I walk into an event room at Niner Wine Estates in Paso Robles, Ca, for a class in wine aromas expecting to see lots of wine bottles and glasses. No such luck. The only bottles are small vials set out on one table. I’m thinking, ok this will be interesting.
The man seated at that table is Alexandre Schmitt. He’s not a winemaker or an enologist. Instead, Alexandre is a perfumer. He calls himself a Creator of Perfumes and an Expert of Wine Aromas. His goal is to help people working in the wine industry find a common language to express what they smell when they stick their nose in a glass. All the vials that he brought are full of essential oils and flavored oils.