FRUIT
Naturally this is the largest and most encompassing category of them all. You can break fruit down into the sub-categories of: Black, Red, Citrus, Stone, Tree, and Tropical Fruit. Then further into the cooked or dried flavours of any of the fruits in the former categories.
For all wines this will be the most prolific category on the aromatic spectrum. When wines are in their first five years in bottle their main aromatics will come from fresh fruit flavours whereas later into their maturity these same fruit will take on the dried or cooked version. For example: a Merlot that has a strong taste of black plums in its youth will change with time and develop a strong prune-like taste instead.
Wines that are made from grapes from hot climates, like Australia, Spain or Chile, will often show jammed or candied fruit flavours as well. This is because those same aromatic particles that make up the fresh strawberry aroma are altered in the hot climates and give off a strawberry jam-like aroma instead. It is because of these geographical, or climatic, differences that wines made from the same grape varietal can taste so different when made in different regions.
SPICE AROMAS