Wood Aromas in Wines

"Many wines are fermented or aged in oak or other types of wood, and a wood derived aroma is one of the most common aromas that we can get in a wine. In a white wine, we can get a nice aroma of pine, or sap, or cedar, or oak in the middle of the glass. It also sometimes comes across as vanilla, toast, or cedar, or sap, or even pine. In a red wine you can also get this scent in the middle of the glass, and it might smell the same way. It might smell like oak, or smoke, or cedar, or sap, or pine, or vanilla, but it also might come across as fresh cut lumber, a scent that you get when you're walking in a Home Depot, the smell that you get when you're walking past a construction site, or it might even be a little bit like cigars, tobacco, or a cigar box; maybe a little bit of vanilla also there. All of those are from wood, and they're usually from oak aging or oak fermentation; however, even if you have a wine that's never seen an oak barrel in it's production, don't be surprised if you get a little waft of a wood smell from it. Grape seeds are actually pithy, and they're actually made from wood, so the grape seeds can lend a little bit of a wood derived aroma to a wine also. Always look for wood derived aromas, whether you know the wine was aged in oak or not; because you just might find it."