Wine Peeps is an independent wine blog dedicated to helping you get the most bang for your buck in wine. We do this through blind tastings of wine from around the world and calculations of 
Wine Word of the Week: Acidity
By Kori ~ June 19th, 2008.
This week’s Wine Word of the Week is acidity.
Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Acidity is a general term for the fresh, tart, or sour taste produced by the natural organic acids present in a liquid. Wines, together with most other refreshing or appetizing drinks, owe their attractive qualities to a proper balance between this acidic character and the sweet and bitter sensations of other components. All refreshing drinks contain some acidity, which is typically sensed on the human palate by a prickling sensation on the sides of the tongue.
Layman’s terms from Kori:
Too little acid and wine is “flat.†Too much acid and wine is “tart.†In between, wine is “crisp.†A mark of acidity is saliva production in your mouth. The more saliva produced in your mouth after you spit or swallow a wine, the higher the level of acidity.
Filed under: Wine Word of the Week
