• To each color an aroma - Part 1

To each aroma a color - Part 2

<< continued from part 1

The need to extol the aromatic virtues of wine is probably as old as the drink itself. From Horace to Goethe, right up to Stuart Pigott today: “Black, black and black again, the most velvety night sky, a vast velvety curtain blowing in the warm wind as if weightless,” the wine journalist expresses his enthralment during a wine-tasting. But how do you explain this to the layman?

Until around forty years ago, wine books were a very different matter; and at best wine periodicals were only available for the specialist trade. This is because communication was generally highly specialized. It’s hardly surprising then that voices were raised in joy when French colleges compiled a comprehensive wine-tasting vocabulary in the seventies: elderflower, banana, tobacco, musk, and so on. More generally: the fragrances of flowers, fruit, plants and animals. At long last, the sniffing and slurping started to be more fun.

The British take a cooler though no less popular approach. When Michael Broadbent’s guide “Wine Tasting” was published in a German edition in 1976 it caused quite a sensation. Like no one else before him, the multiple award-winning wine tasting expert summed up the phenomenon of oenophilia. He is rather reluctant to revel in the world of flowers and plants, and even considers some comparisons to be nothing but “eccentric nonsense”. “It is difficult enough to analyze and describe common smells. And while it’s hard to identify and describe the individual elements of a wine’s bouquet, it’s nigh on impossible to convince someone else of it,” he says.

The British are considered the originators of informative and understandable communication on wine. Hugh Johnson numbers among them, as does Jancis Robinson, a rare female in an army of male experts. This much-lauded wine journalist – also hailed as the “International Wine Communicator of the Year” – often makes curious analogies when looking for suitable terms: for instance, damp straw, fruit cake or gun powder. Why? The terms are only of use if they cause bells to ring for the taster. She refers to them as “aha terms”, and these are highly personal.

As an example she tells of one experience from the early days of her career. During a wine tasting, a wine from the Hermitage left her completely at a loss. She knew it was a Syrah grape, but how to describe the flavor? No fruit or flower was any help at all until someone supplied the words “burnt rubber”. As a result of that experience, Jancis Robinson encourages everyone to come up with their own key words.

Further reading:
C.Lange/F.Lange, “Crashkurs Weinprobe”, Hallwag Verlag
Eva Heller, “Wie Farben wirken”, rororo Sachbuch

Translated from the German.  Originally published in the Basler Zeitung on February 9, 2007