Wines that smell of eucalyptus

In More Pinots, inc burgundies, Jancis mentioned a compound called cineole, currently being investigated by the Australian Wine Research Institute, building on research first carried out by ETS laboratories in Calfornia.

An ETS study published in 2003 showed that the ‘eucalyptus’ aromas – described variously as ‘fresh’, ‘cool’, ‘medicinal’, ‘camphoraceous’ and, by some, 'minty' – in wine is linked to the presence of eucalpytol (1,8-cineole). ETS also developed a method of detecting and measuring the concentration of cineole in wine, to allow an assessment of the influence of eucalpytus trees growing near vineyards. The study ‘clearly demonstated that eucalyptol...