OK, I'm a novice to wines, just beginning to learn about the whole process,
history and business of wine. Wine enthusiasts use language to describe the
taste of wine such as melon, pear, pineapple, blackberry etc etc etc, my
question is ( and excuse my ignorance) how can a grape taste like a pear, or
a strawberry or a peach or any other thing except a grape. A peach does not
taste like a banana. So, whats up with this fruity language. Can a grape
really taste like a pear? Am I to believe that a grape is so magical that it
takes on as if by some mysteriuous transfiguration that flaver of other
things for no apparent reason. Thanks

Tom -

Have you actually tasted some wine yet? Did it taste just like grapes
to you? Most people can tell the difference between wine and grape
juice -- it isn't just that the sugars have been converted to alcohol,
the flavors change during fermentation as well. This isn't "no
apparent reason" -- it's fermentation, and part of what makes wine so
interesting, and wine descriptions so tricky.

Wine writers do sometimes get carried away with wine descriptions, but
some wines do exhibit flavors that are similar to those of other
fruits, as well as other things. Wine aged in oak can pick up small
amounts of vanillin, for example. Sometimes you have to concentrate
while tasting a wine, to detect a particular flavor component. And
sometimes you might not taste a particular flavor component that
someone else does.

The short answer -- yes, grapes are magical. :-)

Doug

Don't forget the wines that taste like leather or tobacco or .....just
about anything else.

Usually this is just a hint of the stated flavour and is not always
discernable by everybody.

Steve