| I am often reminded by my relations of the first | | | | a couple of seconds (or so I thought at the time). |
| family wedding that I was allowed to go to as a | | | | Yes I can taste this, yes I can taste that. Wow! |
| six year old. My much older cousin was getting | | | | "Don't drink anymore of that", my mentor told |
| married to a beautiful Italian lady and of course | | | | me. Have a sip of water. Try a sip of this one |
| her relatives insisted upon Italian wine at the | | | | and you tell me this time what you can smell and |
| reception. | | | | taste. Oh dear. Different colour!! |
| I had been introduced to wine with a lot of water | | | | Italian wine smells, so I told him what I smelled. It |
| in it as a baby (presumably so I would go to | | | | was very different from the one I had tried |
| sleep) but this hadn't really awakened my sense | | | | before, much crisper, sharper, more scent, pine |
| of smell to wine. One of the waitresses at the | | | | needles was it? Having obviously passed the first |
| reception in a marquee on an unusually pleasant | | | | test I was allowed to have a sip. These are both |
| English day took a bit of a shine (in a | | | | made out of grapes? Why are they so different? |
| grandmotherly way) to this six year old and I | | | | Well it depends upon the grape variety and the |
| was quietly presented with a glass of wine. | | | | part if Italy it's made. In the North they make |
| "Italian", she said, "don't tell anyone". | | | | very different wines from those of the South. |
| So I took a sniff at this 'adult' beverage and said | | | | The soil they are grown in varies from very |
| to my 70 year old neighbour "Italian wine smells, | | | | good, to very poor and the aspect (the facing |
| it's not like the stuff I drink at home". My older | | | | direction to gain the most sun) can change the |
| and much wiser great-uncle told me I was | | | | character of a grape and therefore the wine that |
| correct. All wines smell, but some smell better | | | | can be made from it. It's also a question of |
| than others, and some do not taste the same as | | | | keeping the very best grapes for the best wines |
| they smell. | | | | from a particular region. |
| Well being thoroughly baffled by this explanation I | | | | My great uncle had me spellbound with all this |
| smelled it again, (I wasn't quite brave enough to | | | | information and I forgot to finish my wine. "Now |
| actually drink it 'neat' yet despite my bravado). My | | | | you know a bit about the care taken in making |
| great uncle explained the different smells to me. | | | | wine in Italy you will sip it and enjoy it like I do, |
| Strawberries, slightly of wild herbs, a woody smell | | | | rather than just drink it". |
| from the barrels, a sort of blackberry whiff there | | | | I could not resist "how do you know so much |
| somewhere and so on. Taste it, he said, don't | | | | about wine uncle?" |
| drink it, just have a sip and tell me what you | | | | "I've lived and worked in a winery in Italy all my |
| think. | | | | life. I've owned it since my father died." |
| By this time my trepidation at drinking 'neat' wine | | | | SEO Solutions and one way linkpublicity services |
| had disappeared in my eagerness to try a taste | | | | provided by LinkAcquire. |
| of what I could smell. The first sip was a true | | | | David C Skul - CEO |
| experience. I suddenly transformed from being a | | | | and Relativity, Inc. |
| schoolboy into a wine connoisseur in the space of | | | | |