: A wine steward who is responsible for the purchasing, organizing and upkeep of a wine cellar. Now it is used to describe individuals who sell and serve wine tableside at restaurants, rather than in private homes. Saber: A sword, or any object that can stand in place of a sword, that is used to knock the top off of a bottle of Champagne. Because of the pressure of the bubbles inside the bottle, this dangerous task can be done without getting glass into the wine. Do not try this at home; even professionals can find the results to be disastrous.Spitting: We all know what spitting is, but unlike the rest of polite society, where it’s considered rude, the act is highly encouraged at wine events. It is no fun being drunk and making a fool of yourself in front of people you respect.Terroir: A French concept that explains why food and beverage products, wine especially, taste like the places they are from. Geology, climate, traditions, and culture coalesce to leave their marks on the wine we drink. For example, all Sancerre, no matter the quality difference, should taste enough like Sancerre that you can recognize its origin. The system was codified into law, the Appellation d’origine contrôlée system, which has been copied the world over to explain to consumers the similarities and differences in the products they consume. There is no direct English translation.Knowing what legs are or what terroir is won’t make wine taste better, but now you know something of what all the fuss is about.

How Insiders Talk About Wine

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