You may think of your nose simply as a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for respiration in conjunction with the mouth.
(You may think that if you like to look things up on Wikipedia…)
But when it comes to wine appreciation, one’s nose is no mere protuberance—which came to mind when one of our blog followers wrote in recently…
QUESTION: When we visited several wineries on our last vacation, we noticed a lot of people taking a lot of time to smell the wine in their glasses. Now, we’re also noticing it at some of the restaurants we go to. I always thought wine was something to drink. What’s the purpose of smelling wine?
ANSWER: Great question, and there’s no doubt that those of us who stick our noses deep into a wine glass probably look kind of silly when we’re doing it.
But there is “a method behind the madness,” and it involves seeking clues about how the wine will taste. In fact, the aromas of a wine often are carbon copies of the wine’s flavors.
Smelling wine actually can be a lot of fun, because the more one swirls and sniffs, the better one is able to identify the type of wine and even the region in which the grapes used to make it were grown.
All of that said, smelling a wine is not a requirement. As you noted, wine is made for drinking enjoyment.
