Wine Perception

Let’s face it, wine isn’t exactly natural. Human intervention occurs, from the vineyards to the bottle.

But here’s the real question: can we replicate wine artificially and still enjoy it just as much? Probably not. It’s like trying to make a replica of the Mona Lisa with crayons - sure, you might get the basic outline right, but you will miss the essentials.

When it comes to wine, we tend to focus on aromas, tastes, and colors. But Wine is a complex beverage to make. Only one harvest of grapes per year. Winemakers usually do not have a single formula and winemaking differs depending on grape, region, or weather. Results, different wines’ styles, tastes, and aromas.

The winemaking process is a complex one, and each year brings a new set of challenges. It’s like trying to raise a child, but instead of a child, you have a little monster.

And don’t even get me started on the fermentation process - it’s like a science experiment gone wild. With up to 4,000 different molecules involved, it’s a wonder we can even taste anything at all.

But that’s where our human faculties come in. We may not have the olfactory skills of a bloodhound, but we sure can taste the difference between sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. And let’s be real, who needs superhuman smelling powers when you’ve got a good old-fashioned sense of taste?

When it comes to wine tasting, it’s all about the eyes. We inspect the color, its opacity, and even the tears of wine to gather clues about its character. It’s like trying to solve a murder mystery, but instead of a dead body, we’re dealing with fermented grapes.

And let’s not underestimate the power of color. In that famous 2001 experiment, scientists proved that adding a simple red colorant to a white wine could trick even the most experienced wine connoisseurs. Suddenly, the aroma of white fruits was replaced by visions of red berries and all the usual trappings of red wine. It’s like our brains take shortcuts when it comes to wine tasting. White wine? Time to focus on those white fruit aromas. Red wine? You better switch gears and hone in on those classic red wine flavors. It’s like we’re trying to categorize a wine into a neat little box based on its color.

So, the next time you’re sipping on a glass of wine, remember to keep your eyes peeled. You never know what hidden flavors might be lurking just beneath the surface - or in the case of that white wine with red food coloring, right there in plain sight!

When it comes to wine, our noses are the real MVPs. Forget sight, forget taste - it’s all about the smell. You gotta get that nose in there and take a big whiff to understand what’s going on in that glass. You’re inhaling out notes of blackberry, strawberry, tobacco, and so many others.

But it doesn’t stop there. Once that wine hits your mouth, it’s like a whole new world of aromas opens up. Intensity is stronger and often you could find some other aromas we did not get with the first smell.

Now, I know what you’re thinking - can we smell with our mouths? Is that a superpower that we mere mortals possess? Well, it’s not quite that exciting. When you swirl that wine around in your mouth, it warms up and releases even more aromatic vapors going to factory bulbs via the pharynx.

So, the next time you’re sipping on a glass of wine, remember to give your nose the love and attention it deserves. It’s not just there to keep your glasses from falling off your face - it’s a powerful tool in the wonderful, wacky world of wine tasting.

In the mouth there is an unsung hero of wine tasting, the tongue! It’s like a superhero with the power to detect all the different tastes in wine: saltiness, sourness, bitterness, sweetness, and umami. Taste buds, the tiny receptors on the tongue and palate, do all the work. But don’t let their small size fool you - they are mighty and can detect all five tastes at different levels.

But there’s a common myth that different areas of the tongue detect different tastes. Some people believe that acidity is detected on the sides of the tongue, and saltiness is detected in the middle. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is just a myth. All taste buds can detect any taste, and they do so with incredible precision.

And if you accidentally burn your tongue with a hot coffee or soup, don’t worry. Taste buds are renewed every ten days, so you’ll have a fresh set of buds in no time.

The tongue plays a crucial role in not only detecting taste but also touch sensations that can indicate whether a wine is fresh, crisp, light, or robust. As wine enters the mouth, it interacts with saliva to create sensations such as level of acidity, smoothness, astringency, thermal sensation, roughness, or silkiness. These complex reactions involve alcohol, sugars, and tannins, with the tongue serving as the central organ for these touch sensations. These sensations can be grouped into two categories: thermal and tactile. Thermal sensations refer to whether the wine warms or cools the mouth, with acidity, alcohol, and sugar balance playing a role.

Tactile sensations, on the other hand, refer to how the wine feels in the mouth, such as whether it is silky and smooth or rough and tannic. These sensations can help identify a wine’s profile. The astringency effect of tannins comes from the precipitation of a protein in our saliva responsible for the lubrifaction of the mouth. The smoothness sensation is usually due to alcohol and some time of different sugars present in the wine.

This analytical approach of the perception is linked to the chemistry part of the wine. But it is a reduction, dividing the wine into its tiny components. Well, we are not a scientific instrument, able to measure things every time with the same accuracy. The perception of wine is not only analytical it is also a subjective experience.

I remember, years ago I used to drink the same wine with friends. But not so long ago, I had the chance to taste the same wine (but not the same vintage), the taste seems a little bland, and I was bored by the flavor, even if I still enjoy the wine.

What happened? First, I did some wine training, to learn wine, I tasted more and more, and I gain vocabulary and knowledge. But the composition of this wine did not change so much. How can I have a different perception?

Traditional wine tasting forgets about one of the most important elements when someone tastes a wine, the human factor. Humans are subject to emotions and are spontaneous. Why not include our feelings?

A new tasting approach exist based on emotions, intuitive tasting. In short, learn to know yourself and your perceptions to create your language around wine. The goal is to understand wine.

Wine is an endless complex beverage, with several compounds and molecule that tickles our senses, from sight to touch. Even hearing can be involved in the case of sparkling wines. But the perception and sensations we have we giving wine are our interpretation of the interaction we had with this wine. Our remembrance and emotions have a big role to play in this interpretation.

We should take wine as a whole; we need to put together all the information and emotions to build an image beyond its various elements.