Tasting notes part 1: How to describe appearance?

When making a wine description for your homepage, social media site or back label it’s best to follow the traditional scheme. Appearance – nose – palate – structure is the well-established order and it is easy for customers to understand. External features are not without importance but perhaps you shouldn’t spend too much time on describing them. Here are some useful tips on how to go about it.

Website or back label

First, you should consider where exactly your description is going to end up. With regards to back labels, it’s obvious that the bottle is already in the customer’s hands, so your description should focus on aromas, character and perhaps tips for food matches. Instead of being matter-of-fact and dry you may add some imaginative touches in your description but don’t let your imagination run wild and overdo it because this way you risk ending up with something ridiculous.

As for a website – where you have a lot of space to work with – you should aim for providing your customers with accurate and clear information. Any information that might help them making their decisions is useful and therefore should be included.

Should you really care about describing appearance?

Actually appearance can say a lot about a wine: the technology applied (filtered or not), age (young or mature) or the variety (pinot noir or tannat). It can even reveal things about how the wine tastes: a light, transparent, greenish, citrusy coloured sauvignon blanc made without oak looks quite different from California Chardonnay aged in barrels.

By using standard terminology you’re helping your customers in the long run, as it is easier to understand what you mean if you avoid unusual descriptors.

Here’s a list of some common terms.

Intensity: pale, medium, deep

Clarity: clear, cloudy, hazy

White wine: lemon-green, straw, gold, amber, brown

Rosé: pink, copper, salmon, orange

Red wine: purple, ruby, red, garnet, brick