FREE online courses on Learn to Taste Wine - Different Scents of Wine

 

We actually smell most of the things that we think we taste, or so the scientists say. Our poor taste buds can discern only four flavors - sweet, sour, salt and bitter - while our noses are capable of distinguishing thousands of subtle variations.

 

The wines of the world offer thousands of scents in their almost infinite variety. I must have smelled a few hundred things in wine myself, ranging from the commonplace (grapes and fruit) to the off-the-wall (sawdust and asparagus) and the disgusting (dirty socks and wet dog fur).

 

FRUITY

 

Citrus - grapefruit, lemon; berry - blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, black currant (cassis); tree fruit - cherry, apricot, peach, apple; tropical fruit - pineapple, melon, banana; dried fruit - strawberry jam, raisins, prune, fig.

 

VEGETATIVE

 

fresh - stemmy, cut green grass, bell pepper, eucalyptus, mint; canned-cooked - green beans, asparagus, green olive, black olive, artichoke; dried - haw-straw, tea, tobacco.

 

NUTTY

 

walnut, hazelnut, almond.

 

CARAMELIZED

 

honey, butterscotch, butter, soy sauce, chocolate, molasses.

 

WOODY

 

vanilla, cedar, oak, smoky, burnt toast, charred, coffee.

 

EARTHY

 

dusty, mushroom, musty (mildew), moldy cork.

 

CHEMICAL

 

petroleum - tar, plastic, kerosene, diesel; sulfur - rubbery, garlic, skunk, cabbage, burnt match, wet wool, wet dog; papery - wet cardboard; pungent - acetic acid (vinegar); other - soapy, fishy.

 

PUNGENT

 

hot - alcohol; cool - menthol.

 

MICROBIOLOGICAL

 

yeast, sauerkraut, sweaty, horsey, "mousey."

 

FLORAL

 

orange blossom, rose, violet, geranium.

 

SPICY

 

cloves, black pepper, licorice, anise.

 

This brings our quick online wine course to a conclusion. If you'll remember two simple rules - (1) think about wine, and (2) keep opening bottles - you'll soon be on your way to expertise and a lifetime of enjoyment. Good luck, and good wine!