The term (Greek for "flavour") plays an important role in wine evaluation and wine appreciation. Wine contains many hundreds of aromatic substances with a proportion of 0.8 to 1.2 grams per litre. They can be determined in the laboratory using chromatography. In general, aroma is understood to be the scent of a wine, also known poetically as the "nose". The aroma is perceived by smelling (nose) and not by tasting (palate, tongue), but together with the flavour it forms an overall impression when drinking wine.

A wine can contain spicy notes (1), fruity tones (2) and floral (3) aromas, which make up the flavour (4). There are three stages of development; this tripartite division is widely recognised among experts. Unpressed grapes contain most of the flavouring substances as glycosides (sugar compounds). However, they are still tasteless and odourless and are only developed through fermentation and bottle ageing. This is why they are referred to as flavour precursors. These can be measured in the grapes using a glycosyl-glucose assay.
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Sigi Hiss
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