Tertiary Aromas / Bouquet: The Aromas of Maturation

Tertiary aromas, also called bouquet, are the aromas and flavours of maturation. Gerard Basset MW MS, answering a reader question in a Decanter article, said tertiary aroma, or its synonym bouquet, is used when the aromas are due to ageing. WSET's Level 4 Diploma Candidate Assessment Guide (2018) defines them as characteristics that 'have their origin in ageing processes.' The same guide describes two routes: an oxidative one, caused by the action of oxygen, for example during a long period in oak, and one protected from the action of oxygen, for example during a long period in bottle. The WSET Level 3 Wine-Lexicon places tertiary aromas alongside primary and secondary types, and the Diploma guide explains that this grouping encourages tasters to think about how aromas coincide with different stages of a wine's development.

• Primary aromas: in the WSET Level 3 Wine-Lexicon, the aromas and flavours of the grape and alcoholic fermentation
• Secondary aromas: the aromas and flavours of post-fermentation winemaking, such as vanilla and toast from oak, creamy, buttery flavours from malolactic fermentation, and yeasty, biscuity notes from lees contact in sparkling wines
• Tertiary aromas: the aromas and flavours of maturation, such as leather, tobacco, dried fruit, honey and petrol
• Flexibility applies: the WSET Diploma guide notes that a youthful wine may show a tar or kerosene character more commonly associated with the tertiary type, which could come from the grape variety, its origin or a winemaking technique rather than maturation

Aging is a story of loss and gain. In a WSET article, sensory analyst Sietze Wijma explains that some aromas fade with bottle aging: compounds responsible for rose (geraniol) and banana (isoamyl acetate) slowly break down in the bottle to form flavourless material. At the same time, WSET says a tiny amount of oxygen finds its way into the wine, causing it to slowly oxidise and new tertiary aromas to develop. Wijma attributes walnut and caramel notes to sotolon, almond to benzaldehyde and honey to phenylacetaldehyde. A separate WSET article adds that once a wine is bottled, its aromatics continue to change due in large part to exposure to oxygen, heat and light, and that the fresh aromas of youth typically lose intensity over time. Petrol in Riesling is a special case: WSET explains that TDN (1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene) forms gradually from aroma precursors linked to carotenoids, which can break down during fermentation and ageing, and that the note often intensifies with age.

• Loss: rose (geraniol) and banana (isoamyl acetate) aromas tend to disappear with bottle aging, according to Sietze Wijma quoted by WSET
• Gain through oxygen: walnut and caramel (sotolon), almond (benzaldehyde) and honey (phenylacetaldehyde)
• Structure changes too: WSET says mouth-drying tannins in reds taste softer and smoother due to polymerisation, and some whites develop a waxy or oily texture
• TDN, the petrol compound in Riesling, sits somewhere between a primary and a mature, tertiary aroma, according to WSET

The WSET Level 3 Wine-Lexicon splits tertiary aromas into clusters: deliberate oxidation (almond, marzipan, hazelnut, walnut, chocolate, coffee, toffee, caramel), fruit development in whites (dried apricot, marmalade, dried apple, dried banana) and reds (fig, prune, tar, dried blackberry, dried cranberry), bottle age in whites (petrol, kerosene, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, toast, nutty, mushroom, hay, honey) and bottle age in reds (leather, forest floor, earth, mushroom, game, tobacco, vegetal, wet leaves, savoury, meaty, farmyard). The WSET Level 2 Wine-Lexicon condenses the red list to dried fruit, leather, earth, mushroom, meat, tobacco, wet leaves, forest floor and caramel. Colour gives supporting clues: WSET's Diploma guide describes garnet as a red that shows noticeable orange or brown but is still more red than brown, and says tawny and brown are usually seen only in very old wines or deliberately oxidised wines; in whites, amber or brown will generally be very old or deliberately oxidised wines. On the palate, the same guide says tannins soften with age, while alcohol levels do not change and acid and sugar levels change very little.

• Nose (reds): leather, forest floor, earth, mushroom, game, tobacco and wet leaves in the WSET Level 3 bottle age (red) cluster
• Nose (whites): petrol, kerosene, toast, nutty, mushroom, hay and honey in the WSET Level 3 bottle age (white) cluster
• Colour: garnet and tawny in reds, amber and brown in whites; WSET links the browner end of each scale to very old or deliberately oxidised wines
• Palate: softer tannins, with alcohol unchanged and acid and sugar changing very little, per the WSET Diploma guide

WSET names Vintage Champagne, Madeira, Age Indicated Tawny Port, Barolo, Tokaji Aszú, Vin Jaune and Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux as wines where ageing is important to the style. For some producers this aging is a choice and for others a legal requirement: WSET gives red Gran Reserva Rioja, which must be aged for 60 months before release, and Vin Jaune, which may only be sold from the January seven years after harvest. WSET's Diploma guide uses a red Rioja Reserva as an example of a wine showing primary, secondary and tertiary aromas, with bottle age (red) descriptors such as leather, earth, mushroom and game in its marking key. Its example note for a mature Bordeaux describes a medium garnet wine with obvious tertiary aromas of earth, cedar and tobacco, fully developed and showing a lot of tertiary cedar/earth character. For a dry Amontillado, the same guide says the amber colour and tertiary characteristics indicate extended oxidative ageing after preliminary ageing under flor. Gerard Basset, quoted by Decanter, said top Cabernet Sauvignon wines with some bottle age often smell of tobacco, wet leaves and other complex aromas, and Decanter associates petrol or kerosene with aged Riesling.

• Rioja Reserva: bottle age (red) notes such as leather, earth, mushroom and game in a WSET Diploma marking key example
• Mature Bordeaux: earth, cedar and tobacco in a WSET Diploma example tasting note
• Dry Amontillado: amber colour and tertiary characteristics indicating extended oxidative ageing after flor, per WSET
• Aged Riesling: petrol or kerosene; WSET says Rieslings from warmer, sunnier regions such as Australia often show more pronounced petrol notes than those from cooler climates like Germany

The WSET Level 3 SAT asks for a development call on the nose (youthful, developing, fully developed, tired/past its best) and a level of readiness for drinking in the conclusions, with options that include too young and too old. WSET's Diploma guide says that as wines age their aromas and flavours tend to develop from fruity and floral (primary) towards more savoury, earthy and spicy characters (tertiary), and that a wine that has already undergone ageing, evidenced by a predominance of tertiary characteristics, and is close to the end of its drinkable life should be classified as drink now: not suitable for ageing or further ageing. The same guide notes that complexity can come from a combination of primary, secondary and tertiary aromas, but that tertiary characteristics might detract from the high quality of a wine where varietal definition is what makes it great. WSET also stresses that the vast majority of wines sold are designed for immediate consumption, and that ageworthy wines tend to share plenty of flavour intensity and natural preservative qualities such as high acidity or high tannin.

• Development on the nose: youthful, developing, fully developed or tired/past its best (WSET Level 3 SAT)
• A predominance of tertiary characteristics is evidence that a wine has already undergone aging, per the WSET Diploma guide
• Tertiary character is not automatically a plus: WSET notes it can detract where varietal definition drives quality
• Ageworthy wines tend to combine flavour intensity with high acidity or high tannin, according to WSET

WSET advises that wine aged at home should be kept at a cool, constant temperature and away from bright light and vibrations, and a separate WSET article says that if stored correctly (somewhere cool, dark and undisturbed), some high-quality wines may hold their freshness for years or even decades while chemical changes create greater aromatic complexity. WSET describes the common consensus that ageworthy wines follow a bell curve: too young, just right, too old. The WSET Level 4 SAT adds a separate conclusion on bottle ageing, asking whether a wine is suitable or not suitable for bottle ageing with an explanation, and its Wine-Lexicon lists red tertiary descriptors including dried fruit (prune, raisin, fig) and cooked fruit (cooked plum, cooked cherry).

• Storage: cool, constant temperature, away from bright light and vibrations (WSET)
• The bell curve of ageworthy wines: too young, just right, too old (WSET)
• WSET Level 4 SAT: a wine's suitability for bottle ageing must be explained, not just stated
• Petrol in Riesling shows that aroma categories are not always tidy, sitting between primary and tertiary (WSET)

Primary sources: https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11766/wset_l3wines_sat_en_may2022_issue2.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/13271/wset_l4wines_sat_en_aug2023.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/13156/wset_l2wines_sat_en_may2023_issue2.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/6714/wset_l4diploma_cag_tasting_en_aug2018.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2023/march/21/why-do-we-age-wine, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/strawberry-pepper-and-petrol-why-wine-smells-the-way-it-does, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2022/january/13/why-doesn-t-wine-taste-like-grapes. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/learn/understanding-wine-aromas-329940/. Last verified 2026-09-29