In wine, it pays to know what you’re talking about. You can get lost in the lingo and end up with something you never would have ordered. But, if you crack the code, you’ll be in with the cool wine kids and enjoying exactly what you were after.
Now, there’s helpful wine terminology, which can help you navigate the field. But there are also buzzwords — descriptors sommelier-types like to throw at wine to paint a better picture of its build, style, or texture. This story is focused on the latter and will set you up to converse in even the hippest wine bars in the land.
To speak like the cool wine kids, you gotta chat with the cool wine kids. We reached out to sommelier Erin Lindstone of Barolo Grill, one of the best restaurants in Denver, a big time foodie town. Here are the wine buzzwords to know in 2025:
High-Toned
“This typically means that the nose of the wine is aromatic, but in a very lifted way,” she says. “If you’re smelling red fruit, it leans more towards bright tart cherry rather than a juicy maraschino cherry. Or if you’re smelling floral notes, it’s more like freshly-picked spring flowers rather than super pungent florals from grandma’s perfume. Often high-toned wines are ones that will give you the sense they’re going to be incredibly fresh, vibrant, and full of acidity on the palate. Riesling is a grape that is often classified as ‘high-toned.’”
Racy
“A ‘racy’ wine will have lots of acidity that keeps you salivating and craving another sip and a bite of food.”
Flinty
“Flint smells like two rocks being struck against each other,” Lindstone says. “For those of us who love the smell of inorganic earth (anything that was never alive, like rocks!) in our wines, it is delicious, and often gives a hint that the wine will have lots of minerality on the palate. This ‘flinty’ character often occurs in a ‘reductive’ wine that has not been exposed to [a lot of] oxygen during the winemaking process, and it smells like a burnt matchstick.”
Astringent
“Astringency can often refer to tannins, that grippy drying sensation that can come from the seeds and skins of grapes, or oak. I tend to avoid this term, because it doesn’t sound very pleasant. It makes me think of a wine that is out of balance, where the tannins or acidity are just too much for the wine. I prefer the term ‘austere’ if I’m trying to convey a wine that is more driven by structure, but is in balance,” she says.
Rancio
“This refers to wines that have that tawny brown color and nutty flavors that come when a wine has been exposed to heat or oxygen,” Lindstone says. “If it’s on purpose, like in Madeira, where the wines are intentionally made with heat during the winemaking process, then the flavors of overripe bananas and toasted nuts are expected and incredibly delicious. If however a dry table wine is ‘rancio,’ that is not a good thing. ‘Rancio’ masks the fruit and freshness that was intended. In this case, the wine may not have been stored well, and likely came into contact with heat and/or oxygen at some point, and became ‘maderized,’ or ‘oxidized.’ I typically stick to referring to wines as either maderized or oxidized, rather than saying ‘rancio.’”
Pet-Nat
“This is short for petillant natural, which is the original way sparkling wine was made before the Champagne method was developed,” she says. “Basically when a pet-nat is made, the wine is bottled before the fermentation is complete, so the CO2 that is produced while the fermentation continues is trapped inside the bottle. It usually does not reach the same pressure as a wine made in the Champagne method, so the bubbles are vibrant but can dissipate much more quickly. Often the wines are more fruit-forward, playful, and terribly refreshing. They also are often made in a more hands-off manner, and can sometimes have some funk on the nose.”
Feral
“A feral wine has a ‘wild’ feel to it. Often on the nose it can smell a bit like you’re on a farm; if that’s the case it may be a touch of brettanomyces. It could also lean more towards having a bloody or sanguine character and still fall into the ‘feral’ category,” Lindstone says.
Minerality
“This is a tricky one,” admits Lindstone. “Some people love using this term, others hate it, because it isn’t that specific, and can be overused. I think it does convey this feeling when you’re tasting a wine that evokes rocks and salt, whether it’s on the nose or a sensation on the palate. When tasting Chablis, it can smell like the inside of an oyster shell. When tasting Priorat, it gives this sensation that one has just licked a rock.”
Length
“This refers to how long the wine’s flavors and sensations persist on your palate. You want a wine with good length, it is often a sign of high quality,” adds Lindstone.
A few extra wine buzzwords
There are a lot of buzzwords in wine so we thought we’d throw a few in for extra credit, including a couple that Lindstone dropped that might need a little more detail:
Crunchy
Lindstone says she’ll sometimes call a wine crunchy if it has more tart fruit, a lean body, and a taut acidity.
Austere
A somewhat complicated term as some use it as a negative to describe one-dimensional wines while others see it as as positive (like Erin and this writer) to describe lean and mean wines with firm acidity, which also often happen to be younger wines.
Grippy
Wines with a lot of tannic structure, with a mouthfeel that sort of grips your palate. Think Tuscan wines like Chianti or Brunello.
Ready to put those terms to work? Check our our feature on Alto Adige wine, a magical region in Italy with some of our favorite wines. Pick out some fun new varietals and get to tasting.
