Floral & Aromatic

One of the best things about opening a new bottle of wine is giving it a swirl, a sniff, and a good long sip, attempting to pick out the patchwork of aromas and flavours that give the wine its unique personality. Sometimes, this olfactory experience propels us to the far reaches of our flavour memories. That time a wine reminded you of passing by rose bushes on a spring morning, or smelling jasmine plants in the setting Mediterranean sun, or opening a can of jarred lychees, or a jug of elderflower cordial! More often than not, it’s the floral and aromatic wines that give us this sensory experience, their aromas so precise and pronounced that they transport us. And it is these flavourful delights that we celebrate in this selection.

What do we mean by Floral and Aromatic then? Well, when we describe the aromas and flavours of a wine, of a white wine in particular, we tend to separate the fruits from the more distinctly floral notes. The wines in this selection emit, alongside some of the classic fruit flavours, prominent floral characteristics like rosewater, honeysuckle, orange blossom and fruit flavours that tend floral-like lychee, grape and passionfruit.

It is fair to say that there are certain grape varieties that possess the genetics that develop into aromatic white wines - it isn’t really something that region, climate or even winemaker can affect. Gewürztraminer and Moscato (Muscat) are two of the most famous in the category, greeting drinkers with such iconic floral characteristics that the wines are easy to pick out in a crowd. Under-the-radar Kerner and Müller Thurgau varieties also hum of delicate flowers and white spices while Riesling too can offer some wonderfully expressive aromatics.

If you like your white wines to pack a punch, if you’re looking for a wine to pair with your aromatic or spicy food or if you like being transported to somewhere specific in your flavour memory, then these wines are for you.