By Simona Abate ( from the lesson of Sandro Sangiorgi’s Course of Knowledge , at Porthos Associazione Culturale – Rome)
The exuberance of the smell of a wine is not to be considered immediately as a quality element, it is certainly a characteristic but, if it is not accompanied by other, it remains an element for its own sake.
It is no coincidence that most of the “commercial” wines have a certain exuberance of smell promptly examined and returned by critics, journalists and sommeliers through a detailed list of the different scents.
As if a wine that has only 5 awards is less good than another that has 15…
It could be the case, but this is not the most important thing. Let’s think of Moscato, Gewurztraminer, Riesling or Pinot Noir… these are wines in which you can find many hints but then the Trebbiano and Sangiovese that have less fruity, floral or spicy notes are not good wines? Of course not!
The important element in the olfactory analysis is the VARIETY, which is not linked to the number of scents existing, but to the unpredictability with which this heritage comes out.
That said, if we find in a glass a wine that, for example, has only 5 olfactory notes, we must pay attention to how these are released, to their progression, to their way of giving themselves… as they intend to reveal themselves to us.
When a wine is smelled and aromas are found, it should be noticed the variations on the theme that develop and are transformed in the following minutes and, in several cases, in the hours during which the glass and the bottle are exposed to air; this is the variety in the unpredictability.
It also seems that the unpredictability with which the odorous variety is granted to us depends on spontaneous fermentation.
Another important element at the olfactory examination is the DEPTH that can be perceived with a simple test: we put the nose in the glass, we inhale it and if at the end of the inhalation we have the feeling that there is still more to discover, It means that the scent has its own depth, but if you realize that, after the second or third sniff, there is nothing to look for, it means that the wine is devoid of it.
The odorous depth is a qualitative element of a wine, it is the property of a wine that can do well over time.
