Napa Valley Register | Which are you? A hypo or hyper taster

Have you ever had wine in a tasting room, bought some and later when you open it at home, the wine seems to taste different?

Or have you ordered wine in a restaurant and enjoyed it, but when you tasted the same wine later, it, too, was not what you remembered?

Liz Thach of Sonoma State University and Master of Wine Tim Hanni said that’s not at all unusual, because how you taste wine depends on several factors. They teamed up to speak at a recent meeting of WineSpirit, a Napa-based organization that brings people together to explore the spiritual dimension of wine.

Thach, a professor in Sonoma State’s Wine Business Program, revealed a puzzle of four pieces representing the components of wine preferences — Taste Bud Quotient, Metabolic State, Psychological Conditioning and Concurrent Sensations — and they all fit together to form consumers’ opinions and tastes in wine.

Tastebuds obviously play a vital role in tasting wine, but the number of tastebuds vary from person to person. A “Hypo Taster” is one who has fewer tastebuds and has a higher tolerance for tannins and bitterness. Alcohol tastes sweet and mild, and Hypo Tasters perceive lower intensity wines as thin and watery.

On the other hand, a “Hyper Taster” has more tastebuds and is highly sensitive to tannins and bitterness. Alcohol comes across with a strong and often burning and objectionable taste.

In between is the “Median Taster,” moderately sensitive and is usually open to a broad range of wines at either extreme.

“You need to know who you are and where you fit on this wine tasting continuum so you know how to taste,” Thach said. She added that this helps to understand where wine critics come from in their wine evaluations.

To help the audience determine where they fit, Thach and Hanni handed out tiny slips of treated litmus paper and had the guests taste it. Some said it was so bitter that they gagged (they were the Hyper Tasters), a few more experienced no taste (the Hypo Tasters), and the majority fell in the middle — Median Tasters who found it somewhat bitter.

Taste buds are not inherited. Children do not have the same kind of taste buds as their parents, Hanni said.

Concurrent sensations

Another component in tasting is the concurrent sensations — your state of mind at the time of tasting. Where you taste the wine, the people you are with, what you are eating, what you are doing, the ambience — all contribute to how the wine is perceived. One guest told of a time when he played different types of music during a tasting and said the wines seemed different depending on the music. “Never serve wine with Mozart,” he laughed.

A person’s taste can be affected by psychological factors, as well. Hanni told of a person who disliked sauvignon blanc, which can have a grassy taste and aroma. It evoked memories of fresh mown grass, and it turned out that the person had four acres of property that had to be mowed.

The fourth factor, the metabolic or physical state of an individual, also has an effect on the way wine tastes.

Hanni said that people’s sensitivity to bitterness changes over time, but the change in taste isn’t noticeable until later in life, when one reaches his/her 60s or 70s. However, the palate doesn’t really change — it’s the brain that is re-programming itself, he said. “The brain processes sensory experiences,” he said, “and we learn to like things that we instinctively hate.”

In closing, he threw a line at the audience which they found difficult to imagine — “The people with the most sensitive palates are white zinfandel drinkers.”

WineSpirit’s next seminar will be at Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga Thursday featuring Hugh Davies of Schramsberg and Maria Binchet, food and wine writer, who will talk on “The Hows and Whys of Toasts,” and will explain how toasts can initiate a connection between people. Davies also will give a demonstration on sabering, the art of opening a bottle of sparkling wine with a sword. Sparkling wines and hors d’oeuvres will be served starting at 7 p.m., and the program will begin at 7:30. For information, call 261-8716.