Fruits and Vegetables

• An aged sauvignon blanc may have a touch of asparagus flavor, and a cabernet sauvignon can have a touch of bell pepper aroma. Other vegetable notes you may pick up on in your wine include cauliflower and peas.

  More commonly, you will identify fruity flavors, such as strawberry, plum, pineapple, citrus fruits, lychee and apple. It is actually rare for a wine to taste like grapes. You may taste apricot in a riesling or champagne, and cranberry in a syrah.

Herbs, Flowers and Spices

• Aniseed, cinnamon and tarragon are all common spices found in wines. You can find mint flavor and eucalyptus in new world red wines, and basil in many European wines. Syrahs often have a black pepper flavor in them.

  Young rieslings and champagnes often have an apple blossom flavor, and you may pick up a hint of rose in a Gewürztraminer. Violet, lavender, lilac and carnations are other common flower aromas and flavors you can detect in various wines.

Oak and Nut

• Oaky flavors are common, but there are many different flavors of oak that can be detected: creamy, coffee, spicy, sweet and vanilla are just a few examples. Many wines taste smoky as a result of the oak barrels they are stored in.

  Hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds and walnuts may be tasted in a burgundy red or a port.

Undesirable Tastes

• Tar, vinegar and yeast are among the flavors you can find in wines that have gone wrong. Some of the more colorful terms for bad wine flavors include wet dog, sweaty saddles, skunk, rotten egg, dirty dishcloth and manure. Negative qualities like these are often the result of vine stress, poor soil quality, improper fermentation and rot.