A short intro to the intricate world of wine aromas
Did you ever feel like a clueless clod at a wine tasting, did you nod politely when someone talks about “a hint of black currant and undertones of cherry with a touch of mushroom? You don’t have to worry, it is a difficult task and you don’t need to recognize all the aromas to appreciate wine. But it helps if you want to progress and understand wine.
You don’t have to fear anymore this post is here to help. First things first, you don’t need to have a degree in chemistry or a Ph.D. in Sniffology to understand and start to identify aromas in a wine. You just need the will to explore wine.
You need understand first where these aromas come from and why they are so important. Then you will learn why, we, humans, are generally bad to identify perfume. To finish we will see how to train yourself to identify any familiar scents in your glass.
You may have heard that this grenache noir have stuwed strawberry notes or that chardonnay often gives apple flavors while viognier gives peach. Be sure that no winemaker has put any strawberries, peach or apples in their wine. No one does that (one exception, “Rosé pamplemousse”, where grapefruit juice is added to bad rosé wine, but it is not a wine anymore). Wine aromas are molecules (aromatic molecules) that are naturally present in the grape berry or are created during the winemaking or aging process. Expert talks about primary aromas, secondary aromas, and tertiary aromas.
Primary aromas are those that come directly from the grape variety and the berry itself. These are the most pronounced aromas and are usually the first ones that are noticed when smelling wine after swirling your glass. You can find fruits (citrus, apple, pear, strawberry, blackberry) flowers (rose, violet, or lilac), vegetable (fennel, mint, thyme) and spices like pepper.
Many things can influence the expression of these aromas, like agricultural practices, the soil composition, and the climate during vine growth.
Secondary aromas, also known as fermentation aromas, are those that are produced during the fermentation process (alcoholic and malolactic fermentation). These aromas are often more subtle than primary aromas and may be masked by the stronger primary aromas. Examples of these aromas in wine include butter, curry, walnuts, cream, smoke, stone, mushroom, and diesel. Wines from the same grape, could have a different aromatic profile if vinification is different.
Tertiary aromas, also known as aging aromas, are those that develop over time as the wine ages in the bottle or oak barrel. These aromas are typically more complex and subtle than primary and secondary aromas and may include characteristics such as oak, leather, tobacco, and vanilla.
These three classes of aromas form a pyramid where at the top are the most volatile aromas, the primary, but which only remain for a few minutes. Secondary aromas are more complicated to identify as they are covered by primary aromas. Tertiary aromas are the least volatile but their effects last longer. How can you get tertiary and secondary aromas if your nose is full of fruity scents? Here’s a little trick, when you finish the wine, there are still a few drops left in the glass. Wait one or two minutes and then smell your glass. The most volatile aromas are gone, stay only the less volatile aromas, secondary, and tertiary aromas.
But why is it so hard to identify these aromas?
How someone can smell citrus and apricot while others smell nothing. It is all related to olfactory memory. When you listen to somebody talk or watch a documentary, you will try to focus and try to remember things for later. When we go to a museum your eyes are fully open to get all the details. But for smell the story is not the same, we do not use our memory, we don’t try to focus or analyse the odor, so we don’t train our olfactory memory and we don’t put word on aromas. We do not create an association between an object, a fruit or a plant and its smell
How can you tackle this problem?
You could try to find small flasks of aromas “le nez du vin” or something similar, but at first, it is expensive and sometimes inefficient because you may not make the connection between the aroma and an object or a word in your mind. I have a better option. You know that the most common wine aromas are present in your local grocery store for a fraction of the price of these flasks and you can start training dirrectly in the supermarket.
Here are the most common wine aromas:
| white wine | red wine | Both |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon | Current | Ball pepper |
| Apple | Cherry | Liquorish |
| Peach | Strawberry | Mushroom |
| Ananas | Black currant | Leather |
| Mango | Fig | |
| Rose | Violet |
When you return from your supermarket, try to smell, and focus on the aromas of these fruits, vegetables, and flowers. You can even crush them to extract more aromas. With this method, you are going to associate a scent with something concrete. And your mind will put a word next to the aroma. Try do it for all of the basic aromas.
Also, when you try a wine, bring the list, and try to ask yourself if you can smell, lemon, apple, …, and rose for the white wine and current, sherry, and the rest of the list for the red. You will see that with this little trick, identifying aromas will be simpler, as you will have names in your mind you will visualize scent effectively. You will train yourselft by making associations smell/word in your mind.
The last thing you can do to improve your skills is to have two white wines, and two red wines, for example, a viognier from the south of France and a Sauvignon Blanc from Pouilly Fumé, and a Gamay from Beaujolais and a Grenache noir from Roussillon. Each wine should be young 1 or 2 years, so you will have mainly the primary aromas. These are your training wines (you should try to buy the same bottles). Try to exercise with these wines all over the year, smell them and take notes. With time your skill will improve, and you will be able to identify more and more aromas.
there are more than 90 volatile molecules that can be expressed according to the conditions of soil, agriculture, weather, environment, fermentation, and aging. Some are very common; some are truly exotic. To improve your ability to discover aromas you need to focus on the basic ones, review the list above. You will be able to train your olfactory memory and it make it easier for you to recognize specific aromas in the future. Identifying the aromas of a wine is not an end in itself. It helps to understand the wine. Take A Chardonay from the North of Bourgogne, will give you the freshness of citrus and apple aromas. In south of Bourgogne, you will smell also a touch of white peach. From the south of Italy will be more hot with mango aromas. Aromas will become less complex for you. But remember, it is not because you cannot identify the aromas of wine doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a glass of it.