The word bouquet comes from the French and means a bouquet of flowers.
The term is used for wines because it refers to the characteristic aroma of a wine in the glass, which, like a colorful bouquet of flowers, can have a wide variety of scents.
The bouquet is composed of the aroma of the (different) grapes during the maturing process.
The bouquet is a criterion for assessing the quality of the wine.
When to speak of individual aromas or already of a bouquet is still the subject of heated debate among experts.
It is a recognized fact that the bouquet of an aged wine depends on which grape variety was used in which growing region.
However, the vintage also plays a decisive role, as the wine and its bouquet continue to change as it matures – usually in the bottle.
This is why the term tertiary aroma, or third phase of aroma formation, is also used.
The term “storage bouquet” is also frequently used in specialist literature.
Overall, the term bouquet refers to the totality of all aromas and flavors that a wine exhibits.
Accordingly, a bouquet can not only have pleasant aromas but also off-notes that indicate that the wine is of inferior to unpalatable quality, which usually manifest themselves directly on the palate.
