Acid-alcohol balance

Acid-alcohol balance refers to the harmony between the freshness brought by acidity and the warmth or roundness supplied by alcohol and residual sugar. In a balanced wine no component dominates: acidity tightens the structure while alcohol fleshes it out. An imbalance shows either as a green, sharp hardness or as a warm, slack heaviness. This trade-off stands as a central criterion in gustatory analysis and in the final scoring of a wine.