By JACK HEEGER
Register Staff Writer
Have you ever had wine in a tasting room, bought some and later when you open it at home, the wine seems to taste different? Or have you ordered wine in a restaurant and enjoyed it, but when you tasted the same wine later, it, too, was not what you remembered?
Liz Thach, of Sonoma State University, and Tim Hanni, Master of Wine, said that’s not at all unusual, because how you taste wine depends on several factors. They teamed up to speak at a recent meeting of WineSpirit, a Napa-based organization that brings people together to explore the spiritual dimension of wine.
Thach, a professor of management who teaches in SSU’s Wine Business Program, revealed a small jigsaw puzzle that contained four pieces representing the components of wine preferences – Taste Bud Quotient, Metabolic State, Psychological Conditioning and Concurrent Sensations – and they all fit together to form consumers’ opinions and tastes in wine.
Tastebuds obviously play a vital role in tasting wine, but the number of tastebuds will vary from person to person. A “Hypo Taster” is one who has fewer tastebuds and has a higher tolerance for tannins and bitterness. Alcohol tastes sweet and mild, and Hypo Tasters perceive lower intensity wines as thin and watery.
On the other hand, a “Hyper Taster” has more tastebuds and is highly sensitive to tannins and bitterness. Alcohol comes across with a strong and often burning and objectionable taste.
In between is the “Median Taster,” who is only moderately sensitive to tannins and bitterness and is usually open to a broad range of wines at either extreme.
“You need to know who you are and where you fit on this wine tasting continuum so you know how to taste,” Thach said. She added that this helps to understand where wine critics come from in their wine evaluations.
To help the audience determine where they fit, Thach and Hanni handed out tiny slips of treated litmus paper and had the guests taste it. Some said it was so bitter that they gagged (they were the Hyper Tasters), a few more experienced no taste (the Hypo Tasters), and the majority fell in the middle – Median Tasters who found it somewhat bitter.
Taste buds are not inherited. Children do not have the same taste buds as their parents, Hanni said.
Another component in tasting is the concurrent sensations factor – your state of mind at the time of tasting. Where you taste the wine, the people you are with, what you are eating, what you are doing, the ambience – all contribute to how the wine is perceived. One guest told of a time when he played different types of music during a tasting and said the wines seemed different depending on the music. “Never serve wine with Mozart,” he laughed.
A person’s taste can be affected by psychological factors, as well. Hanni told of a person who disliked sauvignon blanc, which can have a grassy taste and aroma. It evoked memories of fresh mown grass, and it turned out that the person had four acres of property that had to be mowed.
The fourth factor, the metabolic, or physical state of an individual, also has an effect on the way wine tastes – are you tired or run down? Or are you rested, feeling at the top of your game?
After Hanni said that 70 percent of a flavor is in the smell, the duo tried another experiment with the audience to show just how big a role aroma plays in wine tasting. They handed each person a bag with two jelly beans – one was green apple-flavored, the other cherry-flavored. People were asked to close their eyes, pull one jelly bean from the bag, hold their noses and pop the candy into their mouths, chew it and see what they taste. After a few chews, they were told to release the hold on their noses and continue chewing. The “ah-ha” moment occurred – everyone smiled and said either “green apple” or “cherry.” But they could not identify it while they were holding their noses.
Another experiment demonstrated how certain foods and how they are prepared affect the taste of wine, and Hanni had the audience taste some wine, eat a small piece of asparagus, then taste the wine again. The wine tasted bland. He then offered a piece of asparagus treated with a seasoning he has developed, and the asparagus actually enhanced the taste of the wine.
Hanni said that people’s sensitivity to bitterness changes over time, but the change in taste isn’t noticeable until later in life, when one reaches his/her sixties or seventies.
However, the palate doesn’t really change – it’s the brain that is re-programming itself, he said. “The brain processes sensory experiences,” he said, “and we learn to like things that we instinctively hate.”
In closing, he threw a line at the audience which they found difficult to imagine – “The people with the most sensitive palates are white zinfandel drinkers.”
WineSpirit’s next seminar will be at Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga on May 17 featuring Hugh Davies of Schramsberg and Maria Binchet, food and wine writer, who will talk on “The Hows and Whys of Toasts,” and will explain how toasts can initiate a connection between people. Davies also will give a demonstration on sabering, the art of opening a bottle of sparkling wine with a sword. Sparkling wines and hors d’oeuvres will be served starting at 7 p.m., and the program will begin at 7:30. For information, call 261-8716.