Credit: john_q @ HubPages.com

Wine sensory analysis is the process by which we apply the senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch to interpret and appreciate wine, even if its for hedonic (just for pleasure, as opposed to official critique) purposes.  We look for color and clarity, assess all the aromas we perceive when we smell the wine and then ultimately evaluate the tastes and flavors we detect once the wine is sipped.  It’s like a ritual, and all of those sensory notes are combined in our mind to develop an assessment of the wine and the final overall experience.

Most of us are not critics or judges, so we don’t necessarily follow any specific regimen or rules when tasting and drinking our wine and for the most part we just know what we like and don’t like.  Assessment of wine is subjective due to the fact we all like/dislike different things and will have different levels of detection of certain attributes, so inevitably lively conversation will ensue.  For example, take the distinct petroleum aroma (and flavor) often experienced in Riesling that I have referred may times before.  To many, this characteristic is undesirable and may even be considered a fault by some.  But, diehard Rielsing fans will feverishly disagree and tout that it is precisely what sets this varietal apart from others.  If you detect this attribute in a blind tasting, you will be 100% correct in selecting Riesling.

The other day, I was tasting wines from the Rhone valley in France.  The valley is in France, I was not tasting in France, much to my dismay.  The last wine in the flight was a 2006 Les Combes d’Arnevel Chateauneauf-du-Pape and boy did it have some barnyardy, “horsey” aromas.  I’m talking some serious funkification!  This type of aroma includes smell of horse blanket or even barnyard animal manure.  Sounds down right appetizing doesn’t it?  In chatting with the wine shop owner, as I blurted out these tasty descriptions, he informed me of the challenge being in the business and using such terms because it just doesn’t sound good to most consumers and so it will be hard to sell, of course.  I understood exactly what he was saying and I was careful with my analysis especially with others around me at the tasting bar as I didn’t want to be the cause of lost sales that afternoon :)   On the other hand, if they tasted the wine, no doubt they would see for themselves.

Just like the Riesling, many have come to expect such notes from wines from certain regions such as the Rhone so it may not be considered a fault to those folks.  It all depends on how intense the aromas are, as Cory Cartwright (@saignee) and Greg Tuttle (@Total_wine) confirmed via twitter.  For example, 4-ethyl-phenol, the compound most likely responsible for horse manure aromas, can actually improve the quality of leather scents if its concentration is around 2mg.  Yet, once it exceeds 4 mg, you’ll get full-on horse crap.  Brettanomyces, often called just “Brett,” is also known to produce similar aromas, thought described more as “mousy” and can also be found in wines of Bordeaux and the Rhone.  In most cases, if you detect this odor, you can be certain it’s juice from the Old World.

These are just a few funky notes, so share what aromas and tastes you find unique in wine and let us know if you enjoy them or not.

Cheers!