Alphabet of Smells



One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a Nez du Vin kit. This kit, packaged like a book, contains numbered vials inside accompanied by sheets containing diagrams and descriptions for each of the scents contained in the vials. The scents include fruit and vegetable and floral scents. Here is a menu of scents from 12 of the vials:

1. Fraise
2. Framboise
3. Cassis
4. Mure
5. Cerise
6. Violette
7. Poivron vert
8. Truffe
9. Reglisse
10. Vanille
11. Poivre
12. Note fumee

Since I am the type of person who likes to grab a bottle of vanilla, open and sniff it just for the pleasure of it, this was a great gift.

The creator of these kits, Jean Lenoir, has created an olfactic alphabet. In this case, these are smells often found in red wines. And, by training our nose to identify these smells, we can increase both our appreciation and enjoyment of the complex bouquet that is wine. Lenoir created another kit for coffee lovers.