Imagine you were asked to describe the flavors of a steak. Could you do it precisely? Would you have to use words that didn't quite fit? But because we never as

Imagine you were asked to describe the flavors of a steak. Could you do it precisely? Would you have to use words that didn't quite fit? But because we never ask people to describe what a steak tastes like, we don't notice this. Instead we conclude that only wine is described in this circuitous way when actually this is just how we'd have to describe basically all taste experiences. We are trying to describe a wine but we don't have words that really fit these particular senses. So we develop a jargon that is at least largely consistent across the ecosystem so when somebody describes a wine as "high minerality" you understand if you've tasted other wines also described this way. The fact that a wine isn't actually "dry" in a literal sense (it is almost entirely water, after all) doesn't matter once you've got a bit of experience matching the jargon to prior experiences. Next time somebody tells you a wine is "high tannin" or "fruit-forward" or "thin", ask what dimension they are talking about here and try to remember it. Next time somebody says this you'll be able to predict what the wine will be like or you'll know to ask a professional for wines that match the particular things you like.