the wine aroma wheel.
The perception of flavor is complex as it can be influenced by many factors. Focus. Are you thinking of something else, are your thoughts distracting? Conditions. Is it quiet, odor free or is it noisy and filled with aromas? Light and temperatures. A warm environment could cause high volatility changes whereas a too hot or a too cold environment could be distracting away from the drink. Information provided. individual sensitivities. the range of flavour varieties. All of these determine sense of tastes in a wine.
Is it possible to describe an aroma without tasting it before or recognizing it if not having tasted it recently? It would be like describing the indescribable. I think that these tastes and these aromas are subjective and personal in ways which have different meanings or identifications to everyone.
The point of describing wine, we learned, is to discover the pieces so that we can understand the whole. If you learn the details you can learn to recognize wine. During our wine tasting, for example, when we had to describe the flavours we tasted among four unidentified wines, Asher knew, correctly, that one of them was a Barolo, in the same way that others can recognize a Chardonnay or a Cab Sauv. Impressive, UNISG, impressed.
We learned how to try to train our senses in more specific ways by noting the various details and components of the wines rather than just say whether or not we like it. By learning what the “standards” smell like - that is, extracts of certain elements into a neutral wine - then we can recognize these similar tastes and aromas when we taste wine.
While tasting white wine, our standards included smells like asparagus, bubble gum, peach, cloves, butter, vanilla, toffee or butterscotch, citrus blend of orange and grapefruit, honey, anise, tinned pineapple, lychee, green apple, grapefruit, guava, canned green beans, lemon, Rose’s lime cordial, nutmeg, orange, bacon and pear.
While tasting red wine, our standards included smells like asparagus, bell pepper, clove, butter, vanilla, butterscotch, black currant (mmm ribena), black olive, licorice or anise, black pepper, blackberry jam, maraschino cherry, cocoa, coconut, green olive, coffee, green bean, nutmeg, artificial, molasses or golden treacle, prune, bacon, soy, strawberries, strawberry jam and fresh cherries.
Noting these different aromas and tastes is possible but as well as the environment/experience, the wine can change with the foods that you are eating with it. I don’t believe that there is a right or wrong, everyone is programmed differently. The entire marketing, branding, labeling, and pricing of the wine has a sincere effect on people’s perceptions of wine as well. Wine marketing wants to promote the poetic and positive imagery of the wine. So, next time you’re drinking wine, sit back, relax, focus on what you’re doing, and try to determine or discern the flavours that encompass the wine you are enjoying. I’ve already found myself trying to distinguish different flavours that remind me of foods that I can recognize. It could start off as a game, but eventually, I hope, will become very effective. It is a palate to be developed.
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