Winey words

Last term I attended a wine appreciation class, in an attempt to increase my knowledge to the point where I could pick a wine based on more than the prettiness of the label, or the menu's description. I now know more than I did, including how easy (or otherwise) it is to describe the taste or nose of a wine in comparison to other things. I'm not the only one to struggle with this on occasion; Colin Bower in the New English Review discusses this problem.