Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

nose, the most sensitive form of tasting equipment so far encountered, the sense of taste being so inextricably linked with the sense of smell. When the nose is blocked, whether by a cold or by mechanical means, the ability to taste either food or drink is seriously impaired—so much so that cold sufferers have to resort to decongestants if the need for their tasting skills is serious.

Nose is also used as a synonym for the smell, aroma, or bouquet of a wine, as in wines having ‘a nose of raspberries’, ‘a raspberry nose’, or even ‘raspberries on the nose’.