Dear Questioner,
he simple answer to your question is that it makes the wine smell better, which helps you enjoy it more. This begs the question, why? When you swirl wine, you are introducing oxygen to the wine. This oxygen opens up the esters, the chemical compounds that comprise aromas that will enter your nose and olfactory system. If you read this and think that you never really smell anything in wine, I promise you do. You may have difficulty finding the right words to describe what you smell because, let’s be honest, how much do you practice that skill? Consider when you have a cold: your nose is stuffy, so you can’t breathe through it, and nothing really tastes good. This is because you can’t smell anything. Eighty percent of the flavors we taste come from what we smell, according to research done at Yale University.
If this answer inspires you to verbalize what you smell, I’m glad. I highly recommend a trip to the grocery store. Grab a friend and a glass of wine at the counter at Whole Foods and wander the produce section. Sniff the produce! (If this makes you uncomfortable, Tom Thumb is open till 1 am and is generally practically empty after 9 pm, making it a safe bet.) What does an underripe, green pear smell like? What is the difference between a green and a yellow apple? Smell the difference between a grapefruit, a key lime, and a Buddha’s Hand. Slow down and smell the blueberry jelly that you use for PB&J. Build your personal aroma library. The average human nose can detect at least 1 trillion different odors, according to the latest studies from olfactory researchers at Rockefeller University in New York. This is up from the 10,000 the previous studies had estimated. Wine can be so much fun when you start delving into the glass.
I call this “comparative sniffing.” It’s more fun with a glass of wine (as are most things). Most reds have a berry note of some sort—try to identify which one—open the jam jars in your fridge and sniff the jam, then your glass of wine until you feel like you have identified the aroma. Most white wines have a citrus note of some type—try to pick it out. Once you have narrowed it down to a specific note, like lemon, try to narrow it down even more. What type of lemon: lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon pith, candied lemon, lemon bars, ripe lemon?
As for the spilling, your glass may be a touch too small… I’m not saying it is too full, but…
Cheers,
