Tasting Table included me in a round-up of expert opinions on some of the most commonly used wine words and what they actually mean… Check out the full piece here, or my particular insights below! Thanks to Doug Young for capturing the photo on the left in the middle of honing my “expertise.”

Minerally (flavor)
“This lean, stony characteristic in wine is a descriptor of non-fruit or floral notes in wine. It usually tends to be related to the soil type that the wine was grown on, whether flint, gravel or chalk, although sometimes a saline note can be associated with it as well. It is most often talked about in relation to whites, but there are reds from specific terroirs that can have this stony note.”

Earthy (flavor)
“Think of the smell of wet leaves on a forest floor, of mushrooms, of turned soil. This characteristic in wine points toward what is called ‘development,’ or the period in a wine’s life when it loses those youthful, fresh fruit notes and starts to evolve.”

Buttery (texture)
“This is a characteristic that oak can impart, but it is not synonymous with oak, which used judiciously can impart more structural and spicy components, but when used for flavor results in a creamy, unctuous feeling in the mouth. It is most often used in connection with New World Chardonnay from certain producers and areas.”