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Alexandre Schmitt is a French wine blending consultant. He is considered one of the best noses in the world by several wine magazines.

Alexandre Schmitt left a career in perfume to consult for some of the wine's biggest names. From now on, he is an international consultant. His clients include: Château d'Yquem, Petrus, Château Cheval Blanc, Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Ducru Beaucaillou, Opus One Winery, Harlan Estate, Colgin Cellars, etc.

Education
Alexandre Schmitt was born in Bordeaux in 1967. He graduated from the University of Sciences of Bordeaux and from ISIPCA (International Higher Institute of Perfumery, Cosmetics and Food Flavorings) in Versailles. Schmitt lectured at the Faculty of Oenology in Bordeaux (ISVV - Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences ) for more than 15 years. He teaches at the Oenological Department of the Catholic University of Porto. Alexandre Schmitt is the President of Wine & Flavors. He is also a writer,. He provides wine consulting at the crossroads of his three areas of expertise: smell and taste, the aromas of wines and the mastery of language to restore our sensations. Although he continues to offer seminars and master classes on the aromas of wines all over the world (France, China , , , , , South Africa , Chile , , Argentina , New Zealand , USA, Italy , Spain , Canada, etc.), most of his activity is now focused on wine blending.

Beginning of his wine career
Perfume creator in Paris and London, Alexandre Schmitt decided in his mid-thirties decided to change careers. He is neither a winemaker nor an oenologist, but he learned wine from one of the best in this profession, Jean-Claude Berrouet, the winemaker at Château Petrus. Jean-Claude asked him to train him how to smell better. In exchange he teaches Alexandre Schmitt about wine. The two men met  for 12 years. "Imagine having the Petrus winemaker as your personal mentor," muses Mary Orlin in Palate Press magazine. Schmitt shares on this subject: "During the fifteen or so years we have worked together, I have learned to distinguish the different styles of wine, subtle and nuanced, or on the contrary, worn only by their power and intensity. I've learned to identify balanced and unbalanced wines, gradually to develop a deep understanding of textures in the mouth and tannin qualities. Those long years when we frequented each other will remain years of sharing, and mutual respect."

Consultant for wine blending
The wine blending as a professional activity came into his life following his seminars on the wine aromas. He joined Michael Silacci's technical team at Opus One Winery in 2007. Then that of Francis Mayeur at Château d'Yquem. Many domains have since been added to his portfolio such as Bodegas Ysios in Rioja, Spottswoode Winery and Colgin Cellars in Napa Valley, Aperture Cellars and Devil Proof Vineyards in Sonoma Valley, etc. Today, his role begins once the wine is made, contributing to fine tune the blend, thinking about the texture and aromas of different lots of wine, and blending them like a perfume.

The wine blending is based on the optimization of dozens of lots and adjusting them in order to obtain the best possible wine. For Alexandre Schmitt, it is the search for an aestheticism, an artistic attitude where the concepts of harmony, power, brilliance, dynamics, sensations of volume, etc., are generally debated. Schmitt specifies: "I have always perceived the need to express uncompromising creativity, constantly pressed by a concern for permanent requirements, whatever the field of expression, the creation of perfumes, the writing of novels, and now the blending of the wines." Now, Alexandre Schmitt consults all over the world, helping winemakers with blending wines. His approach consists of identifying how wine lots can be integrated, how they can impact the tannic structure, the concentration, the acid tension, the balance; how certain lots provide more delicacy to the mouth feel, refinement in the wine; how they make it silky. But also how they can stretch the sensation of length in the mouth, how to minimize or integrate the bitterness or astringency of certain tannins, etc. A conception of the blend which also incorporates the notion of vintage, the particularities of a year like of a grape variety, of its various expressions according to its growing area, but also of the projection that one can have of it, its long-term vision, of its evolution over time. For Alexandre Schmitt, it is not a question of imposing ready-made recipes. Besides the confirmation  of the wine lots that give their full power to the wine, he dwells on the lots that create questions for the technical teams, the lots which are not the most obvious or fully qualitative. He endeavors to discover a lack or an excess, and to detect the adequate proportion there to instill in the final blend more complexity, to give it a more vibrant character and a more harmonious structure.

Influence on the wine's world
Alexandre Schmitt is at the origin of the development of master classes in olfaction in the world of wine. He's designed for professionals an education structuring their aromatic universe. Although he also provides master classes on aromatic molecules of wine (pyrazines, volatile phenols, sotolon, geraniol, furaneol, methionol, etc.), his approach is not centered on wine and its physico-chemical characteristics. In this sense, his approach is not academic. His teaching is focused on an organoleptic reading of wine where the human being is at the heart of the wine tasting experience. The subject is not wine itself but the human being tasting wine, and in fact, commenting on his feelings''. "No consumable substance has the same bond as wine with speech, according to Martine Châtelain-Courtois "It is the only product whose consumption requires comment, since knowing how to drink it means knowing how to speak about it"'' . Alexandre Schmitt's seminars consist of structuring and creating a shared language of wine, "Alexandre Schmitt helps us to unify our language. This allows the technical staff to better understand each other and to put the same words on the same smells " mentions Anne Le Naour, general manager of CA Grands Crus (Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, Château Meyney in Saint-Estèphe, Château de Santenay, Château Rayne Vigneau). Learning that takes place through a solid knowledge of the aromatic descriptors of wine, and through the fair and concise practice of wine vocabulary. It is a teaching that compels the wine taster to objectify his own subjectivity.

Videos

 * M.A. Silva USA, "The Nose Knows" (vidéo), août 2019.
 * Interview Château Cheval Blanc (vidéo).
 * Portugal JT RTP1, 2012.

Radio

 * France Bleu, "Alexandre Schmitt fait déguster les saveurs du vin", Émission des Grands Hommes.

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bordeaux Category:French winemakers