Nuance
Definition - What does Nuance mean?
The term nuance is used to describe the subtle characteristics of a wine’s taste and/or aroma. Comparable to a wine’s “notes”, the nuance draws on the details or undertones of the wine’s flavor, taste or smell. This term is used for multi-dimensional wine characteristics that a practiced palate can detect when smelling or tasting wine. The nuance of wine can have many different attributes both positive and negative, which can help the taster distinguish which wines they prefer.
WineFrog explains Nuance
The definition of nuance states that it is a slight degree of subtle difference, and applied to wine, it identifies the multiple shadings or layers that are hard to detect. For example, a wine can have a fruity taste with a nuance of spice or a whiff of smoke under deep layers of berry aromas. It usually takes a well-trained palate to observe the nuance in a particular wine, and the ability to recognize small nuances involves the physiology of the taster and the experience of their palate. The lingering or repeated tastes and smells that are noticed are contributed to the wine’s nuance, and the awareness of nuance can help the taster recognize like wines or secondary flavors/smells.
