The nose knows when it comes to wine

The smell of a wine is, of course, closely related to its taste. In fact, your nose is more important in tasting a wine than your taste buds. Just smelling a wine after you have swirled it in the glass tells you if there is something inherently wrong or if it is something wonderful.

The aroma and bouquet are released, and you should put your nose just inside the glass, inhaling gently. If you don’t get much aroma, cover the glass with one palm, swirl again, quickly remove your hand and sniff again. The caliber of the aroma and bouquet can be gauged by its intensity, quality, and character.

The intensity of a wine’s smell can vary greatly and generally reflects the taste to come. A light aroma usually signals a light taste, while a more intense or aromatic nose, assuming other factors are good, is usually more desirable.

The quality of the nose of the wine can be simply stated in terms of pleasant or unpleasant, complex or simple, harmonious or unbalanced. The best, of course, are pleasant, complex, and balanced without “off odors” such as sulfur, vinegar, wet cardboard, etc.

The character of the nose pertains more to the various odors exhibited by the wine. A complex wine may show many smells including blackberries, cherries, chocolate, leather, cedar, or citrus. A simple wine would show only a few. Experienced tasters are able to draw from their highly developed sensory memories to better determine a wine’s character. Training your own “aroma memory” can be helpful by paying attention to specific tastes and/or aromas of fruits, vegetables, flowers, leather and spices in everyday life to help you identify them when they are present in wines.

Someone recently asked how fruit is added to wines so they have smells and flavors of blackberry, cherry, grapefruit, banana, and so on. Actually, this is not an uncommon inquiry. The fact is that no fruit or juice is added to the wine. The fruit aromas and tastes come from the grape itself which reflects the “terroir” meaning the soil and all of the other environmental factors that influence the finished product.

One final note — should you sniff the cork when it is placed in front of you at a restaurant?

Personally, I like to pick up the cork, feel it to see if it’s soft or in poor condition. An off-odor of the cork may give you a warning as to a problem with the wine. It’s up to you. If you sniff a synthetic closure, you may loose your date or dining partner. Above all, do not sniff a twist-off cap. You will need a band-aid for your nose, and you will be the laughing stock of the restaurant.

Monroe Baisden is the owner of Chateau du Reaux, a wine shop on East Davis Street. E-mail him at