There is no shortage of opportunities to nurture your nose and tantalize your taste buds, given all of the wine tastings that are available these days. Just a quick review of the Wine Sips listings below this column pretty much tells the story. The explosion in the popularity of this highly social, fun and illuminating activity is obviously associated with the amazing growth of Washington wine industry over the past couple of decades.
This got me thinking about the term that we all use. Wine tasting, as opposed to wine drinking, implies that there is a certain amount of thought going into this process, even if it is to just make a simple assessment of “I like it” or “I don’t like it.” By no means does the simplicity of those assessments make them any more or less valid than a lengthy, vivid, analogy-packed tirade that may come spewing from the imagination of a critic or wine writer.
The graphic descriptors used by the so-called experts to evaluate wine do come from a common foundation. The wine aroma wheel, developed by the University of California at Davis in the early 1980s, has become the basis for people to communicate about wine aroma and flavor by providing specific, analytical terminology to describe wine sensory attributes.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been wine tasting where there were many people who got frustrated with the fact that they can’t smell anything or cannot put into words what they smell. And then someone would say something like, “I get vanilla” or “pineapple,” and everyone would erupt with, “That’s it!”
Sure, most of that is the power of suggestion, but those suggestions come from a basic source that, once used, can really help anyone interested in expanding their wine knowledge and increasing their overall enjoyment of the tasting experience. The ability to verbally describe wine with specific analytical analogies unifies the senses and allows a more graphic understanding of the beverage.
It is helpful, however, to be specific with the descriptors, as opposed to judgmental responses. Floral is a general but analytical descriptive term, whereas “fragrant” or “elegant” are somewhat vague and imprecise. Fortunately, it is very easy to train our noses and brains to connect and quickly link specific terms with the odors in wine.
The old question “why reinvent the wheel?” can be answered with the use of the wine aroma wheel and its incredibly simplistic approach to dissecting the individual characteristics of wine and providing a standard terminology to talk about wine’s aroma and flavor. The wheel is made up of three tiers emanating from the center of a circle. It has very general terms at the center (e.g. fruity or earthy), and radiates to the most specific terms in the outer tier (grapefruit or mushroom).
These terms are certainly not the only descriptors that can be used to describe wines, but represent the ones most often encountered. The aroma wheel can spin for many different types of wine whether it’s white, red, sparkling, or even more specific, like California zinfandel. Each wheel will begin with a center ring of general terms typical of that type of wine and then extend out to pinpoint characteristics. Some of the more specific terms are kind of weird and might not make sense to many people, such as artichoke, plastic or Band-Aid. And some are just funny (barnyard or wet dog). A few of the basic terms on an aroma wheel describe flaws or defects in wine and can help the average person identify when a wine is contaminated from a bad cork, for example. The “corked” wine, as it is often called, will give off aromas of musty, wet cardboard or mold.
So, if you want to expand your understanding of wine or, at least make some sense of the ramblings of wine writers when reading a review of a specific wine, then give your nose, palate and vocabulary a spin with the use of an aroma wheel. You might find that when you read a review like, “The wine possesses an essence of sweet, white Connecticut cream corn and subtle nuances of stewed, ripe, Lake Stevens prunes,” that it makes a little more sense. But then again, maybe not.
Wine aroma wheels are available on the Internet and at many wineries.
Jeff Wicklund can be reached at 425-737-2600, or wick@colbyhospitality.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
