Wine Terminology: A Crash Course

Dry
Dry wine refers to wine that has very few natural sugars. So it's wine that's 'not sweet'.Sweet
A sweet wine will have more quantity of sugar.Acidic
Acidic wine has a lemony or vinegar-like taste to it.
Tannin
Tannin in wine is the bitterness that you taste -- the very same you find in tea. Tannin gives wine an astringent quality and is a natural preservative that is used in the wine aging process. Acid is usually used to describe white wine, whereas tannin is found in red wines.Bouquet
This is also known as the aroma of a wine. The bouquet is usually the first criteria when you judge the quality of a wine. A wine can have a fruity, spicy, or any other aroma. It depends on the variety of the grape, where it comes from, and the condition of the wine.Corked
A corked wine is a wine that has gone bad. It normally implies, that the taste is musty and flawed because of a flawed cork.Finish
Finish is the flavor that stays in the mouth after you swallow the wine. It is also commonly called the wine's aftertaste.