THE SECOND STEP——SMELL</SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN>
 
The most important faculty we employ in perceiving a wine's character is our sense of smell. In fact, most of what we take to be taste is in fact odor.</SPAN>
 
So here comes the swirling. This too can feel unnatural, even dangerous if your glass is too full and your clothing brand-new. The easiest way to swirl is to rest the base of the glass on a table, hold the stem between thumb and forefinger, and gently rotate the wrist. Right-handers will find a counter-clockwise motion easiest, left-handers the reverse.</SPAN>
 
When you swirl wine in a glass and sniff it, the volatile essences of the wine are carried by thousands of nerve endings in your nasal cavity to the olfactory bulb in your brain. The same thing happens, via the retronatal passage in the back of the mouth, when you sip and swallow wine. In effect, flavors are odors in your mouth. Swirling volatilizes the wine's aromas and sniffing draws them into the olfactory bulb, which "interprets" them -- i.e., compares them to other familiar smells.</SPAN> This is a complex process, because a wine consists of over 200 different chemical compounds, many of which are identical or similar to those found in fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, and other substances. That's why wine geeks compare the aromas of different wines to smells as various as apple, melon, citrus, cherry, berry, raisin, honey, peach, vanilla, butterscotch, mint, bell pepper, grass, green olive, clove, licorice, cedar, coffee and chocolate. They're not being fanciful; there's a chemical correlation underlying the comparison, and this fact explains the rich metaphorical language used to describe a wine's sensory characteristics.</SPAN> The primary grape smells of a wine, distinct by variety, make up its</SPAN> aroma</SPAN>, while secondary characteristics, caused by factors such as fermentation and oak and bottle aging, blend with its fruit smells to form the wine's</SPAN> bouquet</SPAN>.</SPAN> There are also smells associated with spoilage in wine. A</SPAN> vinegary</SPAN> smell is caused by acetic acid, while a</SPAN> nail polish</SPAN> aroma reflects the formation of ethyl acetate. Rubbery,</SPAN> skunky</SPAN>, rotten egg or</SPAN> garlic/onion</SPAN> aromas are byproducts of sulfides, while a barnyard aroma results from a yeast spoilage organism called</SPAN> brettanomyces</SPAN>. Faulty corks can cause a</SPAN> moldy</SPAN> or</SPAN> wet cardboard</SPAN> aroma, while a</SPAN> sour milk</SPAN> aroma is due to another spoilage organism called</SPAN> lactobacillus</SPAN>. These organisms won't hurt you, but if they're in high enough concentrations to notice, the wines they mar are probably not worth drinking, and you should return them to the retailer or restaurateur from whom you purchased them. Given modern wine technology, you will not encounter flawed wines very often.</SPAN>
 
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To fully appreciate a wine's aroma, swirl it in your glass -- not too vigorously, or you might have a large cleaning bill. The aroma should be clean and fresh, without any of the off-odors mentioned above. If the wine is young, you should smell the characteristic scents associated with the variety, perhaps accented by the smell of the barrels it was aged in. If the wine is older, you'll likely notice a less fresh and fruity aroma, but one with more complexity.</SPAN>
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