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 Publishing 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 Vin by 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

Contents
Preface

DISCOVERING VINES AND WINE

11

12

THE ORIGINS OF WINE

15

How wine began

16

3 Wine as portrayed in ancient miniatures

18

Revolutions in wine

20

The new world of wine

22

3 False beliefs about wine

24

The wine-producing terroirs

26

3 The 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

3 Techniques 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

3 Some beautiful barrels

84

Bottling

86

Closures

88

CHOOSING, STORING, AND TASTING WINE

90

HOW CAN YOU IDENTIFY A WINE?

93

Appellation systems

94

3 A comparative table of European appellations 99

Appellations from other countries

100

How to decode a wine label

104

3 Some examples of different labels

110

3 Labels old and new

116

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

3 Buying wine futures or en primeur

128

Buying through other channels

130

HOW SHOULD WINE BE STORED?

133

The ideal environment for storing wine

134

Creating a cellar

136

3 Four different wine collections

138

3 In the silence of the cellar

140

Organizing and managing your cellar

142

3 Storing wine: a few tips

144

Keeping and ageing wines

146

3 Average wine longevity

148

Collecting and investing in wines for your cellar 150

HOW TO CHOOSE WINE

153

Wine styles

154

3 Legendary wines

162

3 Recent vintages

164

Principles for matching food with wines

168

3 Successful food and wine partnerships

174

3 Pairing cheeses with wines

182

HOW TO SERVE WINE

185

Serving temperature

186

Opening the bottle

188

3 Corkscrews

190

Decanting the wine

192

Glasses

194

Dining with wine

196

Wine in a restaurant

198

3 Sommelier as wine ambassador

200

HOW TO TASTE WINE

203

The basics of successful tasting

204

Appearance

206

Wine aroma or nose

210

3 Aroma families

214

Taste

216

The synthesis of tasting

220

3 Some sample tasting notes

222

3 Describing wine

228

GREAT WINE REGIONS OF THE WORLD

236

3 Key wine regions

238

World of wine

240

FRANCE

243

Bordeaux

244

Bordeauxs classified growths (crus classs)

250

Bordeauxs most famous wines

252

3 Chteau Latour

258

3 Chteau dYquem

264

Burgundy

272

Best-known wines of Burgundy

280

3 Romane-Conti

288

Champagne

296

3 The 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

3 Sassicaia, the Super Tuscan

368

SPAIN

375

Spain

376

Spains best-known wines

380

3 Vega Sicilias Unico

384

PORTUGAL

391

Portugal

392

The best-known Portuguese wines

396

GERMANY

401

Germany

402

Leading German wines

406

CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE TO

THE BLACK SEA

413

Central and Southeast Europe to the Black Sea 414

Leading wines of Central and Southeast
Europe to the Black Sea

421

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH AFRICA 425

The vineyards of the Eastern Mediterranean
and North Africa

426

Wine regions of the Eastern Mediterranean

and North Africa

430

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

433

United States and Canada

434

Leading USA and Canada wineries

440

3 Opus 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

preface

ine 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 terroirs and 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 terroirs suitable 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

THE BASICS OF
SUCCESSFUL TASTING
Tasting 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 enthusiastic
amateur 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.

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.

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
Tasting will help you
public, wine lovers often organize private
Selecting your equipment
learn about wine.
events with friends, a practice open to
all and requiring only a little attention
GLASSES. Choosing these correctly is
Practiced regularly, tasting
to detail and a few material conditions.
important because they influence the
sharpens the senses and
appearance and aroma of the wine. Do
gradually improves the specific
not use colored glasses. A tulip-shaped
vocabulary required to
Choosing a venue
glass
with a transparent stem, sometimes
communicate wine-related
known
in France as an Angoulme, is
Choosing the right room is important. It
opinions clearly.
should be bright, with sufficient daylight
a great choice. Many ideal glasses used
or neutral lighting (and certainly no strip
by wine professionals are available from
companies including Riedel, Schott Zwiesel, and
lighting or colored lamps). The air should not be
polluted with cooking smells, flowers, tobacco, or perSpiegelau. Their semi-elliptic form has a narrower mouth
than its curved bowl, allowing it to concentrate aromas and to
fume. The ideal room temperature is somewhere between 64F
avoid spills when swirling the wine. These glasses are available
and 68F (18C20C), as this will enable your wine to show its
from department stores and any good wine merchant. A taster
best. (The idea of allowing the wine to stand in a room for a few
should smell their glass before using it to make sure there are no
residual odors (from the box or dish detergent). The glass may
lip
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 (see box p.205). If you
have no spittoons, you can use other vessels, such as deep bowls,
vases, and Champagne buckets.
bowl

Getting wine ready

stem

base

The 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.

HOW TO TASTE WINE

205

What is blind
tasting?
This is a completely objective
method of tasting wines without
knowing their identity. The bottle
is covered with paper or some
kind 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.

Appropriate physical
conditions
A taster should be fresh and rested, and in
good health. Discomfort from fatigue will
affect judgment, and colds in particular 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 sharpest
and 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 friends 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, see pp.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,

> Bottles disguised

with paper sleeves
at a blind tasting.

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

characteristics and, by comparing many, to assess its qualities.
Equally important rules include honesty, modesty, and respect
for others: virtues to be practiced throughout life! There
actually is no such thing as good or bad in tastingeveryone has their own ideas and may defend these in discussion,
always preserving respect for others.

Did you know...?

Spitting out a wine is normal at tastings.
For a beginner, spitting might seem odd and a bit
disgusting, not to mention the frustration one might feel
at not being able to enjoy the wine fully. The practice is
explicable, though, as a question of physical necessity.
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. Furthermore, 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 several wines more keenly.

APPEARANCE
The 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 its
story 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 many
valuable clues as the wine reveals its origins, its age, its personality, and indeed its quality.

Noting the appearance

CLARITY. This should be perfect and not compromised by any

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

At first, a taster will try to define a wines color: its hue, its
from finings or dead yeast that may float around in the liquid. If
intensity, and its clarity. To see these clearly, the wine should
it is not, it may be described as cloudy, hazy, or opalescent.
be heldin good lightingin front of a neutral background
These are all signs of poor winemaking or contamination of the
(a white tablecloth, for example) or placed on any
wine, and generally render it unfit for enjoyment. As wine
white surface.
production advances, though, these occurrences
HUE. The color of a wine is evaluated
are fortunately less and less likely.
according to two parameters, its hue and its
Visually inspecting a
intensity. The vocabulary used to describe
What does the appearance
wine
is the first step in
the first quality draws its terms from the
of a wine tell us?
waking the senses.
world of precious stones (ruby, topaz),
metals (gold, copper), flowers (rose,
It prepares and
violet), and fruits (lemon, cherry). See
A wines color not only tells us its type
conditions the mind and
also box below.
white, red, or rosbut it can reveal
the other senses for
INTENSITY. Since there are so many
details about the age of the vines, the yield,
tasting the wine.
different shades of color, it is important
the year, the age of the wine, and even the
to define the hue by its intensity. This
manner of its maturation.
varies between pale and very dark, moving
VARIETIES AND VINTAGES. The substances
through light, dark, deep, intense, and profound.
that lend a wine its color originate with pigments contained
Some of the vocabulary used, such as poor, soft, and weak,
in grape skins. There are few of these to be found in white grapes,
are already indications of quality.
but they are very prevalent in red grapes, with different intensities according to variety. A wine made with Gamay grapes has a
pretty 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

The palette of colors

Red wines: peony, light ruby, dark ruby, vermilion,
garnet, deep garnet, carmine, deep purple. When
aged: 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.

> To inspect a wines

appearance, it should
be placed above a
white surface.

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.

HOW TO TASTE WINE

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 the
resulting 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

207

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

orange as the pigments and tannins start to yellow. As whites

Did you know...?

A wine throwing a deposit or looking cloudy
is not necessarily a bad sign. If unfiltered or only
partially 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 crystals resulting
from a precipitation of tartaric acid, one of the
ingredients of wine. The latter come from a sudden
change in temperature.

208

Choosing, storing, and tasting wine

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 minimal
effervescence 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.

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 (see p.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 SURFACE (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 light
the 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 problems; 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 fundamental 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

> The stream of bubbles rising

to form a chemine replenishes
the ring of froth that forms
at the edge of the glass.

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. Because
the 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-

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.

HOW TO TASTE WINE

209

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 glycerols
in 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 fluid 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 (see pp.15461). For

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.

If wine is lustrous, it is alive

Tastevin

Jean-Michel Deluc, Master Sommelier.

The brilliance of a wine is a visual expression

of its acidity. A young wine, whether it is red,
white, ros, sparkling, sweet, or dry, will have
a brilliance from undiminished acidity. This
acidity beds down and softens with age, and
the wine loses its luster. Acidity is the life of a
wine, and as long as it remains, the wine will
have a shine. A wine that has lost this has
reached the end of its time.
The oldest wine I have ever tasted was an
1834 Pedro Ximenez sherry. It was a coffee
color, with a sweet texture. Its density had
made it opaque, and yet it still had a shine,
a surprise that bowled me over!

> Inspecting a wines

legs will give you an
idea of the its alcohol
and/or sugar content.

An 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.

WINE AROMA OR NOSE

Sniffing a glass of wine, identifying the different aromas, and investigating its
complexity and subtlety is one of the great pleasures of tasting. Nonetheless, this
exercise 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.

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

in the upper part of the glass). The latter soon disappear
A wines aroma delivers about 70 percent of all information about
after serving.
that wine. For the best results in analyzing the aroma of a wine,
SECOND NOSING. This stage is intended to identify the wines
tasters should choose a tulip-shaped glass and fill it to only about
aromatic personality. Tasters will grasp the glass by its base
a third of its capacity. They will also monitor the serving
and rotate it to swirl the wine and oxygenate it. This
temperature of the winesomewhere between
will accelerate the vaporization of the various
aromatic compounds. (To make this easier,
46 and 64F (818C) depending on wine
The term nose
color and origin (see p.1867)which
feel free to keep the glass on the table while
describes the collection
influences the volatility of the aromatic
swirling it.) They will then inhale a few
of scents that characterize
ingredients of the wine. If it is too cold,
times, dipping their noses into the glass
a wine. One might use the term
the aromas will not be able to vaporize
for several seconds, in order to assess the
aroma to designate the fresh and
easily; if it is too hot, they will evapostrength, the intensity, and the richness
fruity scents of young wines, and
of the nose, while trying to identify the
rate too quickly and be overpowered by
bouquet to express the aromatic
alcohol fumes.
different aromas of which it is composed.
richness of a wine at the height
The best advice is to sniff the glass
T H I R D NOSI NG. T his shows t he
of its powers or in its
wines character after a long period of
several times without inhaling too hard, in
old age.
oxygenation in the glass. Once the wine
order to avoid saturating your senses. Also,
wait a little between each inhalation. Analyzing
is in contact with the air, its various aromatic
the aroma of a wine splits into three stages.
compounds develop at different rates according to their
FIRST NOSING. For the initial olfactory contact with a wine,
volatility. So its an interesting exercise to dip your nose back
tasters will angle their glasses and lightly breathe in the wine
into the glass (without swirling its contents) after leaving the wine
aromas. They make sure, on the one hand, that the wine is
to stand for a while. Tasters often note the development of new
aromas and changes in intensity.
not tainted with undesirable smells and, on the other, that they

Analyzing the nose of a wine

Did you know?

Smell is the most active of our senses and yet,
paradoxically, the least educated. Although smell
is the most developed sense among newborns, as
adults we just react to odors in an instinctive and
primary manner, accepting or rejecting them but
rarely analyzing them. This often causes problems
for tasters called upon to identify the characteristic
aromas of a wine. To help, good tasters attempt
to 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 groups of smells. Its not a difficult exercise
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
particular smells.
> Giving the wine a
gentle swirl in its glass
will oxygenate it.

HOW TO TASTE WINE

211

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 passes
directly 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 is
thus the sum total of sensations that are as much
olfactory (aromas) as they are gustatory (flavors).

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, powerful, 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, agreeable, 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 trying to identify a
specific 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
(see table 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.

> Analyzing the nose

of a wine requires
concentration and an effort
of memory from a taster.

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 varnish), 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 introduced 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 reveals important
information about its personality and its quality. Pleasant
intensity and a large palette of aromas are signs of high

HOW TO TASTE WINE

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 aromas
contained 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 ter tiar y aromas evolve 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 flaws
The 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.

213

Did you know?

A wines bouquet is never exactly the same
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 glasses of different
shapes, will have three distinct aromatic profiles.
Wine is alive and subject to moods and whims in
much the same way that the judgment of a taster
may alter with changes in their physical and
mental state.

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 (see pp.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.

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).
Aroma family

Red wines a nd ross

Aroma family

White wines

Floral group

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 aromas

Acacia, 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.

Primary aromas

Blackcurrant stems, humus, black

pepper, green tomato.

Herbaceous group

Tertiary aromas

Mushroom, humus, forest floor,

truffle.

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, clay, flint.

Mineral group

Spice group

Primary aromas

Garrigue, bay leaf, pepper, thyme.

Primary aromas

Secondary aromas

Cloves, licorice.

Spice group

Primary aromas

White pepper.

Acetone, banana, yeast, sulfur,

nail varnish.

Secondary aromas

Cinnamon, cloves, vanilla.

Leather, fur, game, meat juices,

venison.

Secondary aromas

Chemical group

Secondary aromas

Chemical group

Musk group

Tertiary aromas
Balsamic group

Secondary aromas

New wood, oak, pine, resin,

turpentine, vanilla.

Rare or non-existent.

Balsamic group

Tertiary aromas

Cocoa, cigars, smoke, tar, grilling,

roasting, tobacco, soot, tea, warm
bread.

Fresh butter, brioche, cream, milk,

yeast, bread, sulfur.

Musk group

Tertiary aromas

Toasted group

Secondary aromas

Chalk, iodine, gasoline, flint, silica.

New wood, oak, pine, resin,

turpentine, vanilla.

Toasted group

Secondary aromas

Grilling, brioche, mocha, tea,

warm bread, roasting.