What does that first swirl and sniff mean? Is it just a ritual or is there a reason for it? According to wine experts there’s an important reason. The sense of smell is one of the strongest senses we have. It is not only directly connected to the brain, but to the memory as well. Thus the sense of smell may immediately make us remember a scene from our childhood or a holiday we enjoyed. If we sucked the nectar from honeysuckle as a child, then the smell of it as an adult will transport us back to those days immediately.
We’ll remember the hot sun on our back, the wind in the nearby trees, the dog barking. So you see how important our sense of smell is.
When we use our sense of smell to explore wine, we can often smell things that are familiar to us. It might be a whiff of blackberry, blueberry, cigar smoke or any number of other aromas. We know of these scents from our experience of the world and so they become a reference point. To smell them in a wine increases our sensory enjoyment and makes the drinking of wine an even more pleasurable experience.
The shape of the glass is important to the sniffing of wine. A larger bowl and small rim keep the bouquet from dissipating before we can enjoy its fragrance. Swirling the wine around the bottom of the glass helps to release the aroma. The first sniff should be small and light to catch the most delicate hints of fruit or whatever is offered from the type of wine we have.
The second sniff should be heartier and be done with the mouth slightly open, so that the aroma can wash over mouth, throat and olfactory senses. So what does wine actually smell like? According to Roy Cadman of the English Wine Society, most white wines have the aroma of tropical fruit. Wines that have aged for some time in oak barrels absorb a number of interesting aromas from the wood, while those that have been fermented in stainless steel tanks have a pleasing fruit flavor more true to the grape than others.
There are many reasons why people sniff wine. Firstly, it increases their enjoyment of the whole process of drinking wine. It also educates their senses to understand their wines. The experts do it when trying to tell where the wine came from and what vintage it is. But perhaps the most important reason of all is the simplest. It’s great fun!
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