Wine

The Smell of Wine and What it Means

The Smell of Wine and What it Means-min

If you are a wine drinker you will probably have enjoyed many different kinds of wine. You can have wine with meals, after meals, in between meals or on its own; it is all up to you and your personal preference and lifestyle. Serving wine adds a touch of elegance to your meal and helps guests to chat and mingle more easily.

However, while red and white wine have a distinctive taste and flavour, it should always be pleasant. If the odour of the wine is different from what you expect, it pays to know whether you should go ahead and drink it. Some wine should be thrown out, so here are some tips to buy wines and what different types of odours can mean in your wine.

  • If the wine odour reminds you of a musty attic, suspect that something went wrong with the bottling process. This wine is best thrown down the sink; that is all its good for now.
  • How about burnt matches? In fact, wine often gives off such an odour just after the bottle is opened. There is nothing to worry about; the smell will soon go off and your wine will taste fine.

  • Smelling nail polish in the wine? If you can, or if the smell is vinegary, the wine will be too acidic, so again, you may need to throw it out.
  • If you smell a hint of bread-making but not as pleasant, it is to be expected, since wine is made by a process of fermentation. However, if the smell is overpowering enough to block out other smells and even the taste, suspect a mistake in the wine-making process.

All wine will have some kind of smell and these odours vary according to what kind of wine it is and how it was made. It can also indicate the area the grapes came from. Here are some of the odours you can expect from wine: –

  • Fruity scent such as cherries or berries.
  • Herbs or floral scents.
  • Earthy scents such as soil, rocks or minerals.
  • Spicy scents such as vanilla, pepper, chocolate or coffee.
  • Other subtle smells difficult to identify.

Colour is another important component of wine and helps you to tell what condition the wine is in and whether you should or shouldn’t drink it. Here are some tips on wine colour: –

  • Cloudy or murky red or white wine is not good.
  • While white wine tends to darken with age, it should never be brown
  • Red wines can turn brownish over time and have some sediment in the bottom of the bottle, but this is okay. The sediment is not a fault, but a natural part of the wine-making process.