Understanding wine aromas

It is true, each wine expresses itself according to a particular aromatic bouquet and there are certain sensory nuances that are exclusive to some types. However, when trying to categorize wine aromas it is good to have some coordinates that help to clarify and, above all, to divide the wine aromas according to their origin, which can be given by the starting vine, fermentation and, finally , from the refinement.

Discover with Duchessa Lia how to classify the aromas of a wine!

The colors, aromas and flavors of Asti, Roero and Monferrato, the Langhe. This is the claim of the Adv campaign that Duchessa Lia has launched in the main media: print media, TV and radio. Wine - in fact - is a door to the wonder of its territory of origin and it is precisely through colors, aromas and flavors that it leads to discover the land where it is born. We have therefore decided to dedicate the articles that will be published on our Blog to the colors, aromas and flavors of wine, to tell in a simple and direct way the ability of wine to transport us on a sensory itinerary without equal. After talking about the color of red and white wine (you can find our posts here and here), let's continue with the scents, trying to suggest how to identify and classify the wine's aromatic profile.

Wine aromas
(part 1)

Aromas and fragrances are the sensory backbone of a wine. Learning to read and classify them is the best way to understand the quality of a label and reveal its expressive potential.

In fact, without grasping the expressive potential of a wine, much of what it communicates would risk going unnoticed, just as the detailed analysis of a painting, sculpture or novel reveal the style and characteristics of its author. , allowing us to appreciate them with more awareness.

Wine, to all intents and purposes, is a work of art to be discovered piece by piece in order to fully understand its meaning. This also happens in the analysis of wine aromas, which, starting from basic notations (ie the characteristics of the grape variety), reveal paths that are not immediately evident, such as that of fermentation and aging.

So, how are the aromas of wine divided?

VARIETAL OR PRIMARY AROMAS

Each wine has a reference grape variety and the grape variety is influenced by the soil where it is planted. The essential aromas of the wine, the so-called varietal or primary ones, are therefore inscribed in the type of vine and in the soil.

A good wine will always be proud of its vine of origin: it will never try to "hide" it and will always carry it as a distinctive element. In some cases, the aromas of the grape must be known and distinguished by the taster. In others they are very marked and immediately evident: these are aromatic vines such as Moscato bianco and Brachetto (from which Moscato d'Asti and Brachetto d’Acqui are obtained respectively), whose varietal aromas are transferred directly to the glass.

It should be emphasized that the primary aromas are more evident in wines that are usually drunk young, or those that do not undergo long aging in wood. To give some examples, we can mention the Dolcetto d’Alba, the Freisa d’Asti, the Grignolino d’Asti, the Gavi, the Roero Arneis, the Cortese dell’Alto Monferrato.

The floral notes of wines belong to the category of primary aromas: hawthorn, acacia, honeysuckle, jasmine, rose, lime, just to name a few; fruity notes (apple, strawberry, raspberry, lemon, mango, blackberry, peach, apricot, exotic fruit); vegetal notes (grass and aromatic herbs, fern, pepper, garrigue, laurel, hay, boxwood, ivy, fennel); and mineral notes (flint, iodine, gypsum, flint).

>> The article continues in the next post - All the scents of wine (part 2)