Nutty Aromas in Wines

"One of the most beloved aromas in wine is nutty. That's right; like nuts or nutty. Nuttiness usually comes from a fermentation process, but can also come from certain grapes, so we can use the term aroma or bouquet to describe the scent of nuts. In a white wine, you can usually get the scent of hazelnut, or almond, or maybe sweet almond; which we call marzipan. You can also get a little bit of pecan or walnut. In a Chardonnay, you're very likely to get the lovely aroma of hazelnuts or walnuts, or pecans, and in a Chenin Blanc, or a Sauvignon Blanc, or even a Riesling, you might get the scent of almonds or sweet almonds. It might be very subtle and at the top of the glass, and you may have to look for it; and it's probably an aroma that you're not going to recognize until somebody says, hey, it smells like almonds, and then you're going to say; yeah it does, that's what I was smelling. In a red wine, a nutty aroma can come from the grape, and it can be the same; kind of almond, kind of hazelnut, kind of almond. It can also come from wood aging, though; oak aging. A wine that's aged in oak; especially a red wine, is very likely to have some kind of nuttiness to it. It might be like pecans, or almonds, or walnuts, or it might just kind of remind you of nuts. Either way you can call it a nutty bouquet, or a nutty aroma; and you're going to like it. It will make a nice, interesting flavor for your wine, and if you think that means that your wine is going to pair up with the flavors of nuts, you're right; it probably will."