Do you stop to smell the roses? If so, there is a strong chance you would enjoy aromatic white wines, with their invitingly perfumed bouquets that can soar out of the glass.
Aromatic white wine grapes have no legal classification, but riesling, gewürztraminer, viognier and albariño are on most lists. Pinot gris and sauvignon blanc (notably Marlborough’s strikingly aromatic sauvignon blancs) also qualify, but those hugely popular varieties have had separate feature articles in the Listener.
Aromatic white wines have high levels of an aroma compound class called terpenes, also found in flowers. The wines have especially high levels of monoterpenes, a subgroup that has geranium, citrus, spice, orange flower, rose and other aromas.
RIESLING
Astrolabe The Farm Marlborough Dry Riesling 2020
Estate-grown at Grovetown, in the Wairau Valley, this refined wine is scented and light-bodied, with good depth of lemony, peachy flavours and a crisp, dryish, finely balanced finish. Already highly enjoyable, it’s a drink-now or cellaring
