Since we final chronicled the brand new vocabulary of wine, a half-decade in the past, wine tradition has drastically modified. The method we store for bottles has been reimagined, and the way a lot we drink (if in any respect) has been reconsidered. Pure wine grew to become entangled with the web, a lot in order that posting about it’s now a viable profession path for a duo of wine-tasting influencer twins, a shitposting wine critic and several other on-line personalities devoted to creating wine extra accessible, or at the very least extra enjoyable. The scene bought irony-pilled—cue the “Pure Wine Sucks” T-shirts of only a few years in the past—and has now circled again round to a full, unironic embrace of the issues many as soon as stood resolutely in opposition to, like institution purple wines, whereas pét-nat and piquette grew to become passé. Are you following?
Specialists Featured
Colleen Allerton-Hollier is the director of schooling and occasions at Leon & Son in Brooklyn, New York.
Nader Asgari-Tari is the director of wine at Boston’s BCB3 restaurant group.
Marie Cheslik is the creator of Slik Wines and writer of the forthcoming How To Learn A Wine Label.
David Cortes is the lead sommelier at Majordomo in Los Angeles.
Kayleigh Honest is the assistant normal supervisor at June’s All Day in Austin, Texas.
Andrew Fortgang is the co-owner of Le Pigeon and Canard in Portland, Oregon.
Yann Janvier is the sommelier at Terra Restaurant in Paris.
Ren Peir is the wine director in residence at Nin Hao in Brooklyn.
William Simons is the director of operations and wine director at Albi in Washington, D.C.
Eitan Spivak is the lead sommelier at Kabawa and Bar Kabawa in New York.
Should you’re confused, you’re not alone. The wine world is fractured. For each particular person in a wine meme web page’s feedback saying natty is lifeless, there’s a blissfully offline wine fanatic with no thought what you’re speaking about. And, for essentially the most half, we are able to’t even appear to agree on what the related phrases imply.
“I’m somebody who is aware of find out how to do the wine discuss, but in addition is aware of how ineffective it may be,” says Marie Cheslik, a former wine director and the creator of Slik Wines, a platform for wine schooling. “Individuals have a tough time describing wine naturally… They are saying, ‘I need one thing that’s dry’, or ‘fruity,’ however I don’t even suppose we’re all on the identical web page, as a society, about what meaning. It’s nearly too subjective.” A common wine language doesn’t totally exist.
So how do you speak about wine, which has solely gotten extra expansive and convoluted previously 5 years, in a significant method? Trite as it might sound, it’s important to take it offline, and it’s important to style—and speak about it—with others as a lot as you’ll be able to.
“I feel it’s necessary for individuals to, on the danger of sounding so corny, be curious,” says Colleen Allerton-Hollier, director of schooling and occasions at Leon & Son, a wine store in Brooklyn, New York. “You gained’t know what to name one thing except you’ve skilled it.”
Within the meantime, right here’s your cheat sheet to the wine phrases to know proper now.
Aeration: Actually including oxygen (by way of air) to wine. For hundreds of years, individuals have give you all method of devices and hacks to aerate their wines. Based on Punch contributor Saman Hosseini, it’s “a symptom of early-aughts drinkers’ ceaseless want for ‘smoothness’” and a solution to flex your Sharper Picture buy.
Child fats: For Nader Asgari-Tari, director of wine at Boston’s BCB3, “child fats” could be a helpful solution to describe “the non permanent roundness and traits related to youthful wines which have a number of flesh and can assuredly lose a few of that [texture].” As sure wines, like an albariño, mature, they could lose a few of that texture (aka child fats) and fall extra into stability.
Massive Pink Wine: Bolder, fuller-bodied purple wines like Bordeaux and Barolo. As Punch contributor Eliza Dumais reported, Massive Reds characterize a pendulum swing for the wine world, partly in response to the now years-long reign of “chilled reds” like gamay and Beaujolais at pure wine bars and outlets in all places.
Funds banger: A helpful time period from the retail flooring at Leon & Son. “A finances banger, to me, is the easiest way to speak to somebody that they’re getting an incredible deal,” says Allerton-Hollier. These wines punch above their weight for his or her value, like an entry-level wine from “a producer who [also] makes actually costly or allotted wines.”
Clear: Can seek advice from the flavour and texture of a wine (see additionally: “Crisp/crispy”), whereas some, confusingly, use it to explain the best way a wine is made—sustainably? naturally? Just like the nebulous eating regimen tradition phrase “clear consuming,” it may be unclear.
Standard: Typically used to explain the other of “pure” wines.
Crisp/crispy: Recently, it appears “crisp” is supposed to convey a vibe greater than any precise attribute. “‘Crisp white wines’—I hear that on a regular basis [requested] on the retail flooring,” says Allerton-Hollier. “‘Nothing candy. No Chardonnay.’ It’s like, Aw, man, what should you had one thing with texture?” As Bustle reported final month, white wines that largely simply style “chilly” “are again” in a “semi-ironic, intentional self-bimbo-ficiation” method. To that I say: What the hell, positive.
Crunchy: This time period refers to construction, describing high-acid wines with a brittle attribute. Although it’s not new, the phrase is “ascendant” amongst wine drinkers, however has grown to “change into a type of shibboleth,” says William Simons, wine director at Washington D.C.’s Albi, who feels it might be time to retire the buzzword in favor of clearer descriptions.
Crushable: A bro-y catchall for “easy-drinking” that isn’t simply restricted to wine, but in addition beer, seltzer and cocktails. As Punch contributor Danny Chau writes, “Its worth lies in its universality.”
Dad Wine: Sarah Morrissey, bar supervisor of Le Veau d’Or in New York Metropolis, places “Cabs, Bordeaux, merlot, blends… any purple that may stand as much as daring flavors” on this class. See additionally: Massive Pink Wine.
Dry: Technically, missing residual sugar. In follow, although, retailers and educators say the common wine drinker overrequests “one thing dry,” with out a lot of an understanding of what they’re truly after. “I’d say to them that 90 % of wines are dry. I’m not speaking about residual sugar. I’m speaking about … a lot of the wines you’re going to style in a tasting are dry,” says Cheslik. “It’s like literal grape juice [as ‘sweet’] versus most wine.”
Dusty: “Every time I style Bordeaux, it tastes dusty to me. There’s a decrepit facet to it. I referred to as it ‘library vitality’ [in a recent TikTok,]” says Cheslik.
Female/masculine: Traditionally, “female” wines are stated to be horny, or, ugh, supple, whereas “masculine” wines are structured, wealthy, highly effective. These gendered frameworks are extensively thought of dated, however the concepts behind them persist—you’ll be able to in all probability consider “dad” and “mother” wines, some even branded as such.
Funky: A extensively (over)used time period. It usually refers to a taste profile—a savory, earthy, typically musty high quality—however has some detractors. As a result of it’s characterised by “novel” or “unfamiliar” tastes and aromas, the outline inherently includes subjectivity, which implies it may be complicated. Wine execs warning in opposition to utilizing “funky” as a catchall: “It doesn’t all the time imply ‘the flavors of an orange or spontaneously fermented wine,’” says Allerton-Hollier.
Glou-glou: Due to the pervasiveness of this time period previously decade, in 2025, it now feels a bit dated. It’s, the truth is, not new, however from the 1600s. It’s onomatopoeia, the French model of “glug,” and refers to recent and juicy wines. Extra not too long ago, nonetheless, after lending its identify to wine outlets, publications and different manufacturers, it’s “change into a meta-profile for pure wine general.”
Excessive-toned: “This tells me that the wine is tremendous vivid, acidic and a little bit austere,” says Ren Peir, wine director in residence at Nin Hao, in Brooklyn, New York.
Jammy: Jammy wines are characterised by ripe (or overripe) fruit taste. They’re usually misidentified as “candy” by the uninitiated, in keeping with David Cortes, lead sommelier at Majordomo, in Los Angeles.
Juice/juicy: “A ‘juicy’ wine creates an unshakable notion of fruit on the palate, aided by a stability of acid and simply sufficient tannins for a contact of textural density akin to, nicely, juice,” writes Chau.
Linear: Think about the “line,” right here, connecting the primary style of the wine to its end. A linear wine doesn’t have a lot differentiation from the start to the tip.
The Wine Flaw of Our Instances
Variably described as tasting like “corn nuts,” “pet’s breath” and “vomit,” mouse has change into a fixture of pure wine tradition as pervasive as it’s misunderstood.
Lip-smacker: “Consider a light-weight purple with barely unripe fruits, and an acidic spine,” says Kayleigh Honest, assistant normal supervisor at June’s All Day in Austin, Texas. That’s a lip-smacker. It’s “juicy, however has chunk. She leaves you wanting extra.”
Minerality: A solution to describe taste (earthiness, saltiness, moist stone notes) or texture (chalkiness). It’s necessary to notice that that is only a tasting time period; a wine that tastes like flint or limestone was not essentially grown in soil with these minerals current.
Mouse/mousy: A specific off-taste in sure bottles, and the wine flaw of our occasions, in keeping with Punch contributor John McCarroll. As a result of including sulfur dioxide, a naturally occurring antimicrobial and preservative, can take away mousiness, some critics have used mousiness to discredit pure winemaking as an entire.
Pure/natty: A contentious description for wines made with minimal intervention. “I want individuals would cease utilizing the time period ‘natty,’” says Eitan Spivak of New York’s Kabawa. “It typically misrepresents the nuanced, considerate selections that winemakers make.” It ought to be famous that “pure” is a distinction about how a wine is made, not the way it’s marketed. (“Pure” ≠ “new age” or “hip.”) “Historically made—what we regularly name ‘pure’—wines have been round for eternity, and for that motive, I don’t suppose there’s any probability they’re going wherever,” Alice Feiring, an knowledgeable on the topic, not too long ago instructed Punch.
Parkerization: The sum of impacts attributable to Robert Parker, a wine critic described, largely by boomers, as “the daddy of wine criticism” and closely criticized, largely by youthful wine drinkers and people who discovered his style globalizing and “soulless.”
Pinard: French slang for “low-quality purple wine.” Some take into account the phrase distasteful. “I discover the time period a bit reductive in relation to the onerous work of winegrowers,” says Yann Janvier, sommelier at Terra Restaurant in Paris.
Patio pounder/porch pounder: A wine, usually a chilly one, that’s best for ingesting all day, exterior. “Straightforward, silly—not as in, This wine is dumb, however, as in, you don’t have to consider it,” explains Cheslik. See additionally: crushable.
Discount: The phenomenon that occurs when wine doesn’t get sufficient oxygen within the winemaking course of, which causes risky sulfur compounds to current, giving off a odor (suppose rotten eggs or rubber). “‘Discount/reductive’ will get used an excessive amount of,” says Andrew Fortgang, co-owner of Le Pigeon and Canard in Portland, Oregon. “It’s talked about a lot by wine execs that I feel intermediate wine people, and friends at eating places, hear it, don’t know what it’s, and play alongside. I truthfully suppose some individuals use it interchangeably with minerality.”
Sympathy for the Satan
Robert Parker has lengthy been the wine world’s favourite villain—a critic who used his unprecedented energy to flatten wine into an alcoholic, fruity mass of sameness. However “Parkerization” was all the time a lot larger than one man.
So Lengthy to the “Somm”
Each the “sommelier” and its swaggering, scandal-riddled sibling are on the outs. What ought to wine professionals name themselves?
Reductive winemaking: Reductive winemaking, in the meantime, is the follow of deliberately limiting oxygen—utilizing stainless-steel tanks, for instance, and fermenting at colder temperatures—within the winemaking course of.
Somm: Actually quick for “sommelier.” In follow, it has fairly fratty associations; a somm is type of “an analogue of the bad-boy chef,” as Punch contributor Miguel de Leon places it. Right this moment, wine execs are adopting new monikers, from purely descriptive (“wine steward”) to cheeky (“curator of vibes”).
Splash: Business lingo for VIP (aka PX) therapy at bars and eating places, usually a comped glass of glowing wine to start out the meal.
Steely: “When you’ve gotten a reductive white wine that’s clearly made in stainless-steel … it’s very linear, very angular, übercrisp and meant to be drunk younger,” says Allerton-Hollier.
Texture/textural: Cortes finds it helpful to explain white wines with complexity as “textural.” He says: “The textural part of wine can come from winemaking strategies akin to malolactic fermentation or getting old wine in oak barrels.”
Tight: Sometimes referring to youthful wines with tannins and acidity. Decanting can “open up” a good wine.
Wine bar: OK, yeah, you recognize what a wine bar is. You additionally in all probability know the hallmarks of a Cool New Fashionable Wine Bar (a classy rest room, DJ nights, a lo-fi Instagram account). However “wine bar” right this moment isn’t only one factor. It, fortunately, not simply means cheese plates. The wave of wine bars in New York serving meals from the town’s Asian diaspora is an effective instance, as are bars that supply loads of (good) cocktails and (non-charcuterie plate) meals however retain the moniker; Bar Kabawa in New York calls itself a “Daiquiri and wine bar.”
Wine jockey: With extra pure wine areas resembling nightclubs, maybe wine jockeys—what the roving pop-up Bêvèrãgęš calls its wine specialists—can be on the rise, too.
