What is 'bouquet'?

What is 'bouquet'?

Dennis Overstreet (Wine Expert) gives expert video advice on: What is 'bouquet'?; Why do tannins matter in wine?; What is the difference between hard tannins and soft tannins? and more...

This is where you become an expert now, and you've moved out of the realm of just being a novice, pedestrian amateur. You have now become an expert. The difference between bouquet and aroma - and even wine writers get this wrong constantly - bouquet is something that happens in the bottle. Aroma is reflecting what the grape is about or the grape variety. So if you say, "I am smelling this champagne, and I am picking up notes of acacia, there's a little bit of kiwi here and grapefruit," that's aroma. If I am picking up a hint of vanilla, there's something here that is giving me a character that is reminiscent of oak, that is bouquet and age. That happened in the bottle, or something that man did to it. If man puts it in a barrel, that's bouquet. If it's something that reflects the grape variety itself, that's aroma.