How many times have you seen people sniffing and wondered how much of that is for show? We decided to share with you some nosing knowledge! A quick smell can help you determine if the wine is faulty. A wine could be corked (moldy basement, wet dog), reductive (sulfur, cabbage), or have too much volatile acidity (nail polish, paint, vinegar) or brettanomyces (bandage, sweaty saddle, “barnyard”). It could also show signs of premature aging (tired, cooked flavors), though you probably would have noticed the visual clues in your glass. But always swirl first, because swirling brings out other aromas that may mask the faults.
Now time to figure out what this wine is made of... So what are we looking for? Professional tasters try to identify primary, secondary and tertiary aromas. Primary aromas come from the grapes — the various fruits, herbs, flowers, vegetables and spices. Secondary aromas derive from the fermentation process — earth, smoke, rocks. And tertiary aromas develop from aging — oak, oxidation and the complex flavors that develop in the bottle as a wine transforms over years in the cellar. Do you smell berries? What type? Cherries? Are they Bing, Rainier or even maraschino? Pepper — is it white, black or green? Do you smell the sea? Wet stones after a summer rainstorm? Perhaps the wine unlocks a memory of a long-ago vacation in the Greek Isles, a friendly trattoria in a Tuscan hill town, or a wine bar in Paris. Let us know what smell you get from your next nosing session!
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