raisiny
Late-harvest wines that are meant to be drunk at the end of a meal can often be slightly raisiny, which in some ports and sherries is desirable. However, a raisiny quality is a major flaw in a dinner wine.
reduced
Tasting and winemaking term used to indicate a wine that has developed a dirty smell reminiscent of rotten eggs. Before bottling this can usually be remedied by aeration of addition of copper. When it develops in bottle, vigorous aeration sometimes removes the reduced smell.
Residual sugar
Sugar remaining in a wine after fermentation and once it is ready for bottling. The level of residual sugar determines whether the wine will be dry, medium dry, sweet, etc, though even the driest wines contain a little residual sugar.
rich
Wines that are high in extract, flavor, and intensity of fruit.
ripe
A wine is ripe when its grapes have reached the optimum level of maturity. Less than fully mature grapes produce wines that are underripe, and overly mature grapes produce wines that are overripe.
round
A very desirable character of wines, roundness occurs in fully mature wines that have lost their youthful, astringent tannins, and also in young wines that have soft tannins and low acidity.
