Clear Line Prints · Shop on Zazzle · Shop on TeePublic · Shop on Threadless · Pinterest · YouTube
Home › Chart guides › Wine Aroma Wheel
A wine aroma wheel helps you name what you smell by working from a broad family to a specific note. This wheel has eight families, from fruity, floral and herbal to spice, earth, oak and nutty notes and the common faults, and explains where key aromas such as black pepper, petrol and butter come from.
This chart is on its way to our print shops. Our posters are listed on Zazzle, TeePublic and Threadless (links at the top of this page); browse the kitchen and classroom charts to see the ones already available.
Eight families of aromas, from the fruit in the glass to the faults that spoil it.
| Family | Group | Aromas |
|---|---|---|
| Fruity | Citrus | lemon, lime, grapefruit |
| Fruity | Tree fruit | green apple, pear, quince |
| Fruity | Stone fruit | peach, apricot |
| Fruity | Tropical | pineapple, mango, passion fruit, lychee |
| Fruity | Red fruit | strawberry, raspberry, red cherry, cranberry |
| Fruity | Black fruit | blackcurrant, blackberry, plum, black cherry |
| Fruity | Dried fruit | raisin, fig, prune |
| Floral | rose, violet, orange blossom, elderflower, honeysuckle | |
| Green & herbal | Fresh | cut grass, green bell pepper, asparagus |
| Green & herbal | Herbs | mint, eucalyptus, thyme |
| Green & herbal | Dried | hay, tea leaf, tobacco |
| Spice | black pepper, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, liquorice | |
| Earth & mineral | Earth | mushroom, forest floor, leather |
| Earth & mineral | Mineral | wet stone, flint, petrol |
| Oak | vanilla, toast, smoke, cedar, coconut | |
| Nutty & sweet | Nutty | almond, hazelnut, walnut |
| Nutty & sweet | Caramel | honey, butterscotch, caramel |
| Nutty & sweet | Dairy & yeast | butter, brioche, cream |
| Faults | wet cardboard, vinegar, nail polish, rotten egg, barnyard, bruised apple |
| Aroma | Source |
|---|---|
| Black pepper | rotundone, found in Syrah and Shiraz |
| Green bell pepper | methoxypyrazines, in Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc |
| Petrol | TDN, which develops as Riesling ages |
| Coconut and vanilla | whisky lactones and vanillin from oak barrels, stronger in American oak |
| Butter | diacetyl, made during malolactic fermentation |
| Wet cardboard | TCA cork taint; vinegar and nail polish point to volatile acidity |
| Barnyard | Brettanomyces yeast; rotten egg means reduction (sulfur compounds) |
Swirl, sniff, then work outwards from a broad family to a specific note. The original Wine Aroma Wheel was devised by Ann C. Noble at UC Davis in 1984; this wheel is an independent illustration of common tasting terms.