I grew up with brothers. And like most brothers, we were NEVER competitive. That being said; watch me one-up the crap out of my brother here:
The other night, we were camping, and as is the case with most camping trips, we were drinking. Ben took a glass of wine, smelled it and said “It has a great nose”. I mean, who does he think he is? I’m not digging this smug “I actually know things I can say about wine” attitude of his.
Do you know what happened next? I’ll tell you: I stared at him with contempt because I never thought to say something about the “nose” of a wine. I didn’t even know you were allowed to. I didn’t even know that was a thing.
So I stewed for the rest of the weekend…and then I got home…and I studied. I researched wine aroma for two days straight, and I think I’m finally an expert and can’t wait until the next time we pop bottles together so I can flip this on him.
What did I learn? Let me tell you what…not much really. Here’s what I learned:
- Apparently the smell of wine is more important than the taste, because the tongue can’t pull out the intricacies that we get with the olfactory bulb.
- Saying things like the “bouquet” or “aroma” of the wine makes you sound like a wine-baller [wine-baller (noun): One who is wicked awesome when it comes to looking like they know wine].
- Most developments of a wine’s aroma come in the first few months of the fermentation process. This can be manipulated by adding/extracting different compounds and chemicals, however most prominent wine makers tend to trust the grape and their processes to bring out the natural aromas of their process (that’s not Wikipedia…that’s alllllll me).
- Don’t worry about looking like you’re trying too hard. If you’re actually trying to learn about the wine, smelling it before you sip it is important. Our sense of smell is critical in properly analyzing a glass of wine. To get a good impression of your wine’s aroma, swirl your glass for a solid 10-12 seconds (this helps vaporize some of the wine’s alcohol and release more of its natural aromas) and then take a quick whiff to gain a first impression.
- Still Smelling. Now stick your nose down into the glass and take a deep inhale through your nose…Get all up in it. Don’t be ashamed, it’s natural. What are your second impressions? Do you smell oak, berry, flowers, vanilla or citrus? A wine’s aroma is an excellent indicator of its quality and unique characteristics. Swirl the wine and let the aromas mix and mingle, and sniff again.
I hope this has helped you in your vino journey. Drink happy my friends (I’m working on a tag line…what do you think? Was that good? It was stupid wasn’t it…sigh…I’ll keep trying).
