How to identify wine aromas?
Quick answer
To identify wine aromas, train your nose using the SAT method: Smell (first nose), Agitate (swirl), Try again (second nose). Classify aromas into three families: fruity, floral/vegetal, and spicy/oaky.
Detailed answer
Aroma identification is the most valued — and most dreaded — skill in wine tasting. The good news: your nose can be trained like a muscle.
Wine contains over 800 identified aromatic compounds. But in practice, about twenty dominant aromas are enough to describe most wines. They fall into three categories.
Primary aromas (from grape and terroir): red fruits (cherry, raspberry, strawberry), black fruits (blackcurrant, blackberry, blueberry), white fruits (apple, pear, peach), citrus (lemon, grapefruit), flowers (rose, violet, acacia), herbs (mint, thyme, hay).
Secondary aromas (from fermentation and ageing): butter, brioche, yeast (malolactic fermentation and lees ageing), vanilla, toast, cedar (oak barrel ageing).
Tertiary aromas (from bottle ageing): leather, tobacco, forest floor, mushroom, truffle, candied fruit, coffee, cocoa.
To train your nose: build a homemade 'aroma kit' by consciously smelling everyday ingredients (fruits, spices, flowers, leather). Le Nez du Vin (Jean Lenoir) is a reference set of 54 aromas used by professionals.
Key tip: don't try to identify complex aromas from the start. Begin with broad families ('red fruit' or 'oaky') then gradually refine ('morello cherry' or 'new oak').