Want to learn more about wine? 1. How to smell

1 # How to smell the wine


First smell the wine when it is still — before you swirl it in the glass — then swirl it around and smell it again immediately after swirling, as the wine settles. There is usually a difference between these two states, especially with finer, more mature wines.

Wines made from noble grape varieties have particularly distinct smells: Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, reminds most people of blackcurrants, Gewurztraminer of lychees and Turkish delight. Grape variety is the first thing to try to identify when "nosing" a wine.
The most frequently found non-grape smells are those of the wood in which the wine has been aged — particularly those associated with new oak: cedar, vanilla and caramel for example.

Winetasters, when smelling, use a combination of short and deeper sniffs, very gentle and also much sharper sniffs.

Think about what the smells remind you of.

Carley Woods