How Do Wines Get Their Flavor & Aroma?

Ever wonder how wines get their flavor and aroma? There are so many different aromas and flavors found in wine and what is crazy is that, in all of these glasses, all there is is grapes. Wine is essentially fermented grape juice. However, there are a lot of different things that will contribute to making each wine taste differently.

First of all, you have the varietal of grape being used. So, think about apples. With apples you have red apples, green apples and yellow apples. Each one of those colors has many different varietals and they all have different flavors. Grapes are the same, but there are thousands of varietals out there and each of them will give you a different flavor characteristic.

Fermentation also affects the flavors and aromas. Fermentation is the process of converting the sugar in the grapes into alcohol. Depending on how you are making your wine you can get a lot of interesting aromas and flavors that are a byproduct of fermentation. The fermentation process is all carefully controlled by a winemaker. 

From there the flavors and aromas can change depending on how you age your wines. If you age your wine in oak barrels. This is kind of like cooking and deciding how much seasoning you want. Oak baking will give you a lot more of that sweet spice and baking aromas. No oak aging will give you really bright, clean, fresh fruit flavors. 

Learn Wine featuring Master Sommelier Emily Wines