Start recognizing those scents.Ĭut up a green pepper. From your citrus to your berries.įor instance, that blackberries smell? You will start to recognize it the next time you stick your nose in a glass of Merlot. Cut them open, hold them up to your nose and take a big whiff. Just walk around your house and start smelling things.Įveryone seems to have a vanilla candle these days.
Learning how to smell is a skill you can hone in on.
Do you smell fruits? Or flowers? Or something else?Īnd you might not know at first. To start, if the wine smells like dirty socks, it’s probably no good. (Caution: that’s a lot like rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time.)īut then when you lift your hand and take a huge whiff, those aromas should be intensified. You need your nose.And to help your nose and further enhance the scents of your wine, Kevin Zraly, one of the world’s greatest wine teachers and founder of the 41-year- old Windows on the World Wine School, even suggests you swirl with your hand over the top of your glass. Hold your nose and then eat or drink something. Quick science lesson: The olfactory bulb, which is behind your nose, under your brain, takes everything you smell and sends it to your brain.Īnd that helps determine how things taste. Swirling your wine lets the oxygen in so all those fabulous aromas are set free.Īnd once you “see and swirl,” it’s time to actually stick your nose in that glass and smell it. Seeing the wine in your glass can be a tip-off that it may be bad but it helps your brain anticipate the varietal you’re about to taste. We’ve already covered See and Swirl in last week’s newsletter but here’s a quick refresher before we move on to Smell. If you spend more time than that, maybe it’s you who came alone. Now this whole see/swirl process should take about 30 seconds. The more legs in your glass, the more alcohol in the wine.īut let’s be clear - legs do not equal quality - they just equal alcohol.