Flowers and Wine

🌺🌻💐

Wine descriptors can be perilous things - one person's sniffer declares a wine's bouquet "lovely and citrusy" and another's may proclaim it "sharp and green".

One may take a sip and say "refreshing!" and the other "acidic". One likes the wine and the other not so much - just ask my wife and I to agree on a wine and you'll see clear differences - perhaps the same is true in your home.

In the shop we try to describe wines knowing that everybody's sense of smell and taste is unique with clear differences between people. That doesn't stop us from trying (although, unlike wine magazines/blogs, we try to avoid six adjectives including at least two that nobody understands).

Then again, there are times when several people agree on many commonalities to what they are perceiving. Often various whites and reds will bring floral references to mind. Certainly we each will perceive different notes to a bouquet (or sip) but they can correspond fairly closely.

The correspondence is often heightened when somebody describes what they are perceiving to another person.

Sometimes a smell or taste is somewhat difficult to describe and then somebody else will mention what they detect - leading to a "oh yeah" moment. Obviously the human animal can be easily led to conclusions - just ask many a politician - but we think this can be good thing with wine and food as long as we realize that not everybody will agree.

Often people will note floral components to a wine, generally to it's smell, with all sorts of flowers coming to mind depending upon the the wine/grape.

What I found interesting is that this correlation between a wine and flowers was reversed just yesterday evening.

I came home and smelled wine and asked "do I get a glass?" only to be answered "a glass of what?".

That was confusing as I was definitely detecting smells such as you get after a wine glass is empty for just a bit, but still emitting the last notes of what it used to contain. After a minute I realized that what I was smelling was actually the bouquet of flowers in the photo above.

I've never had that reaction before, or at least I don't remember having it. Then again I don't remember as much as I used to, or would like to, anymore. :(

I found this interesting and it certainly underscores the overlap of smells between wines and flowers - just as on the palate some wines give the background taste of rocks or soil. All sorts of references spring to mind but, if you're still reading this, you've been bored long enough

So I'll conclude: It's a real thing - don't be afraid of mentioning what you perceive to friends when having a glass of vino.

Even if it is just to say "wow, that's a fruit bomb and I like it" or perhaps "love the manure in that wine".

It all adds to the experience!!