Dirty

/DUR-tee/

👃Tasting ⚠️Faults

Off-putting earthy or barnyard aromas suggesting contamination.

Full Definition

Dirty describes wines with unpleasant earthy, barnyard, or musty aromas that suggest poor hygiene, brett contamination, or cellar problems. Distinguished from positive earthiness, dirty implies something went wrong. Often caused by brettanomyces, dirty barrels, or poor sanitation.

Related Terms

brettanomyces barnyard musty

See Also

Diacetyl Back to Glossary Disgorgement

More terms starting with D

Decanting

Pouring wine into another vessel for aeration or sediment removal.

Delestage

Rack-and-return technique for gentle extraction.

Demi-Sec

Medium-sweet sparkling wine.

Density

In tasting, the concentration of a wine; in viticulture, vine spacing.

Depth

Layers of flavor that reveal themselves over time.

Disgorgement

Removing sediment from sparkling wine after secondary fermentation.