Drinking Lessons: SMELL
nothing transports you quite like a familiar scent: an invitation to smell everything like it's a perfume sample
If there’s something that’s an extra visceral, it’s our sense of smell. Smell something disgusting, and your whole body reacts. Alternatively, one whiff of a beautiful aroma is activating in a different, much more pleasant way.
Scent isn’t usually something we actively seek, unless it’s say a perfume. And like I can easily remember my first few as a teen:
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue (high school perfume)
The Victoria Secret body mist in a purple bottle (don’t remember the name, and don’t think they make it anymore)
Then there are other smells that remind you of a certain season or transport you. An easy one for me is a:
Campfire (with or without burnt marshmallow)
Nothing takes me back to literal camp (hey Birchwood) or girl scouting days as a little girl, or now mostly commonly, the holidays, like a roaring slightly smoky fire.
Two scents that immediately send me into a state of calm & homey vibes are:
garlic, onion & olive oil over the stove
and fresh baked cookies
Again, these aren’t necessarily things you’re consciously asked to recall on a daily basis, rather a part of your circumstance and life experience. BUT I’m giving light to these seemingly mundane aromas, because there are a lot of items over the course of your lifetime that you’ve smelled, you may just not have consciously stored them in a file in your brain….but now you can!
To get better and scent recall, and if you’ve watched Season 3 of The Bear, you might have seen that Gary 'Sweeps' Woods get a scratch & sniff book. There are also kits you can order with the scents and train up your nose that way. Or you can be your own detective and use my favorite free tool: the farmer’s market.
Luckily in summer these are in full swing across the country. Go and pick up peaches, corn, strawberries, dill, thyme, tomatoes etc. and give them a whiff. Take it in for a few seconds, lock it in the proverbial vault, and then when tasting wine, let that part of your brain take over.
A quick how-to to aid in your “scent studies”:
Sometimes it takes a few goes, twirls of my glass, and asking myself “what the fuck is that smell” (similar to when you know a beat/melody, but not the song) SO this is where tasting with friends can become a fun game.
Take CITRUS as an example: Some might smell clementine, to another it might remind them of the citrus trees grandparents house in Florida. Or it might smell like an orange tang, or to another person it might be like an orange blossom candle they have.
^^Let me tell you, it’s alllll correct^^
So….Go Smell. Be Silly. Call out the most niche aromas without abandon. HAVE FUN.
I’ll just leave you with this:
sniff ya l8tr,
Natalie