Wine vocabulary is unusually good at making people feel excluded, mostly because several of the common words describe something different from what they sound like they describe.
Dry, and why it confuses everyone
Dry means the wine contains little or no sugar. It does not mean the wine dries your mouth out, which is tannin, and it does not mean the wine tastes sour, which is acidity. A dry wine can taste fruity, because ripe fruit flavor and sugar are different things, which is why people describe a wine as sweet when they mean intensely fruity.
Off-dry means a touch of sugar, enough to notice and often enough to help with spice. Sweet means dessert territory. If a wine surprises you, it is worth writing which of the three it was, because that single word predicts a lot about what you will enjoy next.
Body, tannin and acidity
Body is how heavy the wine feels, somewhere between skimmed milk and cream. Alcohol contributes most of it, which is why a 14.5 percent red feels fuller than a 12 percent one even when the flavors are similar.
Tannin is the drying, grippy sensation on your gums, most obvious in young red wine and in over-brewed tea. Acidity is what makes your mouth water and what makes a wine taste fresh. These three are the structure of a wine, and the tasting method checks each in turn.
Finish, length and balance
Finish, or length, is how long the flavor stays after you swallow. It is the closest thing tasting has to an objective quality signal: cheap wine tends to stop abruptly, good wine carries on. Count seconds if you like, but the honest version is simply noticing whether anything is still there.
Balance means no single element sticks out: not too hot with alcohol, not scouringly acidic, not gripped shut by tannin. A balanced wine at a modest price is a better buy than a powerful one that is out of shape.
Legs, and what they do not tell you
The streaks that run down the inside of the glass after swirling come from alcohol evaporating and changing the surface tension of the liquid. They tell you the wine has alcohol in it, and roughly how much. They say nothing about quality, and a wine with dramatic legs is not a better wine, only a stronger one.
It is worth knowing mostly so you can stop worrying about it, and so you can spot when somebody is performing rather than tasting.
Dry: little or no sugar Off-dry: slightly sweet Body: how heavy it feels, mostly from alcohol Tannin: the drying grip on your gums Acidity: the freshness that makes your mouth water Finish: how long the flavor lasts afterwards Balance: nothing sticking out Oaked: vanilla, spice, toast, from barrel or staves Mineral: an unofficial word, usually meaning stony or saline Legs: alcohol, not quality
Words that mean less than they sound
Mineral has no agreed technical definition and is used to mean anything from stony to saline to simply not fruity. Smooth usually means low acid and soft tannin. Complex often means the speaker liked it. None of them are wrong, but they are personal rather than descriptive.
Use plain comparisons in your own notes instead. "Tastes like green apple, sharp, good with the fish" outperforms three technical adjectives, and the note format is built around exactly that. The label terms that are regulated, such as reserva or Spätlese, are covered separately in the label guide.