Confounded by wine terms?

The high-flying terms experts use when talking about wines can quite confound the average enjoyer of tipple. You may love the occasional glass of fine vintage, and not care so much about its description as being “herbaceous” (flavours and odours of fresh herbs such as basil or rosemary) or the use of terminology like “vegetal” (taste/characteristics of fresh/cooked vegetables detected in the flavours/aromas of the wine) or “terroir”. The Daily Mail recently found that among its readers, few tended to understand terms like “wine legs” — believing that it referred to wine that had a “powerful kick” as opposed to its actual meaning (the lines of liquid left along the sides of a wine glass, after wine has been swirled around in it). Similarly, not too many people understood that “tartness” referred to the acidity of the wine. “Terroir” (which refers to the natural environment in which the wine is produced) was thought by many to refer to a terrible aftertaste! Few also knew that “nose” meant the aromas and bouquets of a wine.