There was a delightful urban legend that the Inuit people of the Northern Hemisphere had hundreds or thousands of words to describe snow. While the truth is that there are many flaws in this claim (including that there are several Inuit languages so the statement itself has a flawed assumption and that it`s recognized that the total amount roughly corresponds to the number we have in English), it is indeed a great analogy for why smell is so important.
Consider:
- We are capable of perceiving up to 4 different tastes
- We can smell around 2,000 different smells
- 90% of taste is actually rooted in smell
Smell is the most important part of tasting wine; and it is the one that is often neglected by many new to formal tasting. I believe from personal experience and many conversations that a lot of this stems from confidence – that we feel somehow unqualified to `properly`smell becuase we aren`t experts or `wine snobs`. Tasting wine, especially in public, can be intimidating for the uninitiated (I include myself in the number of people who can feel shy about tasting around others who `know more` than me).
We all have a nose; we just need to know a few things about how we can influence the wine so that we can use our olfactory sense to the maximum. There are 3 essentials here:
- If you are consuming at home, buy a big glass. You don`t have to spend a fortune – many of our glasses are around $10 for 4. A big glass allows you to stick your entire nose deep within it to get a full smell (many do this at the same time when drinking to be more discreet but there`s no need to hide the most important step of your tasting.
- Smell the wine, swirl it in the glass for 5-15 seconds and small again (nose all the way in, please). If you haven`t done this before, you won`t beleive the difference – and your ability to truly smell the wine. Swirling increases the oxygen and magnifies the smell to an unbeleivable level. I swirl a wine from the start of the pour through my last sip. If you`re concenred about spilling it, place your wine glass on a flat surface and make tiny circles with the glass and you`ll learn quickly. You can also practice with water and big glasses also help.
- Smell multiple times – I try to smell 3 times before tasting it. Smelling multiple times will increase your perception and is part of savouring the wine – it`s not a race to the bottom of the glass (or to the first sip).
There is some contention on how to analyze the smells. Some wine schools pass out lists of hundreds or thousands of words while others insist that you should learn the smells of major varieties of wine or grapes using analogies like `a tomato smells like a tomato so learn what a pinot noir smells like.` Neither is wrong and adds further credence to the adage that your perception is, indeed, the `right` one. What you smell is, indeed, what you smell.
I had the pleasure of walking through a tasting with one of our favourite winemakers, Norm Hardie. Norm poured the room a glass of something white (a wine), and asked everyone to smell it. He asked the group what smells they took from his offering. He smiled a crooked smile before describing his own wine as smelling like `diesel.` I laughed and realized that it was indeed what I smelled – I didn`t think it because I was restricting myself to the palette of wine terms I knew like citrus and floral and the like.
Norm taught me that it is what it is, remove preconceptions from your mind and commit to what it is that you smell. You are, after all, the expert of your own nose.
If you want a formal list of wine terms, search Google or buy a wine book with a list – many have hundreds (or more) explored). We`ll share a review of such a book in coming days.
Would love to know of your experiences or any other tips below as well. 
Tomorrow we move onto the taste and a few simple tricks that will transform the flavours in the glass to a different level!
