ahh!!!!!!!
Posted on 01/14/2002 5:57:55 AM PST by dighton
DRINKERS have long suspected it, but now French researchers have finally proved it: wine “experts” know no more than the rest of us.
Their rituals as they pronounce judgment have been revealed as little more than self-delusion by an awardwinning French study. They base their views as much on colour and labels as upon a wine’s bouquet and flavour.
“The truth is that you cannot define taste objectively,” said Frédéric Brochet, a researcher from Bordeaux whose study won an award from the Amorim wine academy in France. The opinions of the so-called connoisseurs are are no better and perhaps worse than that of the occasional drinker, he said. The greater the expertise, the greater the cultural baggage that prevents you from perceiving the actual taste in your mouth.
M Brochet carried out two studies. In the first, he invited 54 of Bordeaux’s eminent wine experts to sample different bottles, including a white wine to which he had added a flavourless substance giving it a red colour. Not a single expert noticed. “It is a well known psychological phenomonen — you taste what you are expecting to taste,” M Brochet said. “They were expecting to taste a red wine, and so they did.” Similar experiments elsewhere had come up with similar results.
“About 2 or 3 per cent of people detect the white wine flavour, but invariably they have little experience of wine culture. Connoisseurs tend to fail to do so. The more training they have, the more mistakes they make because they are influenced by the colour of the wine.”
In the second test, 57 experts tasted the same average bottle of Bordeaux wine on two occasions. The first time it was labelled as a high-prestige grand cru, and the second time it was labelled as a cheap vin de table. When they thought it was a grand cru, the experts described it as agreeable, woody, complex, balanced and rounded. When they thought it was a vin de table, they said it was weak, short, light, flat, faulty and with a sting. Forty said the wine was good when they thought it was expensive, but only 12 when it was cheap.
“This is why wine frauds are virtually never detected on taste alone, but because someone tips off the police who look at the paperwork,” M Brochet said. He has studied the brain activity of wine tasters and found that those sections handling information relating to colour and knowledge operate alongside those which deal with flavour and smell. What we perceive is a mixture of thought, vision and taste.
Indeed, the brain receives more information more quickly from the eyes than from the mouth or nose.
M Brochet also points out that the molecule that gives what is described as the taste of blackcurrants, redcurrants or raspberries in red wine is identical to that which gives an apricot or peach taste to white wine. The description of the connoisseurs changes because the colour is different.
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
The label-obsessed Japanese have put even average quality Bordeaux out of reach for everyday drinking. These days, I'm just drinking up my old stocks and replacing them with something more reasonable.
Anybody can buy a $50 wine and have it taste exceptional.
I scavenge a big wine store and Dallas and regularly find $7-12 wines that are BETTER than some of the top-of-the-line reserves out of California.
A good wine is a wine you like.
I drink a lot of California, Chilean and Australian chardonnay. Usually in the $8 to $12 range ... and rarely go wrong. Last year I bought a case of Clos du Bois for a Xmas party. Sampled it prior to the party ... approx. half the bottles were bad. The taste, of course, was the first clue ... however, by simply holding the bottle up to a light unopened you could determine which were spoiled ... it had a murkier texture. Returned it for credit ... Clos du Bois is still a favorite.
I've found that, on average, the Wine Spectator ratings tend to be a little harsher and a little more accurate than those of Robert Parker, who seems to have surrendered to grade inflation in his old age.
The new kid on the block, who is a real hard ass, is Stephen Tanzer - the highest rating he's ever given a wine is only 98 points [and it's on sale, for 20% off].
By the way, I heard a food critic once mention this very thing about whites & reds - that when blindfolded, the experts were no better than flipped coins in determining just the color of a wine [not to mention the quality].
If anyone's interested, there's a bulletin board out there that's sort of the FreeRepublic of wine tasting. It's called West Coast Wine [.net, not .com]:
West Coast WineAnother one that's a little more commercial is Wine Lover's Page; unfortunately, it uses frames, and has a terrible user interface [kind of like Jewish World Review]:
West Coast Wine, General Wine Forum
West Coast Wine, Tasting Notes
Wine Lover's Page
Wine Lovers' Discussion Group
Wine Lover's Page, Wine Tasting 101
True. Reminds me of a incident when I was much younger, and didn't have a lot of money. My sister and brother-in-law had invited me to dinner, when they were having some of their snobby friends over, and asked me to bring some wine. I brought a cheap jug wine. My bro-in-law poured the wine into some empties with nice labels, set it out, and people helped themselves. My, my, my. People were really compliementing that wine!
ahh!!!!!!!
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