Bouquet

(See also: Aromas, Developed Aromas, Funky Aromas)

Traditionally, bouquet is the smell of a mature wine, but more recently the word has also been sued for the small of young wines. Good wines of all types probably contain as many as a thousand different aromatic substances and scientists still don’t understand them all, although a lot of research was done on this during the last 30 years.

Young Riesling wines at Gut Hermannsberg, have aromas right across the spectrum of fruits, flowers, herbs and spices. They also have a touch of funkyaromas from the yeast, however our wines rarely show any of the petrol aroma often deemed typical for Riesling after extended maturation in the bottle. This note is part of the wide range of developedaromas that result from the aging process. In contrast to all this extravagance, you can only smell about 1% of the aromas in ripe Riesling grapes, the great majority of them being released during fermentation.

Maturation of the young wines on the lees (yeast deposit in the cask) stabilizes the wine’s aromas enabling it age much longer.