Discovery / Tasting & Pairings / Wine Aroma & Flavour Wheel
Follow your curiosity · Use your own words
Wine Aroma & Flavour Wheel
An original T2C wheel to help you move from a familiar aroma memory to words of your own. Choose a number, then explore the examples.
Start with a memory.
Smell the wine first, before reading the examples. Then use the wheel to find a broad family and explore a more specific word if it helps. You do not need to find something in every segment. Two honest descriptions tell us more than a borrowed list of ten.
Follow a family.
1 / Citrus
Lemon, lime, grapefruit or orange peel.
A little comparison
Compare fresh zest with a piece of fruit. Which memory comes closest?
2 / Orchard & stone fruit
Apple, pear, peach, apricot or plum.
A little comparison
Fresh, baked and dried fruit are different memories. You can add that distinction.
3 / Tropical fruit
Pineapple, mango, passion fruit or lychee.
A little comparison
Some associations may be familiar from juice, a market or a meal rather than fresh fruit.
4 / Berries & dark fruit
Strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant or blackberry.
A little comparison
Do not worry about identifying a particular berry. Red-fruit or dark-fruit impressions are useful too.
5 / Flowers
Rose, violet, blossom or dried flowers.
A little comparison
A faint floral impression is enough. Fragrance intensity and the wine’s body are different observations.
6 / Green & herbal
Fresh herbs, cut grass, leafy or pepper-like memories.
A little comparison
Use plants or foods you know. A green impression alone does not establish a wine’s ripeness or quality.
7 / Spice & toast
Pepper, clove, vanilla, toast or cocoa.
A little comparison
These are associations. Some can relate to grape or cellar choices, but the wheel cannot diagnose their source.
8 / Earth & development
Mushroom, dried leaves, nutty or leathery memories.
A little comparison
Context matters. Describe the impression first; an unfamiliar scent is not automatically a fault or a sign of age.
Aroma is not sweetness.
A wine can smell of ripe fruit and still taste dry. Record sweetness in a separate step. Aroma and flavour words often draw on the same memories, while sweetness, acidity and drying tannin describe different sensations.
These families overlap. Plum could sit with stone fruit or dark fruit; dried apricot might suggest both fruit and development. Pick the route that helps you explain your impression. The wheel is a conversation aid, not a laboratory result or a list of added ingredients.
Build your own vocabulary.
Try smelling a few familiar foods separately: citrus peel, an apple, an herb or a spice. Write your own associations before returning to a wine description. Use memories from your own cooking and culture. You can leave a family blank, add a word that is missing, or simply write “something floral”.
Another wheel worth knowing.
Dr Ann Noble’s Wine Aroma Wheel is an established sensory-education resource with its own terminology and design. Follow the source below to explore that tool. This T2C wheel is our own simpler arrangement, with original layout, prompts and examples.
Where shall we wander next?
Behind this introduction
Editorial sources checked 16 October 2026. T2C diagrams, examples and exercises are original editorial learning aids. Individual wines and preferences vary.