This scale represents the amount of sugar present in the wine. In wine terminology, dry is the opposite of sweet, and has nothing to do with the drying out of your mouth caused by some red wines. Think only of sugar. One of the dryest wines that we have ever tasted is an Alsatian Riesling, and one of the sweetest was a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. Acidity can affect the perception of sweetness, much like lemon in lemonade. Most prefer dry wines, but some of the rarest and most expensive wines are sweet.

This category works side-by-side with sweet and dry. Acidic wines are crisp and clean. They seem well defined in your mouth. Don't confuse acidity and bitterness - acidity is mouthwatering, bitterness oftens dries your mouth out. Acidic wines are very food friendly. Round wines are great sippers. Think of buttery Chardonnays and how smoothly they go down. White Zinfandels are very low in acid and this makes them a great starter wine. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are very crisp, great for a hot summer day. Your preference for rounded or acidic depends on your mood, the weather, the meal.

Many wines are left to age in oak barrels. The time spent in the barrels, the kind of oak used, and the age of the barrel all affect the perception of oakiness in wine. Oakiness can manifest itself as toast, caramel, vanilla, popcorn, burnt sugar. Some grapes are simply overwhelmed by the effects of oak and are rarely aged in barrels. This includes riesling, pinot grigio, muscadet. Oak should always be viewed as a condiment, and like ketchup, your tastebuds should be your guide. Many South American wines have that vanilla quality many love, New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs spend their lives in stainless steel.

Due to the chemistry involved in fermentation wine smells like many things but rarely grapes. The fruit smells can range from the clean smell of citrus to the rich aroma of dried dates. We also include floral scents within this category, roses, lilacs and honeysuckle. Amarone is made from dried grapes and can be an absolute fruit bomb! Muscadet, on the other, has very little smell or taste at all. Fruity wines come in all shapes and sizes, red, white and rosés. Forget the grape. Some PInot Noirs are are deliciously fruity, others would fall squarely in the earthy category.

This is the category that seems to take the most getting used to. Some of the earthy smells like mushroom, dirt, hay, asparagus can be very off-putting if they are not balanced. Old World wines are known for there earthiness, New World wines are considered more fruit forward, although in wine, nothing is set in stone. Look to Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley wines is you are a fan of earth.

The body of a wine is a result of the alcohol content. Alcohol will add weight to a wine, and the amount of alcohol in the end is related to how ripe the grapes were in the beginning. Think warm weather = ripe grapes = full bodied wines. Sweet wines, like Moscato d'Asti are often low in alcohol because the yeast was not allowed by the winemaker to consume the sugar, and convert it into alcohol. California Zinfandels are sometimes described as huge due to their high alcohol content. But too much alcohol and the wine can burn going down.