bitter almond note

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The bitter almond is the fruit of the almond tree of the species amara (there are also sweet fruits of the species sativa). The bitter almonds contain the glucoside amygdalin and are poisonous in larger quantities because of the easily cleavable prussic acid. Bitter almond oil, which smells of benzaldehyde and prussic acid, is extracted from the kernels and is used in perfumes, pharmaceutical preparations and as a flavouring. In many Italian wines there is a delicate smell or taste of bitter almonds called amarognolo (amaro = bitter), which is desirable.

Bittermandelton - Mandeln und Blüten

Wine faults

However, there is also a wine defect that is usually classified as severe bitter almond note. This occurs when the blue fining is used improperly and is also called over-embellishment. The blood liquor salt used in this process can be split into iron cyanide and into the highly toxic prussic acid that smells significantly like bitter almonds. The various causes for this are incorrect dosing of the blood lye salt, insufficient mixing of the wine after adding the salt or too slow a reaction due to masking of the iron by added complexing agents.

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bitter almond note

Wine faults

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