How Important are the aromatics of a Port to you?

[Roy Hersh]

Please share your thoughts when choosing the importance of aromatics on a 1-10 scale. 1 being very little < and > 10 extremely important to you. Hopefully you'll take a moment to elaborate beyond just providing a score.

Thanks!

[Todd Pettinger]

Obviously, leaving the "bad" aromatics out of it (when a wine is corked or cooked), I know that the importance of the aromatics is moreso than what I am able to detect. Don't they say that your nose is the most important thing when you "taste" wine? For this reason, it should really be a 10 on the scale of importance. BUT the question is how important are aromatics to you (or in this case, ME)? I don't have the experience or range of sensory abilities that others have and because of this, I struggle to describe many of the aromatic components of Port. (I need one of those flavour kit thingies where they have all sorts of sample aromatic things in the little vials that you can smell to determine what components you are able to identify in a wine!) I do believe that my simple nose and lack of being able to accurately capture the individual components holds me back. Because of my simple ol'factory senses, I do not place as much of an emphasis on the aromatics of a Port (that I can detect, because they are typically all the same - if you read my TNs, I am sure you see many of the same comments on nose recycled over and over again! Now you know why!)

Although I know that aromatics are so much more important that I am able to give credit for, my personal ranking of the importance of aromatics around the 5 mark (to me.)

Todd

[Glenn E.]

That's a tough question, mostly because I hadn't considered it before.

I enjoy smelling wine. When my wife sarcastically comments that I inhale Port, she doesn't mean I drink it quickly. I like the aroma of an open glass (or decanter) of Port sitting around... sometimes I'll pour myself a glass and then spend 3 hours enjoying its presence and taking very small sips while we watch TV. On the other hand, if I'm drinking Port with a meal the aromas of the food can alter, complement, or cover up the nose of the Port so it doesn't matter nearly as much.

That said, though, even the best smelling Port has to taste good in the end, and I've had some that I really enjoyed the nose but just didn't like the taste. It's also much easier for me to ignore the nose while enjoying Port than it is to ignore the palate.

So if '1' means the palate is most important and '10' means the nose is most important, I think I'll have to agree with Todd and give it a 5. Overall I value both equally, but for entirely different purposes and at entirely different times.

[Frederick Blais]

Many people are giving more points for complexity on the palate, the length, concentration than points for the quality of the bouquet.

The bouquet is almost as important as the palate, if not more. I do pass more time smelling my wine/port than tasting it, so it has to be great. Also we do not taste flavours but we smell them so the aromatics components has to be discovered on the nose first than discovered again on the palate.

As in any wine, even if the structural components are perfect, if the flavours are off for me, I will not like it, so it is a key component for me to enjoy Port.

My favourite aromatic component in a Port are the floral notes, I can't resists!

[Eric Ifune]

I'm going to vote for 7-8. The aromas are extremely important, but to me, so is the palate; especially with vintage Port. For tawnys and Madeira, the aromas are more important, perhaps 9-10.

[Jan-Tore Egge]

I'm not sure I can quantify it, but it's very important. A lot of the "flavour" is actually stuff that we "smell" while the wine is in the mouth. Try drinking a wine -- any wine, not just port -- with noseclips on, and I bet you'll find it quite boring.

[Adam F]

To me the aromatics are very important since I spend as much time smelling port as drinking it. Every now and then I hit that gem of a bottle at the right time when I can spend an evening enjoying the aromatics and flavour slowly and intimately. Lets go for an 8.

[Andy Velebil]

Others hit the nail on the head...aromatics are very important to me. The frist thing I do is smell a Port. It can tell me a lot about it, before it even hits my lips. I often spend as much time or more smelling it than drinking it.

[Roy Hersh]

There is something about the great smell of a vintage or Colheita Port left open in a decanter. For those that have visited my downstairs area, I typically leave my decanters open by my Port book collection. It is about 10-15 degrees F. cooler downstairs than the rest of our home and I prefer the wine decants at a cooler temperature but I don't think it makes a huge difference either way. Anyway, my point is that when the Port sits there and I come downstairs, more often than not the entire room has a gorgeous fragrance throughout and it just intensifies as I walk closer to the actual decanter.

I love the smell of a great old Vintage Port but will admit that the floral and berry beautiful scent of a young Vintage Port also gets me pretty happy, as does the nose of Colheita too. I just don't know that it would be possible to enjoy the impact of the flavor of Port (fully) without being able to appreciate the aromatics. However, I have a good friend who sometimes posts here, who is not able to "smell well" yet he loves to drink Port of all types.