How to Describe the Smells in a Wine

Learning how to accurately describe the aroma and bouquet of a wine is an imperative skill for the budding wine connoisseur. Once you know the right words to use, you can impress all of your friends at the next cocktail party.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Consider the wine's aroma. The aroma is the scent of the grapes themselves. A Reisling, for example, has an "apple" aroma, while a Pinot Noir has a "cherry" aroma.

2. Smell the bouquet of the wine. The barrel and length of time a wine is aged, can cause the wine to develop a smell of chocolate, vanilla, caramel or coffee. When describing a white wine, consider that it's aged for less time and is more likely to have the smell of caramel or vanilla. A darker wine has a deeper bouquet, such as coffee.

3. Use words like "brilliant" and "clean" to describe the look of the wine. These words also describe a wine with smells that aren't offensive, and apply to white or sparkling wines. "Cloudy" describes a wine that has a dull appearance and smells old, or like the cork.

4. Describe the overall smell of a red wine that has a full body aroma but lacks any finesse to its taste with a word like "broad." Label a sweet white wine with no acidity to its scent as "cloying."

Tips & Warnings

• Place your nose over the wineglass and take a deep breath in to savor the aroma, for 3 to 5 seconds, before you begin to describe it.

Who Can Help Sponsored

• How to Lose 30+lbs Guaranteed. Try it Free.