Fun Fact - How to Reset Your Sense of Smell When Wine Tasting

While our tongue is only able to detect five basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory), our nose is capable of detecting millions of different aromas. And that’s how we enjoy all the wonderful “flavors” that food and drinks have to offer.

When wine tasting, one of the Five S’s is smell.  You place the wine glass directly under your nose and inhale deeply. This can allow you to get a very quick idea of what the wine will taste like and you may even detect some of the wine’s fruit and herbal aromas. But after just a couple of sniffs, your nose tends to become less sensitive to further sniffs of the same aromas.

One way wineries and wine tasting rooms will address this issue is to re-set your olfactory system by having you smell a small container of coffee beans.  This shifts the receptors in your nose and brain to something completely different. That way, when you sniff your next wine, your sense of smell is reset and once again heightened.

But you may not always have coffee beans with you when you are tasting wines. The one thing that you always have with you is your arm. And it can come in very handy when wanting to reset your nose. Just take a quick sniff of your bare arm, right in the crease of your elbow (preferably while not wearing any scented lotions, sunscreen or other scented products). This quickly resets your nose and allows you to get back to smelling the intricate wine aromas.

So, try this quick trick next time you are wine tasting to experience all the wonderful aromas that wines have to offer. Cheers!

Ever Wonder? Can Aged Riesling Really Smell like Petrol?

Wines regularly get described by their aromas – floral, citrus, green apple, melon, herbal, cherry, plum and spice. But, Riesling – can it really including the aroma of petrol?

 A lot of people might assume a bottle of Riesling must have gone bad if they detect an aroma anything like petrol, gasoline or kerosene. But, this actually is a key characteristic of an aged Riesling!

 Not that a Riesling grape straight from the vine will have any such smell, but petrol is an aroma that forms during the fermentation process.

 There is a lot of chemistry that goes on during a wine’s fermentation. And, the development of exotic chemical compounds is one of these.

 As I started with, the fermentation of grapes can result in a tremendous range of aromas – most of which come from the chemical interactions of the juice of grapes and yeast. Other aromas can be introduced during the aging process (e.g., from oak barrels).

 It turns out that a petrol-like aroma is a natural occurrence in aged Riesling. Your glass of wine is not going to smell like a gas can, but there can be “delicate” aromas of petrol.

 Without getting into the chemistry details, the reason that an aged Riesling can smells like gasoline is due to a chemical compound called TDN (1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene). While the potential for TDN to be produced and noticed in most wines is pretty low, Riesling grapes have the highest chance to exhibit this distinctive aroma. Don’t lose sight of the fact that the primary aromas of Riesling will be tropical fruit, red fruit, melon, citrus and spice. But, there can be this petrol-like aroma compound. And, in combination with the other aromas, it can also result in aromas of honey, beeswax or paraffin.

Sources: GL Sacks et. al. (2012), C Black et. at. (2012)

So, try an aged bottle of Riesling. Not that petrol is an aroma you may desire, but open up mind and your nostrils and see if you can pick out the aroma. It’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly worth trying as you continue on your wine journey. Cheers!

How Fermentation and Aging Affect a Wine's Aroma

Last time we looked specifically at how oak affects the flavor of wine. There we learned that oak can be used in the fermentation process and/or the aging process to add various flavors to the wine. But before you take a first sip of wine, swirl your wine in your glass and then stick your nose into the top of the glass and experience all the wonderful aromas that the wine has to offer.

First and foremost, a wine’s aroma is based on the grape that is used in the wine. So, fruity aromas are those that are up-front. In white wines these aromas can include those of tropical fruits, melons, and citrus. In red wines you’ll find red fruit, black fruit and dried fruit aromas. So, these set the foundation for a wine’s aroma.

Now, let’s take a look at how the fermentation and aging process affect a wine’s aroma. First, fermentation - the process that turns the grape’s natural sugars to alcohol. And, the key ingredient in fermentation is yeast. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the yeast is a factor in a wine’s aroma. While the yeast doesn’t play a major role in a wine’s aroma, it can give a wine hints of fresh baked bread, butter, cream and cheese.

Then there’s the aging process. And, here aging in oak can yield a variety of aromas, some directly from the wood and others from the small amount of oxygen a wooden barrel allows inside. Depending on type of oak and how the barrel is toasted, it can lead to sweet aromas that including vanilla, caramel, brown sugar and butterscotch. The introduction of oxygen in the barrel can lead to nutty aromas. And, a heavily toasted oak barrel can even introduce aromas of smoke, tobacco, cigar and dried leaves.

So, don’t forget ‘smell’ as part of the five-Ss in wine tasting. Try it with your next glass of wine and see how many aromas you can pick out. Cheers!

Ever Wonder Where Fruit Aromas & Flavors Come From in Wines?

When I first became interested in wines, I remember asking if other fruits were used in the production of wines. After all, so many wines smell and taste like a lot of fruits other than grapes. So, if grapes are the only fruits used in wine making, how do all those other aromas and flavors get into the wine?

Well, it turns out that there’s a lot going on during fermentation, not just the yeast converting the grape’s natural sugar to alcohol. There are also chemical reactions going on that create hundreds of aroma and flavor compounds. Wow!

These “compounds” are identical to the compounds that we already associate with smells and tastes. So, when you smell a fruit aroma in wine you are smelling the same aroma compounds that also naturally occur in those fruits. The same is true with flavors.

Other aromas such as vanilla, tobacco, leather, coffee, caramel and toast come from the oak aging of the wines. Depending on the amount of ‘toasting’ the barrel undergoes affects the range and depth of these aromas.

So next time you have a glass of wine take time to smell it in the glass before you sip. You’ll be amazed to discover the aromas of dark fruits in red wines such as berries and plums while white wines can have aromas of apples, pears, melons and citrus. And then sip the wine and enjoy all the fruit flavors it has to offer. Cheers!

Wine - It's Really Very Simple

I recently read a piece in Wine Spectator (March 31, 2018) by Matt Kramer. It was titled "It's Really Very Simple." He started off by stating "The temptation for all wine evangelists...is to somehow make wine simple." He then goes on to say "Although the reality is that wine, fine wine anyway, is anything but simple, the temptation to simplify is irresistible."

And, yes, I started EverWonderWine.com and my weekly blogs in order to make wine more understandable and simple. So, I guess I too have fallen into the temptation.  But, I really think there is good reason to try to simplify wine, although I admit it's sometimes difficult.

As I started out writing blogs for my EverWonderWine.com website, one of the requests I got was "Just tell me what wine I should buy."  I have regularly struggled with this request.  It's a simple one. Yet, I have always found it to be a difficult one to address.

The problem with this simple request is that everyone's palate for wine is different. There have been plenty of times that I've said "Oh, wow!  This wine is really nice!" and had someone else try it, make an ugly face and shake their head and exclaim "No!  I don't like that at all."  

So, what I have continually tried to explain (in simple terms!) is that wine appreciation is a journey. You shouldn't expect to start with exceptional quality wines and immediately like them. But, if you truly want to try to understand and appreciate wine, you have to start somewhere; anywhere.  And, because our brains are wired to like sweeter things, it's often sweeter wines or bubbly that people with start with. Or, a very fruity rosé wine that maybe isn't that sweet but has lots of bright fruit flavors.  But, you have to jump in somewhere. And, give it time.

It's so simple! Right?  Well, at least I'll keep trying. Cheers!