Can wine be 'crisp' and 'nice and tight'? Here's why it's best to keep it simple

Unnecessary verbiage, incomprehensible metaphors and 'terminological' complications in the world of wine are problems to be discussed and dealt with, since words - even in our sector - are very important. 'Savoury is the new mineral' for example, but in this case I prefer the new definition as it clarifies a precise taste characteristic, namely salinity, whereas calling wine 'mineral' is nonsense, especially from an olfactory point of view.

And so on the wave of the trend, taste is determined and many styles are copied. Valentini, Gravner and Lino Maga boast numerous imitation attempts, to quote a well-known claim from la Settimana Enigmistica. In practice through incomprehensible but pervasive terminology, consumer taste, choices and thus also production style are oriented.

When you talk about wine (and not only, I would add at the risk of appearing obvious) you have to express yourself clearly, in order to intrigue, attract, bring people closer. I say this especially with the new generations in mind. In this regard, among the most popular and rampant expressions that would like to explain the sensory experience in a glass of wine are: "nice and taut", "vertical", "straight", "mineral", "savoury" (or saline), "has a nice acidity (which taken by itself out of a balanced relationship with alcohol and fruit, is not so nice), "crisp wine" and so on until we get to wild metaphors, real extravagances. I think it is a case of avoiding neologisms, metaphors or eccentric allegories. One only has to cast an eye over the current wine world panorama to rule out the epiphany of a new Veronelli (Sic!) any time soon.

Wine communication should be much simpler. In fact, the use of fashionable expressions on the edge of the figure of speech risks producing two very bad results. On the one hand, it alienates, because it is evidently a popularisation too technical to be popular; on the other, it induces a vocabulary that is only widespread among a group of young sommeliers and wine experts. Language used almost as a form of slang to make itself understood by an inner circle and is repeated in a tantric manner; a sort of mantra, let's say.

Here, perhaps it would be betterto return to the pleasure of the glass; to the enjoyment of tasting. The watchwords are simplicity and lightness. Let us enjoy a glass of wine with joy, and be patient if in doing so we do not use the most fashionable expressions to describe it to others (but also to ourselves).