Flavour of the month

I just love the way the kitchen fills up with the aromas of damsons. They start off faintly earthy and fresh, almost green in aroma, then as the skins burst, the aromas start to develop, building and changing until they have those dark, cherry and raspberry notes, underpinned by a faint whiff of astringency. Then the sugar goes in and the aroma changes again, with sweet, almost caramelly notes combining with the fruit and the flavours build again, developing depth and complexity. It is a journey in smells and tastes that I enjoy far

more than the jam, which is usually destined to be given away.

But this is a wine column, so why am I writing about jam? The reason is that this is the perfect time of year to give your nose some exercise. When describing wine we all use the same descriptions – fruity, plummy, raspberryish, strawberries, even apples and pears. But a short stroll along the fruit counter in a supermarket, or better still, in a farm shop where the dew is still fresh on the fruit shows that there are dozens of aromas and flavours just in one category of fruit.

So does "plummy" in a wine mean the sharp, perfumed note of a Victoria plum or the deeper fruit of a damson? Is "blackcurrant" the fresh raw fruit still on the bush, a rich, dark cooked aroma or perhaps the intensely aromatic notes in Ribena? One of the most perplexing things about wine is the way we all need to describe it. Have you ever eaten in a restaurant and then tried to describe the flavour of the lamb chop you just ate? But put a glass of wine in most wine lovers' hands and they start talking about fruit, spice, leather and earth in a way that is almost poetic.

The reason is that we all need to put the flavour of a wine on a peg so that we can recognise it again when we taste it. If you tag a wine with certain aromas and flavours then you can probably have a stab at the grape variety and from there you can work towards the place it was made. This is all part of the story of wine, from the grapes to the place, climate and soil.

So here are a few nose and tastebud exercises to take you through the fruits and smells

of autumn.

Raspberries – the second crop of raspberries is coming on stream and while these rarely have the same intensity of aromas as the spring fruit they often have deeper flavours. Taste them and then think about Cabernet Franc from the Loire. Try Saumur Champigny 2007, Chateau de Targ from Majestic at 8.99 on multibuy.

Strawberries – the delicious perfumed English varieties have finished now, but apart from the pure, refined fruit in Bollinger ros, that isn't the aroma you find in wine. Get a plastic-wrapped supermarket punnet of strawberries and keep it in the fridge for a day. Then open it and sniff. There's a trickle of juice at the bottom of the punnet and that is the strawberry smell you will find in many ros champagnes – still fresh, but sweeter.

Then tip the strawberries into a dish and microwave them for a minute. Then sniff. That is the aroma in many Burgundies. Try Louis Latour's Red Burgundy 2008 (Waitrose 9.99). Often strawberry is just one element of the aroma, so throw in a few redcurrants and see how the aromas change.

Plums – the dark complexity of damson plums is the closest match I can find for Shiraz, but even they need some modification to get closer. Cook up some damsons, add a little sugar, heat again, then take some of this compte and put in a tiny piece of cinnamon and a few cracked black peppercorns. Then take a sniff. Try Jim Barry's Lodge Hill Shiraz 2007 from Australia (Majestic 7.99 on multibuy) to really appreciate the deep complexity of Shiraz aromas.

Apricots – this is the classic descriptor for Viogner, but they must be fresh, preferably sun warmed, with a blush of pink on the skin. Try Yalumba's Viognier (Waitrose 9.99).

Apples – often used to describe light, crisp wines such as Muscadet, Arneis and Ctes de Gascogne. Don't think Granny Smith, more Braeburn.

Pears – Pinot Gris and unoaked Chardonnay, but try a really ripe pear, not a green one.

Blackcurrant fruit – the classic descriptor for Cabernet Sauvignon, but try them fresh from the bush and there is a distinct Cabernet Franc note. Only when they have been cooked and cooled do they acquire the depth of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Try Vergelegen Mill Race Cabernet 2007 from South Africa (Morrisons 9.99).

Blackcurrant leaves – Several years ago I used to grow a blackcurrant bush, not just for the fruit but so I could pick the leaves and crush them. They are an exact match for the pungent, bright, leafy aromas of older style New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Now many Kiwi Sauvignons have built in more gooseberry freshness, while there are passionfruit and pineapple notes in Chilean Casablanca Sauvignons.

Don't forget to keep your nose open when you are out and about. Take a walk along a muddy path when it has just rained and think about the earthy component in aged Pinot Noir. Smell old-fashioned roses and think Gewrztraminer then breathe deeply when you walk past the lorry laying tarmac and think Pinotage.

But however much you have practised your sniffs and smells of fruit, earth, roads and grass, don't be discouraged if someone else describes a wine using completely different words. If your raspberry becomes their strawberry, don't worry. You are both right. You are just looking for a peg to hang the flavour on – and their peg is slightly different from yours.

Whatever wine tasting notes you take, they are yours and no-one else's.

YP MAG 4/9/10