The Nose Knows: The Remarkable Power of Smell

Here’s one of my aha! moments with wine: I’m a young sommelier, tasting a Gewurztraminer for placement on my wine list. With my nose deep in the glass, I sniff - and poof!  In an instant, I’m transported to the apple grove of my childhood home. It’s late Autumn, the extra ripe, fallen apples have begun to rot, releasing their honeyed, earthy aroma to the frenzied delight of nearby hives. Then - poof!  I’m back in the restaurant’s dining room, facing an eager sales rep. That’s when I learned the transportative quality of wine and its aroma, above and beyond the well-documented effects of intoxication.

You may have taken the express train to memory while smelling a loved one’s pillow, or a fir tree or a new car.  Maybe you’ve been alone in an elevator with one other passenger and thought “Wow, I’d like to get to know this person!” or “Wow, I want to get off this elevator now!”  Your flirt or flight response was triggered by olfaction, our most primitive sense, which bypasses thought and leads directly to regions of the brain that control memory and that survival essential, fear. It turns out that, not only has our “smell-o-vision” helped keep the species alive, it’s good for us!

Take Time to Smell the Roses (and Wine)

According to the New York Times, Improving Your Sense of Smell is Good for Your Brain - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Recent studies suggest that consistent use of smell strengthens the brain. For instance, in research involving Master Sommeliers, areas of the brain that normally shrink, becoming vulnerable to neurological disorder, were found to become larger, according to Sarah Banks, a neuropsychologist at the University of California, San Diego. In terms of mental decline, she says, “In these guys, it was going in the opposite direction.” So, how do non-sommeliers optimize this sense?

Join me to practice the “see, sniff, slurp and savor” of wine tasting in our Unlock the Secrets of Wine class on Friday, August 2nd at 6:30pm at Lincoln Square. We’ll taste five international wines revealing the wine's face, nose, palate and finish as we go. We'll also learn wine vocabulary and discuss wine and food pairing.  

Strengthen Your Schnozz

You can also strengthen your olfaction and brain health with an at-home wine tasting. Here are some tips:

1. Wash and air-dry glassware. Towels and paper used to dry glasses may taint wine aromas.
2. Limit extraneous aromas, however pleasant, both environmental (such as dinner cooking or flowers) and personal (cologne, flavored lipstick, etc.).
3. A very cold wine will have no aroma. Warm wine will smell dull. Serve wine cool to the touch, then experience how aromas develop as the wine comes up to room temp.  
4. Your first sniff is the most discerning, so make it a good one!
5. Along with extraneous smells, there are other conflicts to experiencing wine aromas:

• According to the organic principles of biodynamic agriculture, wine aromas and flavors change with lunar cycles and astrological positions, which the biodynamic calendar groups into root, flower, leaf and fruit days. Wines are diminished and smell/taste green or earthy on leaf and root days. Flower days are best for aromatic whites. In general, fruit days are the best for wine tasting. I know plenty of wine reps who plan sales calls around the biodynamic calendar, which you can access at:  Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar for July 2024.
• Dramatic changes in humidity can negate wine aroma.
• Wine can go “dumb” during the chemical changes of maturation. While there is no scientific explanation, collectors of fine and rare wine have plenty of horror stories to share.

The Wine Aroma Wheel from UC Davis is a great tool for tasters because it gives you a look at the numerous fragrances and flavors found in most wines. It divides them into different sections so you can visualize the aromatic complexities in wine. 

Wine Aroma Wheel courtesy of UC Davis and thewinecellarinsider.com

Don’t stress if you smell peaches and someone else reports apples. Smell is like our fingerprints: we all have them, but each person’s is different. Our sense of smell is one way that we’re each unique and can stay that way!