Minwoo’s Right Brain Archive

Do you taste what I taste? - By Mike Steinberger - Slate Magazine

Interesting article about how we taste, and why wine reviews are bogus.

Brochet has shown that people given a white wine that has been dyed red will describe it exactly as they would a red wine. He has also found that if he serves the same wine in two different bottles, one labeled a cheap vin de table and the other a pricey grand cru, people invariably lavish praise on the latter and scorn the former. Brochet has dubbed this phenomenon “perceptive expectation.”

Wysocki expressed admiration for the stamina, aroma-identification skills, and descriptive abilities of wine critics, but he was skeptical about some aspects of the trade. He said it’s impossible to taste dozens of wines in rapid succession and not suffer olfactory fatigue and that anyone who claims otherwise is claiming to “defy biology,” as he put it. Although a critic might think that his sense of smell is still acute after sampling 40 Cabernets, his impressions at that point are being formed less by the nose than by past experience, visual cues (such as the color of the wines), and perhaps also tactile sensations.

I’m sure there are wines that generally go well with certain dishes. For instance, I tried drinking red wine while munching on dried squid. The wine brought out the fishy flavor of the squid so strongly that it was quite obvious why people prefer white with seafood. (Dried squid goes really well with beer btw) However, I’m dubious as to whether abstract words like fruity, full-body, … really means anything, and means same thing to everyone. And if those subtle difference are enough to justify the premiums on most wines.

Two buck chuck rules :D