What is an aroma?

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What is an aroma?

An aroma is to be found where the senses of taste and smell meet. When you taste a wine, the aromas stimulate your senses by what is known as “retronasal olfaction”: after catching your eye, then tantalizing your nose, the wine next caresses the rear of your palate. The aromas then take on a fresh dimension, developing subtle and varied notes that might recall fresh fruits, minerality, or spices.

The aromas tell of a wine’s history, from the vine to the cellar, where it has aged peacefully. We can, then, distinguish three types of aroma:

♦ Primary aromas, or varietal aromas, come directly from the characteristics of the grape variety (honeysuckle, green apple, blackcurrant, etc.) ♦ Secondary aromas are produced during fermentation, when the sugar is turned into alcohol (butter, brioche, etc.) ♦ The tertiary aromas are produced in reaction with air during ageing (spices, coffee, leather, hazelnut, vanilla, etc.)