So, Im getting a little bit bored

So, I'm getting a little bit bored with sponsering a different wine every week. It's not that they aren't delicious or that I'm not enjoying it, I'm just getting a little short on cash and a constant headache. I have decided to do research of the computer variety instead and find out different things about wine rather than just taste. I actually found a really cool article about how to talk about wine.

So even if you've found a wine that you really love, it might be hard to describe exactly what you like about it. Well, over the thousands of years wine has existed, a specific wine terminology has developed that lets you translate what just happened in your mouth (and nose) into words other people can understand.

For every wine, there are four general categories of sensation to describe:

• Structure
• Aromatics
• Texture
• Overall experience

Structure is an umbrella term that covers a wine's sweetness, acidity, tannins, and alcohol. The best wines balance the four components in a delicate interplay.

• Sweetness: Wines run from sweet to dry. Off-dry wines are semi-sweet, somewhere between the two extremes.
• Acidity: Though all wines contain acid, it's generally more important in white wines than red wines because red wines also contain tannins. Acidity is often called the backbone of white wine, because it gives the wine firmness. A wine with high acidity is described as tart or crisp, while a wine with less acidity is called soft. A wine with too little acidity is flabby.
• Tannins: As acid is to white wines, tannins are to red wines. Tannins are molecules that exist naturally in grape skins, stems, and seeds; they give red wine its trademark puckering sensation in the hollow between your cheeks and gums. Red wines high in tannins are called astringent, while those slightly less so are called hard or firm. Red wines low in tannins are called soft.
• Body: The alcohol content of a wine affects its body--its "weight" in your mouth, in general, the higher the alcohol content, the more full its body. A wine can be full-bodied, medium-bodied, or light-bodied. A full bodied wine has the consistency of whole milk, white a light-bodied wine feels more like skim.

A wine's texture is sometimes called its mouthfeel-the tactile sensations you get in your mouth while drinking it. The Australian Wine Research Institute  has come up with eleven different families of texture that can help you describe the wines you taste.

• Particulate: Talc, wet clay, Powder, Plaster, dusty, grainy, chalky, sawdust.
• Surface smoothness: Furry, fine emery, velvet, suede, silk, chamois, satin
• Complex: Soft, supple, fleshy, mouthcoat, rich
• Drying: Numbing, parching, dry
• Dynamic: Pucker, chewy, grippy adhesive
• Harsh: Hard, aggressive, abrasive
• Unripe: Resinous, sappy, green
• Weight: Watery, thin, full, viscious
• Texture: Syrupy, creamy
• Heat: Hot, warm
• Irritation: chili, pepper, tingle, prickle, spritz

and finally, How to Identify Bad Wine:

Wine can go bad for many reasons. Here are some of the most common signs that a wine has gone bad:

• The cork is shriveled or wet
• Smells like sulfurous (like rotten eggs)
• Smells like acetone (nail polish remover)
• Smells like cardboard
• Tastes flat, dusty, stale, rotten, or vinegary