A GUIDE TO MY TASTING NOTES III: WHAT DID I SMELL?

Some common aromas found in wine

Picking out the aromas and flavors in a wine can be one of the most intimidating parts of wine drinking. And it certainly is where traditional wine appreciation hits levels of pretentiousness that truly turn off potential wine enthusiasts. After all, how many people can really take a sniff of a wine and talk about how it reminds them of driving to Portofino with the top down on a Thursday afternoon in August with the wind coming in off the Tyrrhenian sea? While I haven't actually heard someone use that exact description, it isn't that far off from descriptions I have heard. But for most wine drinkers, two things are true: (1) they haven't had that particular experience, and (2) they are having a hard enough time just separating out fruit and flower aromas in their wine. But identifying wine aromas doesn't need to be such a big deal. So the goal of this post is to give you a useful framework that will allow you to develop your own language to describe and remember wines without sounding like a stuck-up schmuck. And if you are one of those lucky few who have taken their convertible down the Italian coast at the end of the summer and you were able to smell more than exhaust from the crowds, well then, by all means, I hope you find a wine that reminds you of it!

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT WINE AROMAS?

This is a simple question with both a simple answer and a more detailed explanation. The simple answer is that a large part of flavor comes from smell. The science of taste and smell is fascinating, and there is an excellent book called Neuroenology by Gordon Shepherd that you can read if you are interested. But at the end of the day, what you need to know is that your first sniffs of the wine set the stage for what it is to come.

The more experienced you become with wine tasting, the less simple the answer is. The aromas of your wine can give you cues and hints regarding what is in a wine and what you can expect from it. Have a glass of unidentified white in your hand at a party? Do the sniff test. Gasoline? Ah ha! you found a riesling. Roses and lychee? Gewurtztraminer. Now taste it. Part of what you should be doing with wine tasting is seeing how different the flavor of the wine is from what you smelled, if it is at all. All of this helps you develop aroma profiles that you prefer and can look for or ask for when you are in a restaurant, at your local wine store, or shopping online.

HOW SHOULD YOU SMELL A WINE?

The process isn't all that complicated, and it doesn't need to be. Every wine drinker has seen someone swirling a glass and then sniffing it at some point. And that's about all there is to it. Do you have to swirl the glass? You definitely should, because the aromas of wine are found in what are known as volatile compounds. No, that doesn't mean they have a temper and will fly off the handle. It simply means that they are easily released from the liquid. And it is the swirling that will release them. So when you swirl the glass, you get a better idea of what aromas are there.

There are a lot more questions you can ask about the process of swirling, but most of them are unnecessary for the everyday wine drinker. Should you pick up the glass or keep it on the table? Do what works for you. Should you swirl clockwise or counterclockwise? Do what works for you. Three times or five times? Do what works for you. See how easy that is? As long as you aren't spilling the wine everywhere, whatever your preferred method of swirling, you will release those aromas.

The same can be said of how far your nose should go into the glass. Right above the rim? Fully in the glass? Look, unless you are so far in that you're at risk of drowning, you'll get a feel for the aromas. Find the sweet spot for you. Again, it doesn't need to be complicated.

Now here's maybe one of the most controversial questions for how you should smell your wine: do you need different sizes and shapes for your tasting glass depending on what the color and grape are? Glass manufacturers like Riedel would certainly like for you to think so, so that they can sell you more sets of wine glasses. But at the end of the day, in most situations, you won't even get the choice. And more and more experts are moving to a so-called "universal" style tasting glass. So, focus on what you need to do to get the most out of whatever glass is in front of you. If you want to host a fancy tasting, with different glasses for each wine, there are plenty of resources that will tell you why certain glasses are better for certain wines. It's all up to how much you want to spend.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN WINE AROMAS?

When talking about the aromas of a wine, we can get incredibly complex and very technical, going as far as identifying certain chemical compounds that create certain aromas. A classic example is that certain chemicals called pyrazines create the smell and taste of green pepper, especially notable in Bordeaux-style wines. And while I will talk about that more in a later post for those who are interested, the first question for you to ask is, do you need to know that level of detail? For most wine drinkers, the answer is a resounding NO! Going to that level of detail is more likely to turn away wine drinkers, unless they are chemists or engineers.

So let's start with some very basic principles. And we'll introduce our next rule of wine tasting and appreciation:

RULE 4: YOU CAN'T IDENTIFY AROMAS YOU HAVE NEVER SMELLED BEFORE, SO DON'T TRY

Let's take an example that's a little less extreme than the one I opened this post with. A very common floral scent that experts often find in wines is hawthorn. Hawthorn trees are relatively widespread, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. But how many people have ever actually smelled one? I can tell you that when I first began my wine education, I had absolutely no idea what a hawthorn tree smelled like. And if you are like I was, then there's no way you can smell a wine and identify hawthorn.

You may find a scent that you can't identify. If you do, try to describe it using things you do know. So going back to our hawthorn example, you may notice a floral scent that reminds you of white flowers, you may notice a hint of honey, you may notice almonds, you may even notice some animal scents. All of these can tie back to hawthorn. But most people know these scents much better than they know hawthorn. So stick with what you know. You can only rely on your own experiences. And that brings us to a corollary to our latest rule:

COROLLARY TO RULE 4: YOU CAN ALWAYS LEARN NEW AROMAS AND YOU SHOULD TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO

There are opportunities to improve your sense of smell literally every day of your life. Every meal you make or eat gives you a chance to focus in on scents and flavors. What spices are you about to put in your dinner? Smell them and appreciate them before you add them. Did you toast those spices? Did they smell different afterwards? What fruit is in your dessert? Smell it before AND after you cook it. Did any of those aromas show up in the wine you drank with the meal?

But there are so many more opportunities for building your aroma palate. Out for a walk? Take the old saying to heart and stop and smell the roses - or the hawthorn tree if you find one! Going into a bakery? Take a moment to notice the different smells of the breads. Putting on your new perfume? What's in it? Building that database of aromas can and should be fun, not a chore.

For those who are truly dedicated to finding aromas specifically related to wines, there are also many tools available, depending on how much you want to spend. One of the most well-known is the series of kits called Le Nez du Vin ("the nose of wine"). Each kit contains a set of small bottles with specific aromas, each accompanied by a card detailing the scent. The kits aren't cheap, but they are very helpful. They also have kits for coffee and whisky enthusiasts, as well as kits that help you identify faults in wines.

So you can see that, like so many other things in life, your ability to learn new aromas is limited only by the effort (and in some cases, the money) you put into it. But keep in mind that you don't need to do this to effectively create your own wine appreciation system. All you need is what you already know. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

WHAT TYPES OF THINGS CAN YOU SMELL IN A WINE?

Here, I'm going to head in a bit of a different direction from traditional wine education, which tends to focus on which parts of the winemaking process create certain aromas and flavors. For example, earthier notes in a wine, like mushrooms or "forest floor" or leather, tobacco or chocolate are typically associated with the aging process and are known as tertiary aromas. But - and I know this is getting a bit repetitive - that level of knowledge is more than most people need to truly appreciate wine. So we'll divide wine aromas into categories that most people know and skip what part of the process is responsible for them. As with everything else in wine tasting, you can learn more if and when you want.

The most common categories of wine aromas are: fruit, flowers, herbs and spices, earthy, bready, dairy, and minerals. Within each of these categories, the range of options is almost limitless. So especially for new enthusiasts, we have built a tasting sheet that shows some of the most commonly idenitified aromas. Not only does it make it easier for you to just circle aromas as you find them, but it also gives you a set of cues. Not sure what that particular aroma is? Take a look at the sheet and maybe it will jog your memory.

Naturally, these categories won't cover every possible aroma in wine, but they get the vast majority. Are each of them present in every wine? No, and you shouldn't be going out of your way to find them. Focus on what you know and which aromas are particularly pleasant/unpleasant to you. You might be surprised at what you find.

As just one example, one unexpected aroma for many people to find in a wine is gasoline/petrol. After all, you wouldn't drink out of the hose at the gas station, and frankly, you probably don't even like it when some gets on your hands. But this is a familiar aroma in many excellent rieslings. Similarly, hearing a wine described as smelling like a barnyard might make you hold your nose and flee. And in some cases, you would be right, as it can be a sign of an infection with Brettanomyces yeast. But it is also an aroma often found in natural wines, so don't always reject it.

Another thing that can surprise new wine drinkers is that the fruit aroma least often found in wine is grape. You are far more likely to find citrus fruits and berries than ever smell a grape. It's one of the great wonders of wine.

WHAT DON'T YOU WANT TO SMELL IN A WINE?

There are quite a few aromas that suggest you don't actually want to move to the next step and taste the wine. The experts would say that a wine with one of these aromas is faulty, and there are any number of issues that can lead to these faults in wines. We've already mentioned Brettanomyces infection, which can make a wine pretty undrinkable. And while barnyard smells can go either way, if your wine smells like a Band-Aid (another common Brettanomyces aroma), you're probably better off using it as a disinfectant rather than drinking it (that's not medical advice and shouldn't be taken that way!).

Other aromas that point to potential problems with a wine include wet cardboard, sulfur or rotten eggs, boiled cabbage, sewers, vinegar, and nail polish remover. If you want to learn more about what leads to these aromas, it is pretty easy to research. But the key here is if it smells like something you wouldn't want to drink, you are probably better off not drinking it (again, note that there are exceptions like gasoline and riesling).

DO INTENSITY AND COMPLEXITY OF AROMAS MATTER?

In traditional wine tasting, you hear a lot about the intensity and complexity of aromas. But what do these really mean, and what do they actually tell you about a wine? I know you'll be thrilled to hear that the answer for you is "It depends."

Intensity is exactly what it sounds like - how strong are the aromas you detect in the wine? You can use a simple sliding scale to record your thoughts on intensity, as shown below. Just put the dot anywhere along the scale, so you can easily remember intensity. Not quite high? Place the dot between 'medium' and 'high'. Being consistent in how you define intensity is far more important than matching your intensity to other people's.

Is a wine with stronger, i.e., more intense aromas, automatically better than one with lower intensity aromas? Nope. You can have a wine that smells strongly of barely ripe strawberries, but once you taste it, you find that it is unbalanced and the fruit is overpowering - basically a strawberry Jolly Rancher. Compare that to a wine that has subtle hints of strawberry jam, which, when you taste it, has the depth and sweetness of the jam balanced with just the perfect amount of acidity and tannin. It may not jump out as much during the sniff test, but it is overall a much better wine.

Complexity can be even more difficult to identify. Perhaps you pick up a variety of different aromas, but how well are they playing with each other? Are there levels to the aromas? Do they change over time? A wine with a varied aroma profile may indeed have a stunningly complex flavor profile with flavors developing as the wine moves from the front to the back of your mouth and where the profile changes with each sip as the wine warms and opens up. But be careful - sometimes complexity is actually just confusion.

Take intensity and complexity of aromas just as you do intensity and variation in color. They can give you initial thoughts about a wine that you will then compare to what you actually taste. But they are only additional tools in your toolkit for helping you learn what you do and don't like.

BECOMING A WINE AROMA MASTER

As you get more and more experience with wine tasting, you will become better and better at separating out aromas. And you will also improve at identifying more subtle nuances in wine flavors. You will learn what different aromas and intensity levels mean for your enjoyment of a wine. And, if you take a little time to study, you will also find that you can start getting ideas about characteristics like the age of a wine, how it was fermented and matured, what grapes are in it, and, in some cases, even where it is from.

None of these are necessary for you when building your database. But like all data-driven disciplines, the more data you have, the better. And at the end of the day, there is only one way to get more data - practice, practice, practice. Fortunately, this is one of the best and most enjoyable data collection exercises you can do!