The “Nose” of a Wine

Wine appreciation is about 85% “nose”. Why? As humans, our sense of taste is actually quite poor. We don’t realize how poor our sense of taste really is until the nose is eliminated from the experience. For example, when one has a cold or allergies and the nose is stuffed up, food and drink seem tasteless. Sure we can pick up texture and experience sourness or sweetness, but beyond that, any flavour, pizzazz or nuance is lost. Try this. Peel a delicious apple and raw potato and cut them into quarters. Cover your eyes and have someone feed you one or the other. If you can’t see it, or more importantly smell it, I’ll bet you’ll have a hard time telling which is which. The nose is that important when it comes to taste.