Wine Tasting 101

“The best way is to go outside and smell and taste everything you can get your hands on. And think and use your words to describe what you discover.”

Despite wearing perfume being a “BiG NO NO” that we learn in wine tasting 101, I accidentally got a part-time job as a perfumer when I was looking for my 1st wine job a long time ago. Coincidentally, my wine teacher and perfume boss both gave me the same advice when I asked how I could improve my skills. Since then, I have become that suspicious person who smells and considers an artichoke, who is seduced by the smell of bright red strawberries and who wanders into the wild forest after the rain with a pack of earthy mushrooms in the middle of the supermarket.

I used to think that wine professionals such as sommeliers and people who work with perfumes are born with exceptional nasal sensitivity and a super talent for smelling. Although some people are born with these gifts, books on wine tasting and perfume explain that a person's ability to smell and taste depends largely on training. For example, a research team from Rockefeller University in New York reports that the human nose can distinguish at least a trillion different odors! And this kind of information inspires me to continue learning to smell and taste everything I can get my nose on.

And summer is a perfect time to practice, because fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers with vibrant colors attract our eyes while intriguing our noses with a big splash of seasonal scents on the store shelves and farmers markets. One of my favorite Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)