Improving the nose

[acorn]

I have to be honest, I am totally fascinated by people who can smell wine and produce all sorts of quasi-poetic descriptions of all the different scents they smell/taste. As for myself, I continue to be a complete noob at this sort of thing, as I struggle to spot even what others describe as the most evident smell in bold and medium reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah. For example, I can't seem to spot the base of red or black fruit aroma that is ubiquitous in many wines... well, because to me it doesn't smell like raspberries, cherries, or blackcurrant [etc.] at all, but rather like something different altogether. The list goes on...

So, unless the only dominant note gives a clearly defined impression, such as that of leather as in Sangiovese, oak as in Rioja Reserva, or petroleum as in Mosel Riesling, I find myself pretty much clueless as to what the wine smells like and how to register this smell in my memory for the future.

Anyway, to cut long story short, I would like to improve my nose in terms of detecting distinct aromatic characteristics from a bouquet. I found this kit that was apparently made for this very purpose of training the olfactory perception.
http://www.winearomas.com/master_kit.html

What do you think of it? What other advice, besides trying many more wines (I'll probably become alcoholic if I do so ), can you share that can help to get better at smelling and describing wine? Do you have any special techniques that you employ in your evaluation of wine? Any books that you can recommend?

Thanks a lot!

 

[peaches9324]

The shape and size of the glass you drink out of makes a big difference there are certain glasses for certain wines fi you wouldn't drink champagne out of an all purpose wine glass (you would loose all the fizz sort to speak) or drink brandy from a rocks glass you would loose the nose altogether. As for the big reds go with the bigger -more taller rounded glass - large rounded at bottom of glass with a gradual diameter decrease towards the top of the glass well I'm just rambling now have a goodnight

 

[acorn]

Thanks for the tip! I currently use only two types of glasses that are the extremes in its vast range, the Bordeaux glasses and a Champagne flutes. Do you think I should get a glass that falls somewhere in the middle of this range?

But again, as you said, I drank big reds from my large Bordeaux glasses, swirled them, took long and short sniffs, but I still couldn't figure out what I was smelling. I wouldn't really call it the scent that is described in the aroma wheel, even though I know that Syrah, for example, should have prevalent spicy notes, or some Merlot would be earthy, etc., just because this is how experts describe it.

That's why I thought that I need to train my olfactory receptors to distinguish between all these aromatic compounds. So far I can just say, "oh yes, that smells great!", but I really suck at understanding and describing what I smell.