By Debra Meiburg MW

Don’t be cowed by experienced wine tasters who seem to discern every scent on the planet in a glass of wine. While you can let your imagination run wild with such descriptions as “sweaty gym socks” or “Angelina in a Jacuzzi”, most wine aromas fall into a modest number of categories. When fumbling to comment about wine, here’s a tip: skip subtle descriptors like truffle, spice, vanilla and leather. Instead, think like a fruitarian: all wines exude fruit aromas.

Identifying exactly which fruit might seem daunting, but you can bluff your way through the fruit bowl by detecting clues from the wine’s color, origin or grape varieties. Most grape varieties are consistently associated with one or two fruit families. For example, a glass of Riesling will always have a citrusy scent, whereas Chenin Blanc will always have an apple-like scent. Pinot Noir has a raspberry note, whereas Sangiovese, the variety used to produce Chianti, tastes of cherries.

You can memorize these standard characteristics, or you can play fruit detective based on climate or color. When it comes to color, red wines smell only of red or purple fruits, such as strawberry, cherry, plums and blackberries. White wines, on the other hand, call to mind the non-purple fruit classes. When sipping white wines, look for aromas found in green, yellow or orange-skinned fruit. Examples include apple, pear, mango, pineapple or the citrus family.

The climate of the wine’s origin provides more clues. White wines from cooler climes are likely to smell of green-skinned fruits, such as limes and green apples, whereas temperate climates evoke thoughts of delicate yellow-skinned, white-fleshed fruits such as pears, white peaches and yellow apples. White wines from warmer climates resonate with yellow-fleshed fruits such as pineapple, papaya, nectarines and mango.

Thus, Chenin Blanc from a cool climate like France’s Loire Valley smells of tart green apples, whereas Chenin Blanc from a temperate climate, such as in California’s Sonoma County, smells like ripe yellow apples, whereas when from warmer South Africa, it smells of nectarines.

If red wine comes from a fairly cool climate, it is likely to reflect red-skinned fruits, such as strawberry, raspberry and cherry. Red wines from warmer climates are likely to smell of ripe, dark-skinned purple fruits, such as blackberries and plum preserves.

Wine color can also provide a fruit aroma clue. With white wines, the lighter the color, then the more likely it is from a cool climate whereas deeper-hued wines are most likely from warmer origins. Thus, wine with a light, almost watery hue, will probably have a citrus or green-skinned fruit theme. White wines with moderate color suggest a temperate climate and call to mind apples, pears or white peaches, whereas white wines with a golden hue are likely to will smell of ripe yellow fleshed fruits such as peach, mango and papaya.

Fruits are never added to wine, of course, but their esters – or scent molecules – are remarkably similar in structure to wine esters. If the above clues are too fruity to remember simply announce “loads of ripe fruit” or if you can’t smell a thing, use your most sophisticated voice to pronounce “such subtle fruit.”