Aussie riesling in the realm of the senses

WHAT’s in a word?

Clearly quite a bit when you consider the different images suggested by the terms ‘fragrance’ and ‘smell’. They mean essentially the same thing but, in a way that doesn’t have to be spelled out, each suggests an entirely different sensation

The realm of the senses and the not-always-adequate language we use to describe them came to mind earlier this week in the run-up the Blake’s Favourite Fifty Australians tasting in Cork School of Music.

No wine is without odour obviously, but I do think that a handful of particular wines do suggest themselves as “fragrant”. And maybe that does need a little explanation.

After all, the most neutral-smelling wines such as a mass-market pinot grigio do indeed have a distinctive scent. (Although do beware that stereotype — that grape can take on tremendous character with careful growing and winemaking.)

What’s more, one grape can have many faces. Tempranillo for instance, often makes a wine which is handsome, firm, tart and spicy — and not much more. But depending on the way it’s been grown, fermented and aged, it can take on a unique almost psychoactive paletter aromas from bright, piquant vanilla to deep black cherry.

But which grapes and wines would we shift from the wine rack to the perfume counter?

There certainly are a handful which exude such pronounced floral and apparently sweet aromas that their primary attraction could be seen to be their fragrance. In a field as nebulous as scent, I’m not sure we could come up with a definitive list — but we could certainly have fun trying.

For instance, riesling is often grouped together with two other grapes (and wines) gewürztraminer and pinot blanc which, collectively, are commonly referred to as aromatics.

The riesling grape is only rarely oaked, its character so elegant that adding the influence of wood is usually seen as superfluous. Gilding the lily. For the same reason, you’ll usually see the grape on its own rather than in blends.

So rare is it for the grape to be blended that I goggled when I first picked up one of today’s featured bottles — Knappstein Three. Not alone does it include pinot gris in the mix, it also blends in one of the most distinctive and pronounced aromatics, gewürztraminer.

If was surprising for another reason too. Knappstein in Australia’s Clare Valley is a highly reputed winery renowned for its crystal clear solo unadorned riesling — they make a stunning cabernet merlot also. So what were they doing breaking the rules and mashing up these grapes that don’t belong together? Well, you know where the proof of the pudding lies, and tasting this daring blend turned out to be a rewarding experience. I was glad that this highly unusual blend was one of the hits of Wednesday’s wine tasting evening.

The scents from a typical gewürz are unforgettable. The three keynotes of its rich heady scent are spice, honey and roses — the latter part of the aroma approaching that of Turkish delight in sweetness and intensity.

If the grape has a signature fault, it’s that it can be too aromatic with too much apparent sweetness. It can be as overblown with scents of honey and rose petals as a panto dame’s dressing room. But carefully made, it can be a lovely focused white wine with plenty of acidity but with hints of warm round aromatic notes like cinnamon.

If gewürztraminer weren’t so delicious it’d be best known for being difficult to pronounce. Happily nowadays there’s a website (www.forvo.com) which provides sound clips of tens of thousands of words in hundreds of languages, each spoken by native speakers. If you go there and type in gewürztraminer you’ll be able to order it without blushing. If however you’ve better things to be doing than searching for sounds on the computer, the best approximation I’ve been able to come up with is geh-VERTS-tram-eener.

The three originally hail from the one patch of Europe (spanning Germany and France) which may be why they’re traditionally lumped together. But one could add the often honey-inflected viognier grape from the Rhone to our imagined designation

Let’s go take a look at some of the aromatic favourites from this week’s Favourite Fifty Australians tasting.

Details of all the wines we tasted are up now on my blog at http://blakecreedon.wordpress.com.