Friends at the Vines' Sensory Experience

Wet earth. Licorice. Mushrooms. Perhaps these aren’t the first aromas you search for in a wine. My family and I recently underwent a “sensory experience” at the Vines of Mendoza. We were led into a private tasting room and guided by sommeliers to try a variety of containers with different scents. While some were easy to identify, such as cinnamon, others were more challenging, like leather or black currant. It was fun passing around the different aromas and trying to guess what is was, but it was also educational. For me, my mind often recalls an aroma within the wine, but can’t put a name to it.

We then smelled and tasted five different local wines:

Montecinco 2009, 100% Malbec: Cedar, spice, blackberry, peppery and floral notes

Urraca Primera Blend 2006, 36% Malbec, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot: Plum, red quince

Pulenta Estate Gran Cabernet Franc 2008: Ripe blackberry, cinnamon, black pepper

Monteviejo Blend 2006, 80% Malbec, 20% Syrah: black cherries, clove, caramel, smoke

Mendel Unus 2008, 70% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon: spice box, incense, lavender, earth notes, black currant, blackberry, hint of balsamic

I recently heard the anecdote from a sommelier that when she was a little girl, she was a very picky and precocious child so whenever she ate anything, she had to smell it first. However, little did she know, that her smelling habits would pay off and train her mind to recognize scents in wine later on in life. They say in the wine world, Taste, Taste, Taste. Perhaps we should add, Smell, Smell, Smell. I now find myself smelling everything when I’m cooking: fruits, spices, sweets. It truly heightens your awareness of the flavors that you can actually experience in the wines. Even more interesting are the personal flavors people recognize from their memory. Perhaps a certain floral aroma reminds you of a lavender perfume your mother wore growing up or a specific spice, like cloves, reminds you of Christmas, depending on where you’re from. Everyone’s pallet is different, so what one person may smell or taste in the wine can be different from someone else’s. For example, in the Pulenta Estate Gran Cabernet Franc 2008, I sense an overwhelming scent of fresh green pepper. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t listed as an aroma for the wine. However, it doesn’t mean necessarily that you’re wrong if it’s not listed on the bottle.

Interesting facts on Detecting Aromas:

Of the five senses, smell is the most acute, approximately 1,000 times more sensitive than the sense of taste.

Smell and taste are the chemical senses because their receptors are stimulated by chemical molecules, rather than by energy from light, pressure, or sound.

While smell is the most easily stimulated of the human senses, it is also the most fragile. There is a great variation between individuals in the elements to which they are sensitive. A person’s absolute threshold is the smallest amount of stimulus required to produce a sensation. Once that threshold is reached, unless trained, the individual can only recognize and unconsciously catalog the smell as either “familiar” or “new.”

To date, scientists have cataloged over 17,000 different smells; about 10,000 can be distinguished by humans.

Sources: LaMar, J. (2011, Sept 27). Sensory user’s manual. Retrieved from http://www.winepros.org/wine101/sensory_guide.htm

Happily, with training, concentration, and practice, nearly anyone can learn to dissect and describe complex aromas!

Carolyn is a newcomer to Mendoza and the wine industry and will be sharing her experiences as she learns more about both. A recent college graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, she also teaches English at a local university.

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