Wine Tasting Basics: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Characteristics

By Cole Swanson
June 10, 2025

Flavors and aromas can be organized into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary characteristics. These different groups are utilized to compartmentalize all possible aromas and flavors in order to make wine tasting more approachable and digestible for both wine professionals and non-wine professionals alike.

They also provide insight into how flavors change and are manipulated throughout the winemaking process and during maturation in the bottle.

Developed by the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), this method of compartmentalization is called the Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (SAT).

PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS

These are defined as the natural flavors of the grape varietal before and right after fermentation, before the winemaker has manipulated the wine with barrel aging or any other number of methods.

Primary characteristics typically describe fruit flavors that are vibrant, ripe, and juicy.

This category is broken into 12 sub-categories that may define flavors and aromas even further: floral; green fruit; citrus fruit; stone fruit; tropical fruit; red fruit; black fruit; dried/cooked fruit; herbaceous; herbal; spice; fruit ripeness; and other (flint, wet stone).

All of which list specific possible types of flavors and aromas one may perceive within each category such as strawberry, blackberry, green bell pepper, mint, honeysuckle, chamomile, the list goes on.

Helpful Hint

As a helpful hint, when evaluating fruit characteristics, determining fruit ripeness is an important first step because it can help guide you to one of these 12 categories, and also help explain possibly from where the fruit was harvested.

For example, if the fruit is under ripe and tart, the primary notes you may perceive are likely predominantly within the citrus and green fruit categories, and the grapes may have been grown in a cool climate. The acidity of the wine may be accentuated, which will help you to later evaluate the body, or weight, of the wine.

Should the fruit appear riper, it’s possible the wine will taste juicy and of stone fruit or tropical fruit, such as mango, guava, or pineapple. The acidity of the wine may still be high and present, but the body of the wine may appear fuller and heavier on the palate. What you’re sipping on was likely produced within a warmer climate, because, generally speaking, the warmer the area, the riper the fruit when it is harvested.

SECONDARY CHARACTERISTICS

These flavors and aromas are the result of winemaker intervention, commonly barrel aging, malolactic fermentation/conversion, and/or lees aging.

The winemaking methods listed above may add notes of bread, yeast, cream, vanilla, toast, cloves, nutmeg.

The fruit of the wine is no longer the singular star of the show, and may intertwine or be altered by winemaking tactics.

TERTIARY CHARACTERISTICS

Tertiary means third, and is the last category of flavors and aromas. They most often derive from maturation or bottle aging; though sometimes they may show themselves in young vintages.

When a bottle of wine is laid down for a number of years, the flavors will change, sometimes drastically. Fruit that was once vibrant and juicy may taste baked or dried.

A young Cabernet Sauvignon (a vintage that is very recent, such as 2023), may be brimming with vibrant blackberry and strawberry. While a Cabernet Sauvignon from the same producer that is older, such as from 2013, may still provide notes of strawberry and blackberry, but they may taste more like freshly baked strawberry and blackberry pies. The fruit may even taste more raisined.

Other common tertiary characteristics for red wine are fig, toffee, chocolate, leather, meatiness. White wine flavors may be cinnamon, hazelnut, ginger, petrol (try just about any Riesling from Germany, it’s delicious)

As a reminder, the quality of the fruit is important to note at the start. Consider if it is under ripe and green or ripe and juicy, or possibly baked and stewed. This will help guide your understanding of which of the three umbrella categories most dominate the wine.

Cole Swanson
WSET 2 & 3, Spanish Wine Scholar