Wine tasting is a top-down affair.  We move from the eyes to the noses–again, yours and the wine’s.  Connoisseurs abhor the common sense word “smell.”  Gym socks, armpits, and dirty diapers all have a “smell”; heaven forbid wine have a “smell.”  Instead, wine tasters talk about what the wine is like “on the nose,” or they get anthropomorhic and say that a wine has a “floral nose” or a “fruity nose.”

Tilt the glass to your nose and inhale deeply (don’t be shy) at the rim.  Do the same at the center of the glass; your nose should actually breach the bowl.  Some scents will be present in the center that are absent from the rim and vice versa, so it is important to sample from both.  Now for the fun part: holding the stem, rotate the glass in small circles and swirl the wine around.  For those of us who are less coordinated, set the glass on the table and keep the base flat against it while you slide the glass in circles.  Now repeat your inhalations at the rim and the center.  You should notice some remarkable transformations in the aromas of the wine now that you have agitated it.

The scents you are looking for will be brief and fleeting.  You will find yourself on the verge of finding the perfect descriptions just as the sensation fades.  Take your time; this sniff may not have given you all of the answers, but you are one step closer to the one that will.  You are a natural, after all.  We all are.  Smell is the sense most closely tied to memory.  Begin free associating, developing a stream-of-consciousness list of related aromas: fruity, citrusy, strawberries, craberries, etc.  Most of these words will be inaccurate.  What you are doing is allowing your brain to form associations until it finds the right ones.  Be as specific as possible, and do not be afraid of sounding silly.  If you detect the familiar aroma of Flintstones vitamins, say so.  The goal is not to sound sophisticated; the goal is to be specific and dig deep.  Dig through your memories and form new ones.