Now, quickly. What in the heck is Brettanomyces? Lovingly referred to as “brett”, it’s a kind of yeast, but not the kind, until now, you prefer your wine to have. Known as a spoilage yeast, it’s the kind of thing that can be a hinderance (or a help) to the wine you’re sniffing and sipping (or quaffing. whatevs. no judgement here.) Basically, Dr. Noble and staff + students identified that there are a number of strains of Brett, and that some produce funky smells, while others produce pleasant smells.

Mind. Blown.

Needless to say, I hopped over to the Aroma Wheel website and found no version of this wheel easily accessible for purchase. So, instead, I ripped the page out of my WBM magazine to keep the bugger in my handy-dandy noteboook until one exists. With new aromas to think about – savory and dairy and woody and floral – I may be carrying a weird, perplexed look on my face as I work through my next rounds of tastings, asking myself: is this an aromatic of the wine, or of Brett?

P.S. I’m happy to give you a peek of my new cheat sheet – just ask.

The Wine Aroma Wheel, developed by Dr. Ann Noble (UC Davis) helps one to quickly identify what aroma you may be smelling in your glass of wine. Simply start in the middle and work your way outward to help get a hint of what aroma your brain is trying to identify.

Now, this is not the end-all, be-all. As I have mentioned to some of you, the other important “trick” to identifying what you are smelling is to smell and taste everything. Spending time in the grocery store and smelling as you move up and down the aisles is important. Produce, bread, coffee aisle, and getting yourself reacquainted with what spices smell like is all good practice to better identifying what you may be smelling later on. By doing this aromatic “homework”, you’re in better shape to start identifying what that mystery smell is. Practice, practice, practice.

Back to the wheel. I’ll just simply say that this tool that Dr. Noble devised has helped me out on many occasion. You may notice that there are many types of aroma wheels out on the market (and via Google Image), but I say that sticking to this particular wheel is the way to go as you continue your wine deviance! They’re kinda a deal at $6 a pop, and if you’re feeling uber-nerdy, grab a shirt, too. My advice is to start with buying the Table Wines wheel (in English, for most of my readers). I’m actually going to pick up their sparkling wine wheel, because I need to focus and work more on identifying many of the descriptors in this area.

P.S. Next time you’re tasting with me, feel free to ask to borrow my wheel. Happy to oblige!