Wine description: what to say about the palate?

After appearance and smell, we’ve finally got to tasting. This is the most important part of wine description, as it is here that you can best convey the character of your wine and assist the consumer in deciding which bottle to choose.

You have to strike the right a balance between objectivity and subjectivity. It’s fine to be proud of your wine, but it’s pointless to proclaim it the best Cserszegi Fűszeres in the world that will keep for twenty-five years if it isn’t. What you should do instead is to find a unique style for your description, but if that’s not your cup of tea, go for simplicity. Keep in mind that your wine description needs to be understood not just by a highly trained wine expert or sommelier but an ordinary customer as well.

You can prepare a thorough and longer description, which, together with analytical and vinification data, will provide detailed information on your website for those who are interested. This can be of particular help to professional partners and wine experts, as they can find descriptions and details of your latest products on the market.

Some clues to describing aromas:

Fruit: citrus, white fleshed, yellow fleshed, red berries, dark berries, tropical fruit, dried fruit
Flowres: white, blue, rose
Spices: green, sweet, Asian
Vegetal notes: herbs, fresh or boiled vegetables, oaky notes
Animal notes: meat, game, leather

You can use these in general, but to be more specific, you can write lime, currant, orange blossom, rosemary, leather or mushroom.

For the back label, where space is limited, we suggest listing one or two of the main aromas and help consumers by identifying the character of the wine. For example, a reductive, light, higher acidity white wine, or a fuller-bodied, oak aged white wine; a light, low tannin, aged in steel red wine, or a full-bodied, serious, high tannin, oak aged red wine. If there is still some room left, you can also recommend food pairings with the wine.

Mia Kodela