February is an exciting month: it marks the transition from winter to the warm season, brings Carnival, a festival of colors and flavors, and kicks off numerous sommelier courses and wine-tasting evenings. This period is perfect for deepening one's knowledge of wine, improving one's tasting skills, and sharing the experience with other passionate people.
The Importance of Olfaction in Tasting
Describing the aromas of a wine is a complex task. The aromatic bouquet is composed of multiple olfactory molecules that overlap, creating unique combinations. Recognizing a specific smell at low concentration is not immediate and varies from person to person. This is due not only to olfactory training but also to genetic factors: 30 percent of the genes responsible for the sense of smell differ among individuals, which means that some can identify certain odors more easily than others.
Fortunately, olfactory training can improve this ability. Our brains are plastic and can be educated to make better use of olfactory receptors, increasing our sensitivity to aromas. Using aroma samples from the very beginning helps to memorize basic scents, making the learning curve easier and making it easier to follow a sommelier or instructor during hands-on tastings.
“Smelling a glass of wine is a practice that requires some education. It requires an approach perpetually stimulated by doubt, curiosity, and an attitude directed toward discovery. To conduct the olfactory examination, I focus on the order of the 'steps': the aromatic attack or 'first nose'; the aromatic opening or 'second nose.'” (Luisito Perazzo)
Therefore, no longer an involuntary, unconscious, anarchic intuition, but a reasoning that is inspired by the role of olfactory memory and the methodology of impressions, by the unambiguous or at least plausible result, without ever neglecting the extreme variability of expressions that makes the world of wine so magical.
The Role of Olfactory Training.
When we approach the world of tasting, we can feel confused by the complexity of aromas. Sommeliers use specific descriptors to identify wine aromas, many of which may seem unusual to novices: “black currant bud,” “fenugreek,” “guaiacol,” and “DMS” are examples of smells that we often associate with images rather than direct experience. Only with constant training can a more precise understanding of these smells be developed.
Another key aspect of olfactory training is the ability to recognize scents without visual cues. Even the most familiar scents, when smelled blindly, can be difficult to identify. Our noses can perceive hundreds of different smells, but without proper practice, the ability to distinguish them remains limited.
The Science behind olfactory training: aroma training helps the tasting ability of even wine experts.
Diversi studi scientifici dimostrano che l’esposizione ripetuta a un aroma specifico migliora la capacità di percepirlo anche a basse concentrazioni. Per questo motivo è importante che gli appassionati e gli esperti di vino migliorino la loro capacità di percepire gli aromi chiave del vino anche a basse concentrazioni. Come si può immaginare, l'esposizione al vino e al consumo di vino in generale è già una sorta di allenamento “implicito” che ha dimostrato di migliorare la capacità di discriminazione olfattiva e aromatica. Tuttavia, è dimostrato che l'addestramento “esplicito”, ovvero l'esposizione ripetuta e metodica a un aroma specifico, migliora ulteriormente l'olfatto anche nelle persone esperte di vino e che hanno una significativa esposizione al vino. Lo dimostra uno studio condotto dall'Université de Bordeaux e dall'Université Aix-Marseille (1). Lo studio ha rilevato che la capacità di percepire alcuni aromi a basse concentrazioni migliora significativamente con un allenamento esplicito. L'esperimento ha coinvolto un gruppo di esperti di vino (vignaioli, enotecari, enologi) a cui è stato chiesto di allenarsi per un mese annusando ogni giorno per circa un minuto una bottiglia contenente uno specifico odore. Le molecole utilizzatie erano il diacetile (che ricorda le note burrose) e il linalolo (che ricorda i semi di coriandolo, l'albicocca e le note di moscato). Ad ogni esperto di vino è stato chiesto di allenarsi con l'aroma, diacetile o linalolo, che faticava di più a percepire. “Come risultato dell’allenamento, le soglie di rilevamento degli esperti per lo specifico composto in questione, linalolo o diacetile, sono state notevolmente ridotte”, e quindi la loro capacità è migliorata. (Explicit Sensory Training Improves the Olfactory Sensitivity of Wine Expert.Tempere & E. Cuzange & J. C. Bougeant & G. de Revel & G. SicardChem. Percept. (2012) 5:205–213 DOI 10.1007/s12078-012-9120-1)
The TasterPlace Aromas Collections
To facilitate olfactory training, TasterPlace has developed several box sets containing a specific publication and a complete collection of aromas. This tool is designed for both experts in the field and beginners who want to approach wine tasting.
The sense of smell is the key sense that allows us to perceive the smells and taste of wine. Training with aromas helps to isolate and identify them more accurately, turning the tasting experience into an even more exciting and conscious activity.