A recent wine survey commissioned by online wine service Taste4, a wine subscription service that delivers four bottles a month to its customers, revealed the 10 wine terms that customers are least likely to understand when deciding what wines to buy.
The survey, which questioned 2,000 wine drinkers, revealed that 32% of participants didn’t realise that the word “tart” is used to describe a more acidic wine. In fact, as many as 11% thought it meant a “cheap, brash wine unsuitable for respectable company.”
On top of that, just 23% understood the term “terroir“, which refers to the degree to which a region’s geographic qualities affects the taste of wine. Similarly, only 20% knew of drinkers knew that a wine “with legs” referred to its increased alcohol content.
Tom Laithwaite of taste4 believes that the lack of knowledge in wine terminology is due to its antiquity.
“The way we drink wine has become more casual, informal and leisurely, but the language wrapped around it hasn’t moved with the times.”
So, without further ado, here are the 10 least understood wine terms, and the percentage of customers likely to use them:
- Bouquet – 21%
- Nose – 11%
- Tart – 10%
- Quaffable – 10%
- Legs – 5%
- Terroir – 3%
- Unctuous – 3%
- Herbaceous – 2%
- Hollow – 2%
- Vegetal – 2%
Other interesting survey conclusions were that 25% of drinkers found shopping for new wines an intimidating experience and that almost half (45%) tend to stick to the same grapes, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay when choosing wines at supermarkets. Tom Laithwaite has thoughts on this as well:
“People want to learn more about wine and discover new tastes without being confused or awkward when buying it or talking about it with their friends.”
As a result of the survey findings, taste4 has banned all of these terms from being used on its website.
This article originally appeared on The Drinks Business.