Do we taste fat in wine? The 'sixth' taste ?

[Don Giovanni]

Do we taste fat? The sixth taste ?

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Five sub-modalities allowing the perception of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami stimuli are classically depicted. However, the inborn attraction of mammals for fatty foods raises the possibility of an additional orosensory modality devoted to fat perception.

More info...just to be clear...the fat I talk about is a note in wines...yes with wine you do get a fat sensation with the burgs most often and some Cali wines... this is bacon fat...this comes from the oak and the interaction with the wine... the relation to cool climates...so it was in relation to wine...sorry if I was not clear...cheers !

Even more info...Tongue sensors seem to taste fat

Receptor may determine desire for dietary fat

By Jim Dryden

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In the mouse experiments conducted by the researchers at the University of Bourgogne in Dijon, the rodents were fed two solutions: one laced with fat and the other containing a gummy, fat-free substance that mimicked the feel of fat in the mouth. Normal mice preferred the fatty solution, but mice that had been genetically engineered without the CD36 receptor protein didn't have that preference. In additional experiments in laboratory rats, the scientists found that removal of the CD36 gene kept the animals' intestines from initiating secretion of digestive juices necessary to digest fat.

Edited June 30, 2007 by Don Giovanni (log)

[SBonner]

Fat to me seems more of a textual concept rather than a flavour in regards to wine. On the other hand many Rhone Syrah's have that distinct bacon fat aroma...so who knows.

Stephen Bonner