Larousse Wine by Librairie Larousse - Excerpt

8/3/2019 Larousse Wine by Librairie Larousse - Excerpt

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English text copyright 2011 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of

the Crown Publ ishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

www.clarksonpotter.com

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a

registered trademark of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in France as Grand Larousse du Vinby Editions

Larousse, Paris, in 2010. Copyright 2010 by Larousse, Paris. This

English translation was originally published in Great Britain by Hamlyn,

a division of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., a Hachette UK Company,

London, in 2011.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-307-95222-6

Printed in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First American Edition


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ContentsPreface 11

DISCOVERING VINES AND WINE 12

THE ORIGINS OF WINE 15

How wine began 16 3Wine as portrayed in ancient miniatures 18

Revolutions in wine 20

The new world of wine 22

3False beliefs about wine 24

The wine-producing terroirs 26

3The artists of terroir 30

Thousands of grape varieties 32

The great red grape varieties 36

The great white grape varieties 40

Grape varieties and terroirs:famous combinations 44

FROM VINE TO BOTTLE 47

The growth cycle of the vine 48

Work in the vineyard during the year 50

Pruning and yield of the vine 52

The harvest 54

Toward greener wine production 58

Fermentation 60

3Techniques that are controversial 62

Producing white and ros wines 64

Making red wine 68

Making sparkling wines 70

Making fortified wine 74

The art of maturation 76

The role of barrel ageing 80

Making a barrel 82

3Some beautiful barrels 84

Bottling 86

Closures 88

CHOOSING, STORING, AND TASTING WINE 90

HOW CAN YOU IDENTIFY A WINE? 93

Appellation systems 94

3A comparative table of European appellations 99

Appellations from other countries 100

How to decode a wine label 104

3Some examples of different labels 110

3Labels old and new 116


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HOW TO BUY WINE 119

Tools for buying wine 120

The price of wine 122

Buying from wine shops and supermarkets 124

Buying from wineries 126

3Buying wine futures oren primeur 128

Buying through other channels 130

HOW SHOULD WINE BE STORED? 133

The ideal environment for storing wine 134

Creating a cellar 136

3Four different wine collections 138

3In the silence of the cellar 140

Organizing and managing your cellar 142

3Storing wine: a few tips 144

Keeping and ageing wines 146

3Average wine longevity 148

Collecting and investing in wines for your cellar 150

HOW TO CHOOSE WINE 153

Wine styles 154

3Legendary wines 162

3Recent vintages 164

Principles for matching food with wines 168

3Successful food and wine partnerships 174

3Pairing cheeses with wines 182

HOW TO SERVE WINE 185

Serving temperature 186

Opening the bottle 188

3Corkscrews 190

Decanting the wine 192

Glasses 194

Dining with wine 196

Wine in a restaurant 198

3Sommelier as wine ambassador 200

HOW TO TASTE WINE 203 The basics of successful tasting 204

Appearance 206

Wine aroma or nose 210

3Aroma families 214

Taste 216

The synthesis of tasting 220

3Some sample tasting notes 222

3Describing wine 228


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GREAT WINE REGIONS OF THE WORLD 236

3Key wine regions 238

World of wine 240

FRANCE 243

Bordeaux 244

Bordeauxs classified growths (crus classs) 250 Bordeauxs most famous wines 252

3Chteau Latour 258

3Chteau dYquem 264

Burgundy 272

Best-known wines of Burgundy 280

3Romane-Conti 288

Champagne 296

3The art of Champagne according to Krug 302

Alsace, Jura, and Savoie 304

Famous wines from Alsace, Jura, and Savoie 308

The Loire Valley 312

Famous wines of the Loire Valley 316

The Rhne Valley 322

Leading Rhne Valley wines 326

Southwest France 334

Famous wines of southwestern France 336

Languedoc-Roussillon 340

Top Languedoc-Roussillon wines 342

Provence and Corsica 346

Leading wines of Provence and Corsica 348

ITALY 353

Italy 354

Leading Italian wines 360

3Sassicaia, the Super Tuscan 368

SPAIN 375

Spain 376

Spains best-known wines 380

3Vega Sicilias Unico 384

PORTUGAL 391

Portugal 392

The best-known Portuguese wines 396

GERMANY 401

Germany 402

Leading German wines 406


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CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE TO

THE BLACK SEA 413

Central and Southeast Europe to the Black Sea 414

Leading wines of Central and SoutheastEurope to the Black Sea 421

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH AFRICA 425

The vineyards of the Eastern Mediterraneanand North Africa 426

Wine regions of the Eastern Mediterraneanand North Africa 430

UNITED STATES AND CANADA 433

United States and Canada 434

Leading USA and Canada wineries 440

3Opus One, exceptional California wine 444

CHILE 451

Chile 452

Key Chilean regions and wines 454

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, AND URUGUAY 457

Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay 458

Key wine regions of Argentina, Brazil,and Uruguay 462

SOUTH AFRICA 465

South Africa 466

Leading South African regions and wines 468

AUSTRALIA 471

Australia 472

Leading Australian regions and wines 476

NEW ZEALAND 483

New Zealand 484

Leading New Zealand regions and wines 486

JAPAN, CHINA, AND INDIA 489

Japan, China, and India 490

REFERENCES 492

Glossary 494

Index 504

Index of grape varieties 524

Acknowledgments 527

Picture acknowledgments 528


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PREFACE

Wine is an invitation to go on a journey. This book bears witness to that trip. The road

begins with discovery of the extraordinary diversity of grape varieties and terroirs

that exist all over the world. It then introduces you to the people involved and the

work they accomplish in countless vineyards and wine cellars. Finally, it takes you into the world

of wine tasting and reveals the incredible variety of wines on every continent.

I am dedicated to learning about the wines of the world. I have spent a good part of my life in

this pursuit, and I continue to study the development of the many, diverse vineyards with immense

curiosity. Driven by a quest for new terroirsand grape varieties, I have visited several regions and

on every occasion have learned a great deal, both on a cultural and a personal level. Today, I am

aware that every continent displays a desire, even an obsession, to produce the finest wines.

There is no doubt that the traditional vineyards of Europe, represented in particular by France,

but also by Italy and Spain, still occupy a leading position as a result of their history, culture,

traditions, and scale. However, many of us have yet to discover the fascinating diversity of vineyards

in Central and Eastern Europe. Some countries in the Middle East also show good potential, with

the emergence of small, ambitious wineries. And what about all the New World wines that arrived

on the shelves of our supermarkets and our wine shops starting 25 years ago, transforming the

economic landscape of wine production? There are beautiful estates to explore, whether in Chile

or California, and each embarked on the hunt for new terroirssuitable for producing ever more

concentrated, balanced wines. Lastly, we watch with interest as India and China develop significant

wine projects. The fact that Asia is as interested in producing wine as it is tea represents a real

sea change. But wine inspires aspirations everywhere. New countries are introducing viticulture,

and a huge variety of wines are out there for us to investigate. This book will help you discover the

diversity and richness of wines produced throughout the world. I also hope it will inspire you to

rediscover familiar wines as well as to explore those with unexpected aromas and flavors.

Olivier Poussier

Worlds leading sommelier


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The art of tasting

Tasting is above all a technical exercise, taking place in three stages

during which three of our senses in turn are brought into

play: sight, smell, and taste. Although there are

several tasting groups open to the general

public, wine lovers often organize private

events with friends, a practice open toall and requiring only a little attention

to detail and a few material conditions.

Choosing a venue

Choosing the right room is important. It

should be bright, with sufficient daylight

or neutral lighting (and certainly no strip

lighting or colored lamps). The air should not be

polluted with cooking smells, flowers, tobacco, or per-

fume. The ideal room temperature is somewhere between 64F

and 68F (18C20C), as this will enable your wine to show its

best. (The idea of allowing the wine to stand in a room for a few

hours so that it warms up from cellar temperature and tastes better

dates back to a time before central heating.) The table should be

covered with a white cloth, or, in the absence of one, the glasses

should be placed on a piece of white paper, which will allow

people to judge the color of the wine objectively.

Selecting your equipment

GLASSES.Choosing these correctly is

important because they influence the

appearance and aroma of the wine. Do

not use colored glasses. A tulip-shaped

glass with a transparent stem, sometimes

known in France as an Angoulme, is

a great choice. Many ideal glasses used

by wine professionals are available from

companies including Riedel, Schott Zwiesel, and

Spiegelau. Their semi-elliptic form has a narrower mouth

than its curved bowl, allowing it to concentrate aromas and to

avoid spills when swirling the wine. These glasses are available

from department stores and any good wine merchant. A tastershould smell their glass before using it to make sure there are no

residual odors (from the box or dish detergent). The glass may

be rinsed with water or, better still, moistened with the first wine

to be tasted. The ideal approach is to provide a fresh glass with

every wine. If this is not possible, provide a minimum of two

glasses per taster so that wines may be compared.

SPITTOONS.These are indispensable accessories, allowing

tasters to empty their glasses and to spit (seebox p.205). If you

have no spittoons, you can use other vessels, such as deep bowls,

vases, and Champagne buckets.

THE BASICS OF

SUCCESSFUL TASTINGTasting a wine brings experiences that can be described concretelythe color, the aromas,

the flavors, and the texture all speak to our senses. Most often, though, the enthusiasticamateur lacks an adequate vocabulary to describe these sensations. He or she is unable to

decode the different elements making up the wine; in other words, how to taste.

lip

bowl

stem

base

Tasting will help you

learn about wine.Practiced regularly, tasting

sharpens the senses and

gradually improves the specific

vocabulary required to

communicate wine-related

opinions clearly.

Getting wine readyThe wines, which will have been stored horizontally

in a cellar, should be placed upright one day early

so that any natural deposit will settle at the bottom

of the bottle. They should be opened an hour before

the tasting and, if necessary, decanted into a carafe.

The whites should be placed on ice or refrigerated

for a few hours and then taken out half an hour

before tasting to reach the right temperature; they

should be opened just before being tasted.


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HOW TO TASTE WINE 205

Appropriate physical

conditions

A taster should be fresh and rested, and in

good health. Discomfort from fatigue wi ll

affect judgment, and colds in particu lar are

a considerable handicap to taking in the

aromas and flavors of the wine. The technically best time for

wine tasting is in the morning, when the senses are sharpestand concentration is at a maximum. But wine lovers generally

prefer to get together at the beginning of an evening before

dinner, when the agenda is about fr iends and fun. Tasting after

a meal should be avoided; the senses are saturated and the

bodys systems are committed to digestion.

Before tasting, wine lovers should refrain from drinking

coffee or smoking cigarettes, since this will spoil the palate.

By the same token, breada neutral foodstuffis preferable

to cheese or salty crackers to cleanse the palate between the

wines that are particularly tannic or acidic.

A few simple rules for successful tasting

When tasting, it is best to observe at least a little silence, as

this encourages concentration. As fascinating as it is to share

your thoughts, there will be time for this later. The person

leading the tasting may therefore suggest a summary of the

wines tasted, after sampling a set number of bottles. Each guest

will keep notes of their observations on a tasting sheet provided

for this purpose (for a few examples, seepp.2225). There is

no substitute for this exercise in reinforcing a tasters judgment.

The notes will provide a starting point as your tasting ability

develops, and you trace the evolution of wines. Tasting is an

exercise in memory as wellthe more you taste, noting colors,

aromas, and flavors in your reference library of experience,

the more you will be in a position to identify a wines sensory

characteristics and, by comparing many, to assess its qualities.Equally important ru les include honesty, modesty, and respect

for others: virtues to be practiced throughout life! There

actually is no such thing as good or bad in tastingevery-

one has their own ideas and may defend these in discussion,

always preserving respect for others.

What is blindtasting?

This is a completely objective

method of tasting wines without

knowing their identity. The bottle

is covered with paper or somekind of sleevewhatever the

tasters level of expertise, there

is always the danger of being

influenced by the label. A wine

with a great reputation will

always raise expectations and

the reverse can also be true. In

blind tasting, the intrinsic quality

of the wine is left to speak for

itself, and this experience may

lead to some surprises.

DID YOU KNOW...?

Spitting out a wine is normal at ta stings.

For a beginner, spit ting might seem odd and a bit

disgusting, not to mention the fr ustration one might feelat not being able to enjoy the wine fully. The practice is

explicable, though, as a ques tion of physical necessit y.

Formal tastings do not take place at mealtimes, and so

drinking wine means imbibing alcohol on its own. While

not actually bringing about a state of drunkenness, it

likely will dull the senses or cause the individual to lose

concentration. Further more, actually swallowing the

wine does not bring into play any additional criteria for

assessment, as everything takes place between the nose

and the mouth. So people spit in order to appreciate the

aroma and the body of se veral wines more keenly.

>Bottles disguised

with paper sleeves

at a blind tasting.


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Noting the appearance

At first, a taster will try to define a wines color: its hue, its

intensity, and its clarity. To see these clearly, the wine should

be heldin good lightingin front of a neutral background

(a white tablecloth, for example) or placed on any

white surface.

HUE.The color of a wine is evaluated

according to two parameters, its hue and its

intensity. The vocabulary used to describethe first quality draws its terms from the

world of precious stones (ruby, topaz),

metals (gold, copper), flowers (rose,

violet), and fruits (lemon, cherry). See

also box below.

INTENSITY.Since there are so many

different shades of color, it is important

to define the hue by its intensity. This

varies between pale and very dark, moving

through light, dark, deep, intense, and profound.

Some of the vocabulary used, such as poor, soft, and weak,

are already indications of quality.

CLARITY.This should be perfect and not compromised by any

foreign particles in suspension, such as dust, flakes, or any residue

from finings or dead yeast that may float around in the liquid. If

it is not, it may be described as cloudy, hazy, or opalescent.

These are all signs of poor winemaking or contamination of the

wine, and generally render it unfit for enjoyment. As wine

production advances, though, these occurrences

are fortunately less and less likely.

What does the appearance

of a wine tell us?

A wines color not only tells us its type

white, red, or rosbut it can reveal

details about the age of the vines, the yield,

the year, the age of the wine, and even the

manner of its maturation.

VARIETIES AND V INTAGES.The substances

that lend a wine its color originate with pigments contained

in grape skins. There are few of these to be found in white grapes,

but they are very prevalent in red grapes, with different intensi-

ties according to variety. A wine made with Gamay grapes has apretty ruby color; and its distinct from one made with Cabernet

Sauvignon, which is a deep garnet. The gradual development of

the vines partially determines the maturity of the grape pigments,

although the color intensity of a wine is more predicated on actual

vintage quality. Thus a 1994 Mdoc will have a less intense hue

than the more concentrated 1996, which was a hotter year.

In the same way, white wines will have a deeper color when

APPEARANCEThe first contact with a wine is visualthe eye perceives the color and depth of color

that the wine offers as soon as it is served. To the attentive taster, wine begins to tell itsstory while it is still in the glass. Looking at what is known in French as the wines robe

(dress)its hue, brilliance, surface, and its legsallows a taster to uncover manyvaluable clues as the wine reveals its origins, its age, its personality, and indeed its quality.

Visually inspecting awine is the first step in

waking the senses.

It prepares and

conditions the mind and

the other senses for

tasting the wine.

The palette of colorsRed wines: peony, light ruby, dark ruby, vermilion,

garnet, deep garnet, carmine, deep purple. Whenaged: brick red, russet, chestnut, mahogany, coffee.

Ross:pale gray, very light rose, pink, raspberry,

carnation, strawberry, cherry, salmon pink. When

older, they become: salmon, orange, brick, copper,

onion skin.

White wines:pale yellow with a hint of green, pale

yellow, lemon, pale gold, golden yellow, straw gold.

After several years of maturing: old gold, bronze,

copper, amber, mahogany, coffee.

>To inspect a wines

appearance, it should

be placed above a

white surface.


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the grapes were harvested in hotter years, which encourage

slight over-maturity.

VINE YIELD.The color intensity is also a function of the yield

that the winemaker has obtained from the vines. The higher

the yield, the less concentrated the grapes and the lighter theresulting liquid. By contrast, the lower the yield, the more the

wine will gain in intensity. This is often the case with old vines,

which bear fewer grapes and which almost always produce a

wine with a pronounced coloration.

CONDITION OF THE GRAPES.The health of grape clusters is

also a factor that influences a wines appearance. If made with

a spoiled lot of grapes, the wine will have less color intensity,

whatever the variety or yield.

WINE AGE.The color of a white wine intensifies with age, while

that of a red wine fades. As a result, inspecting a wine can allow

you to assess its age. When very young, reds (and some ross)

have a slight blue tinge that often lends a purple hue to their

DID YOU KNOW...?

A wine throwing a deposit or looking cloudy

is not necessarily a bad sign.If unfiltered or only

par tially filtered, some young wines will display a

slight haze, arising from fine lees in suspension that

will go on to form an entirely normal deposit. By the

same token, it is entirely normal to find deposits in old

wines or, in certain bottles, small cr ystals resulting

from a precipitat ion of tart aric acid, one of the

ingredients of wine. The latter come from a sudden

change in temperature.

overall appearance. In time, they will acquire shades of deep

orange as the pigments and tannins star t to yellow. As whites


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208 CHOOSING, STORING, AND TASTING WINE

p.76). Without filtration, a wine will lose in brilliance but gain

in color intensity.

THE MENISCUS (OR RIM).When inspecting the surface of

red wines, and to a lesser extent ross, tasters will pay special

attention to its outside edge, known as the meniscus. Becausethe wine is at its thinnest here, the wines true color will be most

apparent. If there is a touch of blue, it suggests that the wine is

still very young; if it reveals more shades of terracotta and brick

red, it will be an older wine. This development of color, a result

of pigments taking on an orange or brick tint with time due to

the ageing of tannins, is of varying significance and meaning

for different wines. Thus, hints of purple or a bold red are

appropriate for wines that are enjoyed young; by the time

these have taken on an orange meniscus, they are no longer

fresh. Orange and ochre go in tandem with a more developed

wine, which has some age. Shades of brown and garnet, how-

contain few tannins, their color develops much more slowly,

from shades of green and yellow to gold.

VINIFICATION.This too plays a role in wine color. For reds,

a long maceration allows more of the pigmented substances to

be extracted (seep.68). Because of their methods of production,either by crushing or by saigne(bleeding) of the vats (see

p.66), ross will have different shades: rather pale in the case of

the former method, and darker in the latter. A new barrel will

intensify wine hue as it boosts the combination of the substances

causing coloration. Whether white or red, a wine will have a

darker shade when matured in barrels than the same wine that

has been stored in steel tanks.

The surface and the meniscus

THE SUR FACE(the topmost view of a wine). To observe the

surface accurately, tasters first place themselves directly above

the glassthe top viewand then hold the wine up to lightthe side view. The surface is judged according to the brilliance

of its appearance and by the way it catches the light. Observing

the surface should confirm the clarity of the color. A wine with

clarity issues will also present a surface with the same prob-

lems; and a suspect will be described as matte, dull, flat,

and lusterless. More positively, the wines surface might be

described as brilliant, lustrous, luminous, or intense.

For white wines and ross, luster is an important and funda-

mental index of quality. For reds wines, such a quality should be

considered in light of the recent winery trend to avoid filtration,

an operation otherwise carried out just before bottling and

intended to increase the clarity and brilliance of a wine (see

Common visual faults

The most common faults encountered today are a lack

of color intensity and, in the case of red wines, a color

that has prematurely turned to one reminiscent of

brown bricks; this is most often the result of a spoiled

harvest or insufficiently matured grapes. It could also

show too high of a yield, or winemaking that was

rushed or badly carried out.

Inspecting sparkling wines

Much like still wines, sparkling wines are judged

on their color, clarity, and brilliance.

In addition to these criteria, the froth of the

bubbles should be examined. For this, a tall

flute glass is preferable to a standard cup

glass, which can spoil the wines effervescence.

In the first instance, a taster will study the foam

that forms spontaneously in the glass when

the wine is poured, noting the size, duration,

and the size of the bubbles. A good foam is

of a reasonable size, long-lasting, and made

up of small bubbles. Once this has subsided,

the cordon, a ring of bubbles adhering to the

side of the glass, will remain. These bubbles,

which should be small, will rise regularly from

the bottom of the glass to the ring at the top in

columns known in French as the chemine. Large

bubbles that burst immediately at the surface,

the absence of a ring of bubbles, or minimaleffervescence do not suggest high quality wine.

But note that the serving temperature and the

choice of glass both play a role in the formation

of bubbles and frothcold inhibits effervescence

and heat encourages it.

>The stream of bubbles rising

to form a cheminereplenishes

the ring of froth that forms

at the edge of the glass.


16/23


ever, are acceptable only in wines capable of very long ageing.

For wines that do not have sufficient physical or aromatic

capabilities for long ageing, these are signs of decrepitude. Much

like the wines color, the meniscus should be in proportion to

the year printed on the label. Thus, if the label suggests that the

wine is still young but the meniscus already shows signs of age,

it is not likely to be a wine of good quality. The color then will

be described as old, tired, or impaired. In the reverse case(an old wine with a less well developed meniscus), the taster will

note the youth of its color.

The legs

WHAT EXACTLY ARE LEGS?By placing the glass up to light

and swirling the wine, or rotating it to slide up the sides of

the glass, tasters will be able to see traces of a transparent

liquid that slips down more slowly than the rest of the wine.

These are the legs, and inspecting them is the last stage

of a visual examination of wine. They are the result of twin

phenomena arising from physical tension between water and

alcohol and from the mixture of alcohol, sugars, and glycerolsin the wine. The legs display the body of a wineits viscosity

or tactile thickness. Well-defined, viscous legs that flow gently

down the glass are a sign of wine rich in residual sugars and/

or alcohol. By contrast, a less rich wine will have fewer, finer,

and more fluid legs that move more quickly. The phenomenon

is described in terms of the wines fluidity or viscosity, using

words like watery, liquid, and f luid for a wine with a low

alcohol or sugar content and thick, syrupy, and unctuous

in the opposite case.

HOW SHOULD LEGS BE INTERPRETED?Legs are rarely

considered a sign of good or bad quality in a wine. Instead,

they provide more information about its personality or

categorization in the great wine families (seepp.15461). For

IF WINE IS LUSTROUS, IT IS ALIVE

Jean-Michel Deluc,Master Sommelier.

The brilliance of a wine is a visual expressionof its acidity. A young wine, whether it is red,white, ros, sparkling, sweet, or dry, will havea brilliance from undiminished acidity. Thisacidity beds down and softens with age, and

the wine loses its luster. Acidity is the life of awine, and as long as it remains, the wine willhave a shine. A wine that has lost this hasreached the end of its time.The oldest wine I have ever tasted was an1834 Pedro Ximenez sherry. It was a coffeecolor, with a sweet texture. Its density hadmade it opaque, and yet it still had a shine,a surprise that bowled me over!

TastevinAn accessory popular with Old World cellar

masters, the tastevin is a shallow, round metal

receptacle resembling a little cup. It is not really

possible to nose a wine with a tastevin because

of its low profile; it is primarily used to judge the

fine detail and intensity of a wines appearance

and clarity, thus helping to estimate the general

state of the wine more objectively.

Professional winemakers are thus able to follow

the development of the different wines held in

their cellars.

>Inspecting a wines

legs will give you an

idea of the its alcohol

and/or sugar content.

white wines, abundant legs with a certain viscosity suggest a

sweet or medium-sweet style of wine, rich in sugars (a Sauternes

or Juranon, for example) rather than a dry wine. In blind

tastings, where the wines identity is unknown, inspecting such

details will yield helpful clues for tasters.


17/23

Analyzing the nose of a wine

A wines aroma delivers about 70 percent of all information about

that wine. For the best results in analyzing the aroma of a wine,

tasters should choose a tulip-shaped glass and fill it to only about

a third of its capacity. They will also monitor the serving

temperature of the winesomewhere between

46 and 64F (818C) depending on wine

color and origin (seep.1867)which

influences the volatility of the aromaticingredients of the wine. If it is too cold,

the aromas will not be able to vaporize

easily; if it is too hot, they will evapo-

rate too quickly and be overpowered by

alcohol fumes.

The best advice is to sniff the glass

several times without inhaling too hard, in

order to avoid saturating your senses. Also,

wait a little between each inhalation. Analyzing

the aroma of a wine splits into three stages.

FIRST NOSING.For the initial olfactory contact with a wine,

tasters will angle their glasses and lightly breathe in the wine

aromas. They make sure, on the one hand, that the wine isnot tainted with undesirable smells and, on the other, that they

capture the delicate, volatile scents of the wine (those present

in the upper part of the glass). The latter soon disappear

after serving.

SECOND NOSING.This stage is intended to identify the wines

aromatic personality. Tasters will grasp the glass by its base

and rotate it to swirl the wine and oxygenate it. This

will accelerate the vaporization of the various

aromatic compounds. (To make this easier,

feel free to keep the glass on the table while

swirling it.) They will then inhale a fewtimes, dipping their noses into the glass

for several seconds, in order to assess the

strength, the intensity, and the richness

of the nose, while trying to identify the

different aromas of which it is composed.

THIRD NOSING. This shows the

wines character after a long period of

oxygenation in the glass. Once the wine

is in contact with the air, its various aromatic

compounds develop at different rates according to their

volatility. So its an interesting exercise to dip your nose back

into the glass (without swirling its contents) after leaving the wine

to stand for a while. Tasters often note the development of newaromas and changes in intensity.

WINE AROMA OR NOSESniffing a glass of wine, identifying the different aromas, and investigating its

complexity and subtlety is one of the great pleasures of tasting. Nonetheless, thisexercise is one that often frustrates novice tasters, who have trouble telling aromas

apart. A short refresher course will be useful in reawakening your olfactory memory.

The term nose

describes the collection

of scents that characterize

a wine.One might use the term

aroma to designate the fresh and

fruity scents of young wines, and

bouquet to express the aromatic

richness of a wine at the height

of its powers or in its

old age.

DID YOU KNOW?

Smell is the most active of our senses and yet,

par adoxic ally, the least educate d.Although smell

is the most developed sense among newborns, as

adults we just react to odors in an instinctive and

primary manner, acc ept ing or rejec ting them but

rarely analyzing them. This often causes problems

for tasters c alled upon to identi fy the charac teristic

aromas of a wine. To help, good tasters attemptto smell everything around them that produces a

scent (flowers, fruits, spices, as well as the scents

of the countryside, the kitchen, the bakery, etc.),

hoping to capture and catalog them in each of the

family g roups of smells. I ts not a diff icult exe rci se

and certainly not an unpleasant onetasting is a

little like dusting off our memory, diving into our

life history to bring up memories associated with

par tic ular smells.> Giving the wine a

gentle swirl in its glass

will oxygenate it.


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Describing the bouquet of a wine

The best way to describe the aromas or bouquet of a wine is in

stages, starting with an overall impression before pointing out

the different scents and aromas you find in the wine.

AROMATIC CHARACTERISTICS.At first, tasters will try

to describe the wines aromatic features in a general way,assessing intensity in terms of strong or weak or the various

gradations between them. The vocabulary used might include terms

such as expressive, intense, powerfu l, generous, and

exuberant. By contrast, there is inexpressive, weak, poor,

and limp. In certain circumstances, the wine does not develop

any clear aroma in the glass, such as when it has just been

poured or when served too cold; the bouquet is then said to

be closed. This objective and descriptive vocabulary is often

augmented with more subjective thoughts such as pleasing, agree-

able, elegant, or classy. As well, there is banal, ordinary,

simplistic, or vulgar.

IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT AROMAS.The next level of analysis

may be a more difficult exercise. Rather than try ing to identify aspecific aroma, it is often easier to identify the family of scents

to which it belongs, referring to such groups as floral, fruity,

vegetal, mineral, spicy, balsamic, toasted, and chemical aromas

(seetable on p.214).

Aromas may also be distinguished according to the origins,

age, and production methods of the wine, as some of these

groups of scents overlap with others.

PRIMARY AROMAS.These show the fruit characteristics of the

grape variety (or varieties) that comprise the wine. They may be

floral, fruity, vegetal, mineral, or spicy, according to the grape

varieties. They are at their strongest when the wine is young,

especially if it has been matured exclusively in vats.

SECONDARY AROMAS.These are the result of fermentation,

the process that transforms grapes into wine. Consequently, they

often are called fermentation aromas. They are determined by

the nature of the yeast and the style of winemaking, and are part

of the chemical family of aromas: amylic (bananas or nail var-

nish), fermentative (yeast, soft bread), or lactic (butter, milk, cream).

These aromas are associated with young wines and disappear after

a couple of years of bottle age. Secondary aromas are also intro-

duced by maturing the wine in barrels, and these are spicy scents(pepper, vanilla, cinnamon) or toasted (grilled, roasted, smoked).

TERTIARY AROMAS.These appear when wines develop or age

in the bottle (i.e. a reductive medium) or in oak barrels (under the

influence of slight oxygenation). Tertiary aromas are the result

of a long period of ageing and contribute to the complexity of a

wine, adding musky and vegetal notes to the aromatic framework.

What can the nose of a wine tell you?

Just like its appearance, the nose of a wine revea ls important

information about its personality and its quality. Pleasant

intensity and a large palette of aromas are signs of high

Nasal and retronasal passages

The sense of smell is called upon not only during

the sniffing stage, but also during the actual tasting

itself. Aromatic molecules in a vaporized state

will rise toward the back of the nasal cavity along

two routes: the nasal passage, which passesdirectly through the nostrils when we breathe

in, and the less direct retronasal passage, which

links the mouth to the nose via the throat when we

breathe out.

Its therefore only at the moment of drinking that

tasters complete their olfactory analysis of the wine,

by uncovering the aromas that are not directly

accessible to the nose. Indeed, because of their

low volatility, some scents need to be warmed in

the mouth in order to pass from a liquid state to a

gaseous one. Only at that moment do flavors and

aromas mix and juxtapose themselves. What we

recognize, for example, as the taste of strawberries

is in fact the smell of strawberries; the taste isthus the sum total of sensations that are as much

olfactory (aromas) as they are gustatory (flavors).

>Analyzing the nose

of a wine requiresconcentration and an effort

of memory from a taster.


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red wine that has been laid down and reached its peak will

have more complex aromas. If this is not the case, the wine

will suffer from an imbalance and disharmony that tasting will

only confirm (seepp.2168). To sum up, tasters will note the

complexity or simplicity of the bouquet offered by the wine,

its rusticity or sophistication, its coherence or dissonance,

its youth or its maturity. They use terms such as elegant,

vigorous, or distinguished, or, in the opposite case, banal,

ordinary, simple, lacking harmony, undistinguished.

quality and will excite a taster who encounters them. The

primary or tertiary aromas are usually the dominant scentsthe

secondary ones are rarely the most prominent, unless they overpower

everything elseand they will provide valuable information about

the grape or grapes used, the age of the wine, the production

methods, indeed even the year and the yield.

FRUIT RIPENESS.To a large extent, the quality of the aromascontained in the glass depends on the ripeness of the grapes. A

less ripe, dilute Sauvignon Blanc will give off an unsophisticated

grassy scent with just a hint of citrus fruits. When more mature

and made from a low yield, it will reveal complex aromas of

pineapple and pink grapefruit zest.

WINE ORIGIN.A Chardonnay produced in Chablis will have

a fresh bouquet with mineral and white flower notes, very

different from one made in Meursault, which will be more

opulent with hints of almond and hazelnut. Furthermore, a

wine created beneath the Languedoc sun is even heavier, with

potent notes of ripe fruit.

WINE AGE.A wine best expresses its complexity with time;

the different perfumes of a winethe primary, secondary,and tertiary aromasevolve while the wine is being

matured in a tank or a barrel, and then later as it ages in the

bottle. In the best examples, a wine captures the scents from

its whole history, expressing the quintessence of the land where

it was made and yet always retaining the memory of the

original fruit.

CONFIRMATION OF VISUAL INSPECTION.A wines bouquet

should back up its visual appearance. A wine with a young

appearance should thus have young, fruity notes; a great

Olfactory flawsThe most common faults in wine

are those resulting from its

production methods. Poor

hygiene in the winery can leave

a taint of mold or mildew. A wine

that has not been oxygenated

will have a reduced, closed

nose; on the other hand, too much

oxygen is harmful to wine and

results in an oxidized odor.

Inappropriate addition of sulfur

can also have a detrimental

effect. In too great a quantity,

sulfur has an acrid and

penetrating smell. When poorly

integrated, it has a rotten egg

odor known as mercaptan. A

fault in the wines aroma may

also be caused by an external

factor such as a bad cork or

certain wood treatment products

used in the framework of the

barrels or the storage pallets,

which can leave a corky smell.

DID YOU KNOW?

A wines bouquet is never ex actly the s ame

twice.It varies according to the distance

traveled by the bottle, the breathing time, the

temperature of the venue and of the bottle,

atmospheric conditions (humidity, air pressure),

and the shape of the glass. This last point is

influential in olfactory research; indeed, the

same wine, tasted in three glasse s of different

shapes, will have three distinct aromatic profiles.

Wine is alive and subject t o moods and whims in

much the same way that the judgment of a taster

may alter with changes in their physical and

mental state.


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214 CHOOSING, STORING, AND TASTING WINE

Aroma families

This table outlines the various aroma families (floral, herbaceous, fruit, mineral, etc.) by color and by category (primary aromas:

i.e. stemming from each grape variety; secondary, resulting from fermentation; tertiary, from maturation and ageing).

ARO MA FAM ILY RE D WI NE S AN D ROS S

FLORAL GROUP

Primary aromas Iris, peony, rose, violet.

Tertiary aromas Dried flowers, pressed roses.

FRUIT GROUP

Primary aromas

Small red and black fruits

(blackcurrant, cherry, strawberry,

raspberry, Morello cherry,

redcurrant, blackberries), fruit

jams, black olives, prunes.

Secondary aromas Bananas, licorice.

Tertiary aromas Cooked fruits,fruit liqueurs.

HERBACEOUS GROUP

Primary aromasBlackcurrant stems, humus, black

pepper, green tomato.

Tertiary aromasMushroom, humus, forest floor,

truffle.

MINERAL GROUP

Primary aromas Chalk, clay, flint.

SPICE GROUP

Primary aromas Garrigue, bay leaf, pepper, thyme.

Secondary aromas Cloves, licorice.

CHEMICAL GROUP

Secondary aromasAcetone, banana, yeast, sulfur,

nail varnish.

MUSK GROUP

Tertiary aromasLeather, fur, game, meat juices,

venison.

BALSAMIC GROUP

Secondary aromasNew wood, oak, pine, resin,

turpentine, vanilla.

TOASTED GROUP

Secondary aromas

Cocoa, cigars, smoke, tar, grilling,

roasting, tobacco, soot, tea, warm

bread.

ARO MA FAM ILY WH ITE WI NE S

FLORAL GROUP

Primary aromasAcacia, hawthorn, orange flower,

geranium, rose, lime blossom.

Tertiary aromas Camomile, dried flowers.

FRUIT GROUP

Primary aromas

Apricot, citrus fruits (lemon,

orange, grapefruit), pineapple,

banana, quince, fig, fruit candies,

exotic fruits (lychee, mango,

papaya), nuts (almond, hazelnut),

melon, peach, pear, green apple,

cooked apple.

Secondary aromas Pineapple.

Tertiary aromas Dried fruits, honey.

HERBACEOUS GROUP

Primary aromas

Blackcurrant stems, boxwood,

mushroom, fennel, fern, hay,

fresh-cut grass, fresh mint, straw,

cats pee.

Tertiary aromas Rare or non-existent.

MINERAL GROUP

Primary aromas Chalk, iodine, gasoline, flint, silica.

SPICE GROUP

Primary aromas White pepper.

Secondary aromas Cinnamon, cloves, vanilla.

CHEMICAL GROUP

Secondary aromasFresh butter, brioche, cream, milk,

yeast, bread, sulfur.

MUSK GROUP

Tertiary aromas Rare or non-existent.

BALSAMIC GROUP

Tertiary aromas New wood, oak, pine, resin,turpentine, vanilla.

TOASTED GROUP

Secondary aromasGrilling, brioche, mocha, tea,

warm bread, roasting.


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