Everyone, with greater or lesser accuracy, has tried at some point to discover what a wine smells like. Move the glass, bring it to the nose and immerse oneself in the different aromas that are being deciphered. Hints of wood and fruit, with occasional smoky notes. It becomes an experience for our senses, not only the sense of smell, as each wine has different nuances and forces us to give it our all. But does anyone know the name of this appreciation of aromas?
The wordbouquet, of French origin, which has been translated as bouquet, refers to the smell that the wine acquires after ageing and which, as we have already mentioned, provides information about its characteristics. Depending on the intensity of this mixture of fragrances, the quality of the wine can also be determined.
Wine aroma VS Bouquet
Such a polished concept, so specific, leads us to understand that this is another step forward in the world of wine. In fact, one could say that a young wine has no bouquet, as there is a wide difference between the smell associated with the grape variety – which is called primary aroma – with the fragrance that an aged wine takes on after fermentation and ageing. Therefore, up to three types of flavourings could be classified:
- Primary aromas. Related to the grape varietals, a couple of sets of scents are usually distinguished: floral, vegetal and fruity.
- Secondary aromas In terms of ageing, these wines take on new nuances in their composition depending on the temperature and speed of fermentation.
- Tertiary aromas. At this point we have reached the true bouquet. It is therefore a mixture of all these factors: the stages of production and the passage of time.
Likewise, and within the notes that we can differentiate between one wine and another, there are two types of bouquet depending on the maturity, the type of grape or even its fermentation. On the one hand, the reduction bouquet, which is the smell of the wine when it has not been in contact with air; in other words, the pure, unadulterated aroma that we can appreciate as soon as we open the bottle. On the other hand, a distinction is made between the oxidation bouquet oxidación, which is the opposite case, when the wine has already been in contact with air, some time after opening the bottle.