The aromas of the wine

You’ve probably heard that “wine is a living product.” This adage applies to the process of transforming grapes into wine. In fact they are microscopic organisms, yeasts, which convert grape juice into wine. But wine is also changing throughout his life, ie from production to the tasting with its color, aroma and taste.

The aromas are probably one of the essential components of wine. Indeed at each tasting, the analysis of the nose is a very important and will form the basis for assessing the quality of the product. So we want to explain how certain flavors appear, disappear or change during the breeding and care of wines.

The winemakers job is to vent some flavors and allow the wine to be pleasant odors. But the difficulty lies in the evolution of flavors over time. If the aromas present in wine at bottling are known, it is difficult to predict how they change over time.

However, there are categories of flavorings that arise at each stage of the work of wine. Indeed the aroma of wine can be defined by the range of smells generated by the wine. These flavors depend on the origin of the wine (primary aromas), fermentation (secondary aromas) and rearing conditions (tertiary aromas).

The first responders during the fermentation are the primary aromas and varietal aromas.

These flavors correspond to those typical of the grape used to make wine. They thus appear as soon as the grapes are pressed to give in the case of musts and white wines during maceration in the case of red wines.

There are two types of grapes: the grape varietals called aromatic and less expressive. In the first category we place on the first podium Muscat. This grape develops intense aromas and easily recognizable of rose, jasmine, lychee, honey and exotic fruits. Others include the Sauvignon and smells special boxwood, or Cabernet Sauvignon giving notes of peppers.
These flavors are unique to each variety, but also depend on the soil which they were born. In fact every climate or soil type, each variety will respond differently at aromatic.

For most varieties, except for aromatic varieties so the juices do not generally give off odors. The aromas are present as precursors that are awaiting to be alcoholic fermentation.

All these substances hung in the grape skins, are released by pressing or maceration. The metabolism of yeast fermentation will be able to synthesize different molecules, added to earlier, will give rise to secondary aromas or flavors of fermentation. They will be able to add up to primary aromas of the grape. These secondary aromas will vary depending on the strain of yeast used and the fermentation temperature. Today the use of selected yeasts is an asset in the knowledge of what flavors will be able to give the wine, although in another sense it makes wines sometimes standardized.

After fermentation the wine will be completed in vats or oak barrels, bottled and stored for safekeeping. During these phases the aromatic complexity gained previously will still be amended. In fact these steps will appear tertiary aromas, also called “bouquet” of wine.

When breeding the oxygen tank or drums will enable many chemical reactions to alter the balance of the wine and transform its smells. In addition to this, if the wines are aged in oak barrels, they will send the aromas of wood, such as the smell of vanilla, grilled or roasted.
After bottling, the wine storage can begin. Meanwhile, varying the potential of wine, the aromas will change again. Old age will reduce dairy and fruit flavors, giving way to aromas of ripe.

Wine is as we mentioned at the beginning of this post nectar full of life. And if those flavors are not only evolve, its character as living product that induces unborn to be educated and mature, but it will eventually die. Unfortunately all the flavors that the wine will appear, disappear and become eventually die with him. It must therefore follow the evolution of the wine carefully to not miss its peak flavor.