“Eating wine” isn’t for everyone. For some it will be so obvious as to be irrelevant. For others their assumptions about wine will be challenged. Others again will have their confusion cleared. Fortunately there is a simple test that will help decide this and the other eternal question, “Is it me or the wine?”
Place a quality red wine in an ISO/XL5 glass (small tulip or port). Have a drink of water and then taste as you would normally. Repeat this in the following manner; place a SMALL portion of wine at the front of the mouth ie. at the tip of the tongue. Leave it there and gently chew, without swallowing or holding your breath. Wait.
This is ‘eating’ wine, precisely what you normally do with food!
If you perceive no difference between the two wine experiences then it is likely that you have been eating wine anyhow, which is what smart tasters unconsciously already practise. Observe yourself in the mirror; look at others. Many throw a wine into the mouth and swallow quickly or even lift their nose like they are about to down a sword! It’s educational watching the different ways people drink wine and then listen to their description – HOW people drink determines their experience. eg. The quicker the swallow the less flavour they discern, though they do pick up on bitterness. Popular wine styles make an impression, no matter how they are drunk, that’s why they are popular.; it is with the more flavoursome or subtle wines(ie more expensive?) that one hears “not much there” or the abysmal “it’s not me”. However if there is a difference, like a softer mouthfeel or more intense and lingering flavours, then you have made a discovery.
To understand why this ‘eating’ of wine offers more than ‘drinking’ requires a review of the whole sensory process. We are familiar with the stimulation of the senses by wine; the colours to the eye, the aromas to the nose, but in the mouth it is more complicated. Many people believe that this third experience happens entirely in the mouth and use expressions like ‘mid or end palate flavours’, ‘soft flavours’, lemon acidity’, ‘creamy texture’, ‘silky spicy tannins’ etc. In fact the mouth is the conduit to TWO sense organs; the mouth itself (ie. tongue plus lining) and the nose (smell receptors) for the second time. Of course, these senses are competing for your conscious attention, but more of that later. Knowledge of how our senses function is an evolving area but the following makes use of the little we do know. There is a nerve at the tip of the tongue that warns the rest of the system to get ready as the wine enters the 37 degree environment. If the wine lands on the middle of the tongue the experience will be diminished because the sensors are not ready. Wine is a mixture and as it rapidly spreads across the tongue it stimulates the various receptors (acid, sweet, bitter, cold etc) while the tannins react with the saliva to give a perceived dryness. All of this mouthfeel information (viz. ‘taste’) goes to the back of the brain, checked by the amygdala for bitterness (poison?) and then the cortex constructs from these components a sense of balance/unbalance, also called the structure, and words like texture. In the warm oral environment the aromas have been liberated and move to the back of the mouth where they are whooshed out through the nose. This is the reverse of when the wine was smelt in the glass, the aroma, and deserves its own word, ‘bacaroma’(!).
Note that as we breathe back in there is no aroma; it is only in the breathe out part of the cycle. So the perception of bacaroma pulses, according to our breathing. In contrast to the mouthfeel, which is a continuous declining experience. We call the combination of taste/mouthfeel and bacaroma the ‘flavour’. If you have a cold or hold your breath then you will only perceive mouthfeel.
I have met former footballers with a history of nose damage who not surprisingly only appreciate sweet or big tannic wines and are unaware of the aroma aspect. The sense of smell is vital from the point of view of mankind’s evolution; it has its own part of the brain (olfactory bulb), can discriminate 10,000 odourants, has the same amount of DNA as the immune system (1%), is linked to the fore-brain and can draw on memory, emotions, sex, pleasure etc., AND apparently is the only sense that doesn’t deteriorate with age!
Imagine going to the Art Gallery and everyone is talking about the frames but not the paintings? The NatWest Art Prize goes to the painting with the biggest frame! The equivalent in wine is considering only the structure and sidelining the aroma/bacaroma/flavour aspect, the colour and substance of the painting.
The longer journey of the mouth aroma impulses finally meets in the cortex with the other mouth messages, except they are now out of sync, maybe by a second! Under the First Principle of the Senses, “first in , best dressed” the mouthfeel will make the initial impression and if it is strong will obscure the perception of bacaroma.
Our consciousness is easily overloaded; try reading a book as you listen to the radio or having a conversation while watching TV. Though there are individual variations; as we age the ability to ‘focus’ with our senses is reduced and women have a better ability to ‘multitask’ (as well as a more sensitive sense of smell).
The balance of the mouthfeel components is well known and has become a Bordeaux speciality but there is a second balance, between mouthfeel and bacaroma. Beyond a certain point bacaroma will be overlooked in heavy mouthfeel wines -it is possible to be too big!. I have noticed how the aroma in the glass seems to ‘disappear’ on the palate with big wines, despite the 15-20 degree temperature increase in the mouth which you would expect to enhance aroma. Heavy bodied wines in barrel have an amazing ability to absorb new oak flavours. It takes perhaps a minute after tasting such a wine before there is a sudden burst of bacaroma, after the mouth feeling has ebbed (“the peacock’s tail”?). Another example of an unbalanced wine style are the so-called ”fruit driven” ones that have strong up front aromas with little mouthfeel and bacaroma, such as many popular sauvignon blancs.
The ideal would be a balance between mouthfeel and bacaroma where both can be perceived, with their length being indicators of quality.
Writing as a winemaker AND a viticulturist , the former’s responsibility is to create a balanced structure without losing the fruit flavours, and perhaps enhancing them with oak and yeasts. In my view it is the viticulturist who delivers the quality fruit that in the main determines the richness of flavours in a memorable wine. It is possible to say ‘This is a well made wine, but not a good one”. ie. the wine is balanced and has structure, but lacks flavour.
Summing up, in order to improve your wine experience:
- Slow down and use the front of the mouth.
- Be aware that the oral experience has two sensory parts. This is the path to discerning quality.
- We are built around our sense of smell and this needs to be at the centre of our wine experience.
- The mode of enjoying wine is the same as for food.
- Let’s drink beer and water but eat wine!
Ken Eckersley
Nicholson River Winery
August 2008
