How to analyze the nose of a wine
How to feel:
First, we need to smell the wine with moderation, because the smell is a sense that saturates quickly. It is therefore ideal to take small inhalations, spaced at intervals to avoid anesthetizing our sense of smell and not accustomizing to the smells that one tries to discern. This also leaves our memory the time to recognize progressive multiple smells that a wine can have. If our sense of smell fades during tasting, just let it rest, it recovers quickly.
First stage: Smell wine at rest
The first stage of olfactory nalysis of wine is to smell the wine glass immobile or without having anny spin move of the glass. This "First Nose" of wine can detect a first set of odors, often quite subtle.
Second stage: Smell wine after stirring
The second step is to spin the wine in the glass to aerate and identify the smells. This "Second Nose" can identify all the complexity of the smell of a wine. It will strengthen the first impressions that the forst nose has left us. It will discover new fragrances
Understanding the subtleties of wine nose
Most people do not make any differnce between odors/aromas and bouquet of a wine, for specialists there is a difference between the two:
The odors and aromas primary and secondary wine
The primary odors and aromas from the wine or grape varieties that make up the wine. This will be odors and aromas fresh fruit, vegetable and sometimes spicy.
The secondary odors and aromas of wine result from fermentation, among other yeasts used and conditions of winemaking. This will be odors and aromas of fermentation (yeast, bread,…) and / or milk (butter, hazelnuts,…)
The bouquet of the wine:
For the bouquet of wine, specialists refer to smells that develop during aging in oak barels, and then when aging in the bottle. They talk sometimes of tertiary aromas. This will be odors of jam, fruit and dried flowers, roasting, wood, hay, woods and hydrocarbons.
The terminology of aromas
The purpose of a wine olfactory analysis is to identify odors and aromas. To do so, it is simply to think of all the smells that we know. You can classify aromas and smells of wine into different types:
Floral
Fruity
Spicy
Vegetal
Animal
Wood
Torrefied
Chemical
Mineral
Then identify aromatic nuances more precisely and specific odors:
White wines
Primary zromas and fragrances:
Floral: Flowers white ccacia, hawthorn, eyelet, hyacinth, jasmine, orange blossom, rose, lilac, linden, chamomile, and so on.
Fruity: apple, peach, pear, citrus, lemon, citronelle, apricot, pineapple, banana, lychee, quince, and so on.
Plant: cut hay, straw, grass, plant tomatoes, fern, tea, anise, mint, fennel, asparagus, etc..
Mineral: Rifle stone, chalk, flint, and so on.
Chemical: hydrocarbons, iodine.
Seconday zromas and fragrances:
Fermenté: Yeast bread, brioche, and so on.
Lacté: milk, butter, yogurt, etc..
Aromas and fragrances tertiary (bouquet):
Floral: dried flowers, chamomile, and so on.
Fruity: Dried fruits, nuts, nut, fine, and so on.
Pastry: Honey, pulp fines, praline, and so on.
Venison: Musk
Woody: oak, vanilla, toast, new wood, pine, cedar, etc.
Red wine
Primary aromas and fragrances
Floral: Rose, rose fanée, peonies, lilies, purple, dried flowers, etc..
Fruity: cherry, strawberry, gooseberry, raspberry, cassis, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, banana, etc..
Plant: green pepper, bud, humus, etc.
Spicy: pepper, bay leaves, garigue, thyme, mint, nutmeg, and so on.
Secondary aromas and fragrances:
Fermenté: Yeast bread, brioche, and so on.
Lacté: milk, butter, yogurt, etc..
Aromas and fragrances tertiary (bouquet):
Fruity: Jam red fruit, black fruit, prune, black cherry, and so on.
Torrefied: Cacao, cooked, smoke, toast, coffee, tobacco, caramel, and so on.
Woody: oak, vanilla, new wood, wood burned, resin, pine, cedar, etc..
Spycy: Clove, liquorice, pepper, cinnamon, etc.
Animal: Leather, fur, venison, venison, and so on.
Plant: Sub-wood, mushroom, truffle, black olive, etc..
Chemical: Tar, solvent, ether, varnishes, sulfur, and so on.
Intensity and harmony nose for wine
In addition to detect and identify different smells and aromas of wine, one can assess the intensity and harmony. The intensity is to assess the strength with which the nose of wine manifests itself. It will assess the intensity of the nose with a wine vocabulary from:
Weak
Fade
Neutral
Discreet
Closed
Aromatique
Open
Expressive
Strong
Intense
Then we can evaluate the harmony of the nose of the wine. It is ro assess whether the different odors and aromas are balanced perceptible and in harmony with each other. The harmony of nose vocabulary is:
Ordinary
Simle
Pleasant
Complex
Distinguished
Refined
Rich
This latest assessment concludes the analysis of the smell of wine and lets you give a general appreciation.
