Written on 06/30/2022
All your favorite flavors deciphered!
When we taste a wine, our first reflex is obviously to try and find the different tastes we've experienced. To do this, a number of words have been coined in the wine vocabulary to best describe the mouthfeel. These include tannic, round, fleshy, supple, dry, fruity, fresh, round, mineral, woody, distinguished and balanced.
But after the initial sensation that the wine leaves in the mouth, then come the aromas. These fall into several categories: fruity aromas, floral aromas, woody aromas, spicy aromas, vegetable aromas, mineral aromas, chemical aromas and animal aromas.
And the best-known are undoubtedly the fruity aromas. And with good reason: they're the easiest to recognize on the palate. Fruit evolves in a number of ways in a wine: first fresh, then stewed, then cooked, jammy, candied and finally dry. Generally, the wine begins by expressing aromas of fresh fruit.
And here too, they are classified into different categories:
- Green fruit : kiwi, lime, green melon, gooseberry, green apple
- White fruits: apple, pear, vine peach, quince
- Red fruits : strawberry, raspberry, redcurrant, cherry, cranberry
- Black fruits: blackberry, blueberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, prune
- Yellow fruit: peach, apricot, nectarine, nectarine, plum, mirabelle plum
- Exotic fruits: pineapple, mango, passion fruit, fig, date, lychee, guava, banana
- Citrus fruits: lemon, orange, grapefruit, clementine, citron, orange peel, zest, candied zest.
- Dried fruits: almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, raisins, dried figs, pistachios, cooked prunes, peanuts.
But what wines can these fruits be found in?
- Green fruits are mainly present in white wines such as Bourgogne aligoté blanc, Bouzeron, Chablis 1er Cru, Crémant de Bourgogne and Meursault.
- White fruits are found in Côte de Beaune-Villages red, Côte de Nuits-Villages white and red, Ladoix white and red, Montagny white.
- Red fruits are undoubtedly the most prominent. It can be found in Irancy, Mercurey, Saint-Aubin and Vosne-Romanée, in both red and white wines.
- Black fruits: to taste the aroma of these fruits, try a Givry, white or red, a Pommard or a Vougeot.
- Yellow fruit: these notes are found mainly in Crémant, Marsannay and Rully, both white and red, but also in Petit Chablis.
- Exotic fruit: these aromas are rarer. They are found only in Macôn-villages, Pouilly-Fuisse and Vosne-Romanée red wines.
- Citrus fruits are present in Chablis, Montagny and Puligny-Montrachet white and red wines.
- Dried fruit is also present in virtually all white wines, including Crémant, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune.
