Author: rdilauro

Le Nez Du Vin   –    The Nose of Wine

Aromas:  Origin and Classification  There are more than one thousand aroma molecules that have been identified to wines.  However, they only account for one part of wine to a thousand.  Where did the aromas come from?   A grape starts when the flower forms as a bud.  It will give off a very subtle scent.  As the fruit develops and with sunshine, the grapes make and store aroma precursors.   They do not give off any fragrance of their own.   The aromas start during the fermentation process.  t the end during the maturing and bottle stages, new aroma molecules from, called tertirary aromas.

Primary  An example is with wines made from the Muscat grape family.   When you drink this wine, it almost feels like you are biting into fresh grapes.  At this point is where you pick up most of the floral and fruity notes

Secondary These are created during the fermentation process mostly with sugars and amino acids.  This slowly develops into the wine’s aromatic potential.   The aromas of banana, pineapple, apple, butter.   As the wine ages, it can take on more aromas of dried fruit, apricots, currants, etc

Tertiary This is where the aromas develop as the wine matures in oak barrels.  Here is where you can pick up the aromas of vanilla, fresh butter note, leather, clove, mushroom, chocolate , smoke and much more.

The Sense of Smell  

Without getting all scientific, the sense of smell, the olfactory epithelium carries hundreds of receptors to the brain, which in basically responsible for tasting

 

 Scent  Perception when we sniff a wine
Aroma  Perception when the wine is in our mouth
Flavor  Perception during tasting, the “taste” of the wine

My wine teacher back in the 1970s always stressed to me how to pick out all the differences between  Scent, Aroma and Flavors.  He would have me right them down next to the wines we were tasting.   Honestly, I could pick out a few things , but at that time, my palate was far from trained enough to pick out everything. 

Over the years, I did start to pick up some specific aromas in the red wines.   The classic black current, cherry, vanilla noses became clearer to me.  When I ran wine tastings , I tried to explain to the audience on how to look for those aromas.   Most of the time, that didnt work, unless I  had an audience of people who were really into wine.   When I ran tastings at the wine shop, I talked about these aromas, but also told people do not fret if you can detect them.  Just try to visualize any aroma that you get when you sniff and taste the wine.

A few years ago, a doctor friend of mine gave me a gift “Le Nez Du Vin”, by JeanLenoir.  It was a Red wine tasting kit that contained 12 vials of different aromas that are found in wines.   You would open one vial at a time and smell it.  Concentrating on what you are perceiving the aroma to be.    Each vial is numbered and the booklet describes the aroma.  The first time, I went through all the vials, knowing what aroma they were suppose to be.   From that point on, each vial sniffing was done blindly.  It took me about 6 months of doing this 2 or 3 times a week before I was able to pick out a number of those aromas.   Some were so easy,  Pepper, Truffle, and the easiest Smoke.   But trying to distinguish between Cherry, Blackberry, Black current was a bit harder to do.

 

 

The sommelier’s of the world are trained to pick out each of these aromas.   It is so interesting to watch a sommelier sniff and taste a wine and in about 30 seconds rattle of 10 or more aromas and flavors that picked up and then another set of traits they picked up from the taste.   Not an easy task!

I do believe that aromas are so very important when it comes to picking up wine types.   I’ve felt that over the years, my palate was trained well enough to pick up the differences between a Paulliac, a Margaux and a Graves.   Since I was French school trained, those were my target areas.  But I’ve expanded into the new world of wines, the California sets, Washington State,  New York, Australia and New Zealand.   I do have to confess,  the aroma, the smell, the taste of any Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand is unmistakable.

I strongly recommend for any serious wine person to invest in one of these aroma tasting kits.  It has proven so much for my overall experiences.

 

Remember the Nose

 

 

 

 

                     Aging your Wines

Wines like people age very differently.  Some of us get to those golden years very gracefully and in fact look and act better than when they were young.  Then there are some that as they age, its obvious that they are losing something every day.   Since people age, then our wines should also age along with us.

Basic questions:

What wine you can age? 
How do you keep it ? 
When is too old?

I think the first question that everyone needs answers to is  What wines can you age?  Not all wines are made for aging, and even some wines made from similar grapes do not age that well.

Average aging for the following wines.  (shown in years)  https://winefolly.com/tutorial/collecting-age-worthy-wine/

Red Wines:

Nebbiolo ~20  (Italian wines from Piedmont , ie Barolo)

Cabernet Sauvignon ~10–20

 

 

 

 

Tempranillo ~10–20 (Spanish Riojas)

Sangiovese ~7–17 (Italian Chiantis, Super Tuscans)

Merlot ~7–17
Syrah ~5–15
Pinot Noir ~10
Malbec ~10
Zinfandel ~5

 

 

White Wines

White Rioja ~10–15

Chardonnay ~10

 

 

 

 

Trebbiano ~8
Sémillon ~7  (Mostly used in blending)
Sauvignon Blanc ~4
Viognier ~4 

Muscadet ~3
Pinot Gris ~3

Dessert and Fortified Wines

Tawny Port ~150
Madeira ~150
Vintage Port ~50–100

 

 

Sherry ~75
Hungarian Tokaji Aszu ~20–30
German/Alsatian Riesling ~15–25  (Beerenauslese,  Trockenbeerenauslese )

 

 

 

 

French Sauternes ~15–25

 

Now, that you have an idea of what type of grapes/wine are suited for aging, you are all set.  RIght?  No, because even if you took any one of the above wines and put them in the wrong area, they would not age gracefully and you would be totally disappointed.   So,  How do you keep it ?   so it will age correctly.    Instead of repeating everything, just jump over to my other section on http://rdilauro.com/CarpeVino/2018/08/18/storing-wine/

So, now you understand which wines can potentially age better than others,  you also have a basic knowledge of the proper conditions that will help those wines age gracefully, but know, the big question is When is too old?   There are several factors involved, but again, it helps to understand some basics here.

Wine is perishable and capable of deteriorating, there are complex chemical reactions involving a wine’s sugars, acids and tannins that influence this.  This aging can alter the aroma, color, mouthfeel and taste of the wine in a way that may be more pleasing to the taster.

So, how many years do I keep it?  When is enough enough?   Again, like people, wines slowly move up to their potential, they start to peak and then unfortunately, those glory times start to fade and the wines slowly lose all their glory and eventually become just an simple ordinary glass of wine (if that).

When I was first trained in wines in the 1970’s, it was basically centered around the classic French bordeaux. We talked about  those wines lasting 10, 15 or more years.   I have had some 1st growth French Bordeaux that were over 40 years old.  They will still ruby red, soft, rich,  pleasant tannins and totally unbelievable!   As my wine experience grew, California wines were becoming more popular.   The Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons were nightmares while they were young.   So heavy on tannins, that it made those wine almost impossible to drink and enjoy.   But you knew that those tannins were an indicator that the wine could age for a very long time and eventually mellow out.  But how long is that?   I’ve made the mistake several times in allowing wines to age too long.   I had some Napa Cabernet’s from the mid 1980s that I kept until 2000 or so.   Besides dealing with so many cork problems, most of those wines were not even drinkable.

 

 

 

Fast forward to the year 2000 and onward .  There were changes in California wines and even French wines.   The trend was making wines to be consumed earlier, by that I mean totally drinkable and peaking in a shorter period of time.  So, many Cabernet Sauvignon’s were ready to drink within 5 years and after 10 years there were well on their way downhill.    So, now, unless there is an exceptional vintage year from California, I do not cellar those Cabs or other full reds (ie Merlot, Petite-Sirah, Cabernet Franc) for more than 7 years.

The way I handle all of this now is purchasing several bottles of the same wine that I intend to age.   I like to start with at least 6.   I will taste the first one as soon as I bought it.   This way I would have a good indicator of the structure and the potential longevity of the wine.   Then I put them to bed and about every 18 months or so , I would open another bottle.   This way I have a pretty good idea of where the wine was going, had it peaked yet and how much longer I should age it.   When I have a wine that is still showing strong youth and promise, I will buy another 6 bottles.

Overall, aging of wines should be a fun project.  But since there is generally an financial investment involved, you should know the basics of what you are doing.

Happy Aging.

You know, Stallion? It’s too bad we gotta get old, huh?