There’s a moment in tasting a structured red wine when the nose fills with a deep, velvety scent. That’s where blackberry hides, one of the most fascinating fruity aromas to identify.
Blackberry is among the deepest scents you can detect in a glass of red wine. It stands out for its richness and immediately evokes ripe red fruit, but very few people can pinpoint it. That’s because it’s less commonly associated with sweets, candies, or everyday drinks, making it harder to memorize. To learn and recognize it, it helps to compare it directly with other red fruit aromas.
Describing the blackberry aroma means evoking something intense, dark, rich, velvety—sweet, yet slightly tangy, often with a vegetal note that recalls undergrowth. It’s the scent of ripeness, of sun and moist earth. In full-bodied red wines, it shows up with soft, enveloping nuances, while in olive oils it appears as a secondary fruit note, hidden behind green and bitter aromas.
Where does this intensity come from? On a molecular level, blackberry aroma in wine is linked to ester compounds (like ethyl butyrate), as well as terpenes and norisoprenoids that develop during grape ripening and wine aging. In structured reds, blackberry often accompanies other berries in a complex, seductive bouquet.
It’s in great international reds that blackberry expresses itself most fully: Rhône Syrah, Bordeaux and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Primitivo di Manduria, and Sicilian Nero d’Avola. Well-matured Merlots can also highlight this profile. In Italy, you’ll also find it in some Montalcino Sangiovese, Alto Adige Lagrein, and Puglian Negroamaro wines. Blackberry shines in deeply colored, tannic, high-alcohol wines.
In olive oil, red berry or forest fruit notes characterize the most elegant and refined extra virgin oils. It’s rare to find a dominant blackberry note, but some cultivars suggest it—especially when the oil is young and well-preserved.
Among Italian olive cultivars, Nera di Colletorto (Molise), Coratina (Puglia), and occasionally Frantoio (when harvested at advanced maturity) may offer blackberry hints. Cellina di Nardò and Mignola can also give off dark and delicate fruity notes. The dominant aromas in high-quality extra virgin olive oil are usually grassy, almondy, or artichoke-like, and darker fruity notes are more delicate—detectable only by trained noses.
The blackberry has deep roots in Mediterranean history and tradition. The bramble (Rubus fruticosus) grows across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and has been used for millennia—not just for its fruit, but for the medicinal properties of its leaves and roots. Even the Greeks and Romans valued it.
The plant is generous: its flowers attract pollinators, its fruit is used in food, cosmetics, and herbal medicine, and its leaves are made into astringent, disinfectant infusions. Rich in antioxidants, vitamins C and E, folic acid, and fiber, blackberries are also a powerful health ally.
For those who want to refine their tasting skills, the best advice is to train with the pure aroma of blackberry—whether using olfactory samples or simply smelling the fresh fruit at different times of the season. Only then will you be able to recognize it clearly, even when it’s subtly hidden in a complex red or bold olive oil.
And in white wines? Generally, blackberry aroma is rare in whites, which tend to express citrus and lighter fruits. But in some macerated or oak-aged whites—or in traditional method sparkling wines from Pinot Noir—you might catch a hint of ripe red fruit, occasionally reminiscent of blackberry.
Training your nose to detect blackberry means learning to sense depth. It’s a small step toward a more conscious, emotional tasting experience.
Discover how to recognize the aroma of blackberry in red wines and extra virgin olive oils with TasterPlace olfactory sets: Red Wine Aromas and Olive Oil Aromas.