Wine Styles Explained
Guide by Chris Nolan
You may have seen on our website that the wines are all tagged with different wine styles to help you navigate our portfolio and to potentially find something new. This isn’t 100% accurate, some wines may fit into several styles, this is to be used as a guideline to discover something new depending on your preferences and nothing more.
I have shamelessly lifted these different categories from the Wine Searcher website as I have found this to be a fairly good descriptor whilst not being overly complicated and confusing.
If you are interested in reading up on countries, regions and grape varietals, I would highly recommend surfing through the Wine Searcher website or free app;
If you want to receive a real education in wine along with tasting a lot of examples, head to the Yorkshire Wine School website. Laura and her team are the ones who taught all of us and they are only 30m away from our new shop!
SPARKLING WINE STYLES
Fresh & Youthful
The Fresh & Youthful Style encapsulates sparkling wines that are designed for early drinking, without extensive lees aging. This style includes Prosecco and Petulant Naturals, (pet nats). The flavours, as you can imagine, are fresh and fruity. Think citrus & flowers, fun, frothy and uncomplicated.
Browse our collection of Fresh & Youthful Sparkling here
Complex & Traditional
The Complex & Traditional Style is the domain of sparkling wines made via fermentation in the bottle, the traditional method. This style includes Champagne, English Sparkling, Franciacorta, Cava and South African Cap Classique. These wines are fermented in bottle with the addition of yeast and sugar. The smaller vessel with the larger proportion of yeast, (lees), contact gives more complexity and a toasty, brioche-y, autolytic and nutty flavour profile.
Browse our collection of Complex & Traditional Sparkling here
Berries & Cream
The Berries & Cream Style is for Sparkling Rosé. Key wines include Rosé Champagne, Rosato Prosecco, Pink Moscato & Pink Pet Nats. Flavours can range from strawberry and raspberry to cream, vanilla and spice or even stoney minerals.
Browse our collection of Berries & Cream Sparkling here
Sweet & Spritzy
The Sweet & Spritzy Style is for fun lower ABV wines with some left over residual grape sugars. These are great as an aperitif, picnics or even with desserts though the best time to drink these is Christmas morning when you are tearing into your presents. These will often be a less fizzy “Frizzante” as opposed to full “Spumante”. Styles include Moscato d’Asti & Demi-Sec Champagne. Flavours can range from honey to rose, grape, red apple or peach.
Browse our collection of Sweet & Spritzy Sparkling here
WHITE WINE STYLES
Aromatic & Floral
The Aromatic & Floral Style is what makes the wine critics go nuts. Here you can find your cool climate Rieslings such as those from the Mosel, (a favourite of wine writer Jancis Robinson), Northern Rhône whites based on Viognier, Marsanne and Rousanne, Gewurztraminers and Argentinian Torrontes. Aromas can range from citrus to jasmine and honey suckle, honey and spice, even petrol and kerosine. Many of these styles work wonderfully with Indian or East Asian cuisine. Gewurztraminer with Pad Thai is a match made in heaven.
Browse our collection of Aromatic & Floral White here
Green & Flinty
The Green & Flinty Style is what most people imagine when they want a wine. With crisp, bracing acidity these are the epitome of refreshment. Flavours can include cut grass, herbs, sea salt, green apple, lemon, wet stone & minerals. These wines are generally unoaked and will not be allowed to go through malolactic fermentation, (a secondary fermentation that turns hard malic acid, (found in apples), to gentler malic acid, (as found in cheese and yoghurt)). Famous examples of this style include - Vinho Verde, Albariño, Pinot Grigio, Sancerre & Chablis.
Browse our collection of Green & Flinty White here
Tropical & Balanced
The Tropical & Balanced Style is quite broad. It encompasses wines from warmer climates, a lot of new world white wines fit in this category as do wines from warmer regions around the Mediterranean or even wines from specifically warm vintages. Flavour profiles include of course, tropical fruit flavours such as pineapple, guava, passionfruit and apricot. The wines are often gently oaked to add structure. Key styles include new world chardonnays such as from California or Chile, New Zealand sauvignon blanc, South African chenin blanc and viognier.
Browse our collection of Tropical & Balanced White here
Buttery & Complex
The Buttery & Complex Style includes the holy grail of white wines, white Burgundy! This style is made up of full-bodied wine styles with a backbone of acidity that often have an ability to age. The butteriness will come from extended lees aging, whether aged in oak or not. Older barrels will give slow oxidation without adding sweet vanilla notes while lees will add texture. Flavours can range from crisp to tropical but with this creamy buttery texture. Key styles include white Burgundy, aged Jura whites, aged white Rioja & aged Australian semillon.
Browse our collection of Buttery & Complex White here
Dry & Nutty
The Dry & Nutty Style is again, fairly broad. Here you will find anything from oxidised white wines such as oxidised Jura and full Vin Jeaune to fortified examples such as amontillado and oloroso sherries. I have also included several orange wines in this category as the skin contact can add nuttiness to the wines as well as texture. Key styles include Jura whites, oloroso, amontillado sherries, dry marsala & dry madeira.
Browse our collection of Dry & Nutty White here
ROSE WINE STYLES
Crisp & Dry
The Crisp & Dry Style is what is currently in fashion. These wines are generally pale in colour with just a short time spent in contact with the grape skins. The wines are generally very versatile and can pair with many food styles. This style is epitomised by the wines of Provence in Southern France but have been emulated around the world. Flavours include strawberry, raspberry, white peach, herbs, flowers, stones & minerals. Key wine styles include; Provence Rosé, Sancerre Rosé & Pinot Noir Rosé.
Browse our collection of Crisp & Dry Rose here
Rich & Fruity
The wines of the Rich & Fruity Style are more deeply pigmented and overtly “fruity” when compared to the crisp & dry Style. This does not mean that they are all sweet however, the colour of a rosé does not denote sweetness levels in the wine. The grapes are usually left on the grape skins longer to extract more colour and sometimes a hint of tannin. Flavours can include watermelon, raspberry, pomegranate, vanilla & spice. Key styles include Tavel & richer Rhône rosé, clairette, White Zinfandel and more extracted new world styles.
Browse our collection of Rich & Fruity Rose here
RED WINE STYLES
Light & Perfumed
The Light & Perfumed Style is all about easy drinking. The wines have lower tannins and often no oak aging. These wines are great for summer, especially with a slight chill to them. Flavours can range from strawberry and cherry, bon bon characters if produced using semi-carbonic maceration, sometimes herbs, flowers or even light smoke can be found. Key styles include Beaujolais, Loire cabernet franc, fruity pinot noir and Zweigelt.
Browse our collection of Light & Perfumed Red here
Savoury & Complex
The Savoury & Complex Style is dominated by the classical wines of the old world, essentially Europe and the Mediterranean basin. The wines tend to be “elegant” and can often times be cellared for long periods of time. Flavours can vary massively, fruit flavours can include cassis or blackberry, maybe a floral tone, this flavour family will always contain a savoury tone including cedar wood, tobacco or earthen notes or even a coastal tang. Key styles include the great reds of Bordeaux & Burgundy in France, Chianti & Barolo in Italy, Rioja & the Ribera Del Duero in Spain, The Douro & Dao in Portugal, along with lesser-known styles and outliers such as Lebanese reds or some of the red wines of the Balkans or Greek world.
Browse our collection of Savoury & Complex Red here
Bold & Structured
The Bold & Structured Style typically includes more new world wines, (outside Europe and the Mediterranean Basin). Typically these wines have big primary fruit flavours with a powerful but riper and generally more “velvety” tannin structure. Flavours can include blackberry, plum, mint, eucalyptus & new oak, often vanilla laden Quercus Alba; American oak. Key Styles include Argentinian Malbec, Australian Cabernet Sauvignion, New World Cabernet Francs and South African Bordeaux blends.
Browse our collection of Bold & Structured Red here
Rich & Intense
The Rich & Intense Style is all about power and enjoyment. The wines tend to be from warmer climates such as Southern Europe or warmer zones in countries such as Australia, Chile & South Africa. Flavours can range from rich dark fruit characters to a plethora of spices and Mediterranean herbs. Key styles include the reds of the Côtes Du Rhône, Australian Shiraz, Primitivo & Chilean Carmenère.
Browse our collection of Rich & Intense Red here
DESSERT WINE STYLES
Caramelised & Sticky
The Caramelised & Sticky Style of dessert wines are often oxidised styles. Sweetness levels can vary massively but the flavours often show development with flavours of nuts, caramel, oak, butter and dried fruits such as raisins. Key styles include Pedro Ximinez sherries, sweeter Madeira’s such as Malvasia & Vin Santo.
Browse our collection of Caramelised & Sticky Dessert Wine here
Rich & Warming
The Rich & Warming Style of dessert wine is epitomised by the fortified Port wines of the Douro Valley, respected and copied around the world. Being mainly fortified in this category, the alcohol levels are generally high, flavours can include rich fruit compote, chocolate, prune and spice. Key styles include the port family of Ruby, LBV, Vintage and Tawny, Banyuls from France and Recioto della Valpolicella.
Browse our collection of Rich & Warming Dessert Wine here
Lush & Balanced
The Lush & Balanced Style of dessert wine is all about fresh flavours, balancing fruit & acidity. Some of these wines can go on and age for decades, others will be good to go from the release date. Flavours can include fresh fruit, honey, marmalade & spice. Key styles include Sauternes & Monbazillac from France, late harvest wines such as Moscato and Riesling along with wines from the worlds first true appellation of Tokaji in Hungary.
