The adjectives worthy of the best of D’Annunzio are those used, or better, conceived to describe wine. Cultured, elegant, literary adjectives which go beyond the limits of an objective description, suggesting a ‘creative’ key which further ennobles an already noble drink. It is here then, among the numerous technical charts we have read in the most famous wine producing farms, that we have found this special, at times excessively free dictionary of adjectives chosen to describe the characteristics, qualities and distinguishing features of each individual wine.
When a wine is new, the color could be almost scarlet with purple hues; when it is only young, it will usually be a cherry-red; when it remains in the barrel for average aging, it becomes an orange-red. Instead, when it has matured for more than two years, it turns a brownish red. But things get complicated when we talk about the bouquet. It is here that literary adjectives which are freer, more suggestive and volatile get the upper hand. Hence, the wine can be rich, noble marked delicate, subtle, tenuous, full-bodied, complex, even fleeting. But more concrete adjectives come to the aid of this freedom of expression. They are those of the perfumes of nature which recall the exuberant effusion of dark flowers for red wines and the pale tones of small spring blossoms for white wines. Here we can add fresh or dried fruit, sweets (vanilla and aniseed), herbs and leaves (fresh mint, pine, tobacco), the aromas of spices (pepper, cinnamon), the smells of toasting (coffee, chocolate, tea), those of natural aromas (beer, butter, honey). We could go on, following a fascinating, at times difficult lexical itinerary, assembled for the exact identification of a wine, many wines, through the suggestive force of words.

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See also:

Giuseppe Verdi and Chianti Wine, Pure Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Wine in Short, A ‘Saint’ Wine of Tuscany – Vinsanto, History of The Fiasco

or go back to An Introduction to Chianti Wine