Perfume of the Vine

27th NOVEMBER & 4th DECEMBER 2025

Awaken your senses with our tasting of aromatic wines: wines that don’t just taste delicious, they are scented with notes of blossom, exotic fruits, and spices.

Aromatic grape varieties are a special category of wine grapes that are naturally rich in highly fragrant compounds, particularly terpenes. These compounds are found directly in the grape skins and pulp, so the aromas are inherent to the grape, rather than being developed through winemaking techniques (like oak aging for example).

The range of aromas includes floral (rose, jasmine, orange blossom), fruity (lychee, peach, apricot, citrus), and also spicy and herbal notes. The aromatic varieties make distinctive wines that are often easily identifiable even in a blind tasting.

The Wines

Though it is mostly white wine varieties that are considered ‘aromatic’, we’ll also explore – and taste – distinctively scented red wine grapes.

Week One

We will kick off with a classic Portuguese Vinho Verde that’s a prime example of the new quality thinking here in Northern Portugal. Made from the single aromatic variety, Loureiro, ours comes from a family winery. Viognier is up next, the variety that has surged in popularity having almost disappeared a few decades ago. Expect florals and exotic fruits. Finally in week one, a first for our online tastings: an artisan Vermouth, made in Scotland! This will be supplied in a small 187.5ml bottle for mixing or sipping over ice. Flavoured with 24 herbs and flowers all grown on the Dalmeny Estate near Edinburgh, it is made by hand in small batches.

Week Two

We begin with a tongue-twister from Szekszárd in Hungary. Királyleányka is a blend of two aromatic grapes indigenous to the region: Leányka and the ancient Kövérszolo, to produce a Muscat-like, highly scented white wine. Next, a red wine from Sicily in the shape of Frappato. Though DNA analyses has shown a relationship to Sangiovese, on Sicily it produces a beguiling, light red, sometimes described as blending summer pudding and incense spices. Finally, perhaps the king (or queen) of aromatic varieties: Gewürztraminer. Gewürz means ‘spice’ in German, but as well as that, the heady scents of Turkish delight, ginger and lychee are often used to describe this variety.

The public price for this case of six wines is £88.20 including delivery. Exclusively for this tasting, that has been discounted to £79 including delivery to UK mainland addresses.