You've seen it - those wine connoisseurs who sniff a wine before drinking in an attempt to judge its character. Do you ever wonder why they do this and if it can really reveal the quality of a wine? This article provides a look at how the nose knows and why wine experts and wine clubs choose to take a big whiff when tasting wines.
How The Nose Knows
Wine experts taste a wine with their noses first and their tongues second so they have more time for analysis. Smelling a wine segments and prolongs what would be an immediate first impression through taste. Before drinking a wine, a winemaker, wine connoisseur, or wine of the month club selection committee member brings the glass to his or her nose. Some prefer to turn their head to the side, exposing one nostril to the aroma of the wine while others aim both nostrils straight into the glass. Taking a deep sniff of the wine before tasting intensifies the taste of the wine, allowing the taster to fully experience the wine.
The Connection Between Aroma And Taste
To understand the contribution the nose makes to the sensation of taste, all you need to do is hold your nose closed while you eat or drink. You will notice your taste sensations are seriously diminished when you cannot smell. Both the nose and the mouth together are necessary for the most intense sensations of taste. A rush to drink and swallow a wine is an incomplete way to analyze or appreciate it. That is why wine experts and wine clubs make sniffing a priority in choosing wines.
The Importance Of Taste Buds
The average person has approximately 10,000 taste buds on their tongue. Remarkably, the taste buds are replaced every two weeks. Older people have fewer taste buds than younger people do because the replacement process diminishes with age. This allows older people to tolerate more salt and pepper in their food and more acid and tannins in their wine. Developing a smell and taste for wine is why many old people choose to join a wine of the month club.
Younger people are typically more sensitive to the acid and tannins in wine in addition to other sharper flavored foods and drinks. When anyone bites or chews on food, chemicals are released that travel into the nose, triggering olfactory receptors that send taste messages to the brain. This mirrors the job of the taste buds on the tongue.
Gender And The Sense Of Smell
Women have a more highly developed sense of smell than men do. Some scientists believe this is a survival instinct. For example, a prehistoric woman who smelled smoke would have enough time to gather her children to safely flee an oncoming forest fire. While this is a dramatic example for the process of tasting wine, experts believe that smell does play a role because more women belong to wine clubs and purchase more wine and than men do.
Tasting Wines
Other than sticking their noses into a glass, wine experts and wine of the month club selection committee members also slurp wine in their mouths, holding the length of their tongue against the roof of their mouth, freeing the sides of the tongue. This is because the taste buds that focus on the flavors sweet, salty, sour, and bitter are all located on different parts of the tongue. Sour receptors are on the sides of the tongue and bitter receptors are at the back of the tongue. By adjusting the placement of the tongue, experts can evaluate the flavors of a wine.
While you may not want to stick your nose in a glass of wine and then gross out your friends by slurping it up and rolling it around in your mouth, it may be something to consider on those nights alone when you can fully enjoy the smell and art of tasting wine. If it still doesn't appeal to you, trust an expert and join wine clubs who have already gone through the tasting process for you.
