Wine Sensory Part Two - Scent
By Christian Chandler, co-founder and winemaker
Hello, friends!
As we discussed last time, engaging all of your senses is what makes wine drinking (and eating good food!) so fun and exciting. Sensory is the human connection between how something looks, smells, tastes, and feels and how your body and mind react to all of those stimuli.
You have already learned about examining the wine with your eyes, now let’s talk about smelling the wine.
Smell:
After discovering all you can by looking at your Caelestis Cellars wine, give the glass a gentle swirl. This action works with the shape of the wine glass to unlock the delicate aromatics of the wine.
The initial experience of aromatics is referred to as “the nose” of a wine. Get your nose close to the wine. Go ahead. Stick your nose into the glass. It feels weird but is totally worth it. Now, take a long, deep inhalation. What do you smell?
Scent is an important element of your sensory experience because you cannot taste fully if you cannot smell fully. The most important attribute of a sommelier starts with the sense of smell.
For example, if you compare the aromatics of our lightly Oaked Chardonnay with our Stainless Steel Chardonnay, you will discover that the same grapes from the same vineyard harvested at the same time, but fermented and aged differently will give you a whole different scent and overall sensory experience.
Try this experiment. Take anything that you are going to eat or drink. Select something that you know distinctly what it should taste like. Plug your nose then eat or drink that item. Keep your nose plugged through the entire process until you swallow, then unplug your nose. What did you experience?
You will likely notice that there was no or little discernible flavor. The important lesson here is to not expect your body to appreciate the nuances of a glass of wine or your favorite food if you have a problem with your nose such as a cold, allergies, or if you have recently had Covid.
Sometimes the aromatics are lighter than what your nose can detect. While the look and nose of a glass of wine are important, they are not always representative of what you will taste. That’s ok. It is all part of the full sensation of wine. For an in-depth look at aromas, watch this video.
I’m curious to know what you discover by putting together your senses of sight and smell. Drop me a line and let me know what you find.
Next time, we will talk about the best part of wine…taste!
Every day is a drink-the-good-wine-day!
Cheers,
Christian, co-founder & winemaker
Taste Our Wines!
We are the featured winery pouring at Syndicate Wines.
Come see us!
Thursday, August 10th
4-7pm
Syndicate Wine Bar
12620 SW 1st St, Beaverton
Reservations recommended
