Smoky

A smoky smell and taste found in both white and red wines. Though wines can take on smoky characters from the barrels in which they are aged, certain wines just have a naturally smoky character as a result of their TERROIR (see the French glossary). Many Pouilly-Fumés and Sancerres from France’s Loire Valley are smoky, for example.

White zinfandel is a kind of rosé.

Answer: False.

Admittedly, this is splitting hairs. However, although they are pink in color, white zinfandel falls into a category that the wine industry calls “blush wines.” Blush wines are usually low in acidity (not very crisp, in other words) and slightly sweet. They’re easy to drink, but many wine experts would liken them to adult soda pop. Rosés are totally different—usually crisp and bone-dry. Both of these characteristics make dry rosés fabulous for pairing with a wide variety of foods.

“What we hear when we eat and drink—even the noises of food preparation, the rattling sounds of product packaging, or loud background music—plays a much more important role [in flavor perception] than any of us realizes. Sound is the forgotten flavor sense.”

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