Wine Must Change

[timbo]

I am not sure if this will reach anyone, but the following information pertains to the study mentioned in this thread. Acutally, preliminary sample included over 2,000 female respondants; well over 4 .

The hypothesis for the taste sensitivity component of the survey is that a very large segment of existing and potential wine consumers are more sensitive to bitter tastes, and the pervasive paradigms of “wine quality” (dry, strong) and wine and food matching (which is primarily a completly subjective, individual experience with little basis in reality - seriously) often alienates and sends negative messaging to this segment. It is well known that all humans are biologically individual and that taste sensitivity varies enormously. The tasters with the most taste buds prefer mild and often sweet wines yet are alienated by the wine community and often ridiculed for their preferences.

This survey represents the first formal quantification of this hypothesis by incorporating flavor questions that can determine the taste sensitivity of respondents to correlate to wine preferences and attitudes. It points to an incredible market opportunity for the wine industry. Starbucks leverages this by selling coffee drinks with a mild, sweet taste profile at much higher prices that a cup of black, single bean, terroir expressive Sumatra Mandheling.

Questions for the survey were formulated within the general survey to determine the sensitivity of wine consumers to bitter tastes. We can then cross reference bitter sensitivity with wine preferences, behaviors, attitudes and demographics.

Sensitivity was based on correlations of salt preference (bitter-suppressive qualities) and use of cream and sugar in coffee to lessen bitterness.

In preliminary results, two extreme segments emerged:

More sensitive (love salty snacks and prefer coffee w/moderate to lots of sugar and cream) - 848 respondents

Less sensitive (completely or somewhat dislike salty snack, coffee with little or no sugar or cream) - 246 respondents

More sensitive segment:

65% female, 35% male

Less sensitive segment:

64% male, 36% female

These results are consistent with existing research on taste sensitivity.

Overall respondents were 53% male, 43% female

The conclusions of this prelimary study:

There is a much larger population of bitter-sensitive consumers than less sensitive consumers. Wine experts are much more likely to be less sensitive tasters.

Interesting tidbits about bitter sensitive consumers:

Predisposed to prefer milder tastes in wine such as white zinfandel, riesling, sweet wines in general.

Have significantly different attitudes about wine consumption - think wine is even more cool and sexy but half as likely to regualarly consume wine.

Tend to think about wine less as a beverage option and are nearly twice as likely to order a cocktail instead of wine.

Wine is half as likely to be part of dining at home or even thought of with meals.

More to come as we get to 10,000 responses. Anyone want to help us get this survey out to more consumers, espicially the ones who would never go into a wine related site? I can provide info if desired.

[Suzanne F]

Thanks, timbo, for that background. This is much more interesting now that a perpetrator, um, I mean participating researcher, has chimed in.

What got me initially, and still does, is the study's underlying assumption that liking salt = disliking bitter. Or that cream and sugar are not simply likable flavors when combined with coffee.

Sensitivity was based on correlations of salt preference (bitter-suppressive qualities) and use of cream and sugar in coffee to lessen bitterness.

Even if salty and bitter were the only two tastes we could experience, that still seems like fallacious reasoning to me. Or were there specific survey questions that offered those reasons as responses?

As an N of 1, of course you can't draw any conclusions from my preferences. But you should know that almost every night I enjoy a salad with a high proportion of bitter ingredients (endive, radicchio, romaine), I drink espresso without sugar and American coffee with only milk (or black if it really good), AND I find that wines that have extremely high alcohol content (say, the 14.9% Zin we had the other night) are in fact bitter -- because alcohol is bitter. But I drink them anyway.

Guess I'd better go back an read the actual article, eh? Edited to add: I tried but couldn't; it has expired. Is there anywhere we can read the article, or see a research report on the survey?

Edited September 20, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[timbo]

"What got me initially, and still does, is the study's underlying assumption that liking salt = disliking bitter. Or that cream and sugar are not simply likable flavors when combined with coffee."

Got it. And I agree, the assumptions seems bizarre at first.

This underlying assumption is actually a phenomenon studied and very well proven in many other studies. Salt suppresses bitterness, which is unpleasant to humans, and sweet (sugar) is attractive as is umami taste (cream). Sweet and umami also mask bitterness. People who are extreme "oversalters" are most likely to be bitter sensitive, and there is a 90% chance that there mother had severe morning sickness (swear to god) and that they will also dislike diet sodas experincing a bitter, not sweet, taste from artifical sweeteners .

Humans do not like bitter (although they may "acquire" a taste for it - more later), and some are biologically very sensitive to the bitter taste while others are significantly less sensitive to bitter. This sensitivity correlates directly to the number of taste buds the individual has, and women are significantly more sensitive (duh) . The difference in sensitivity ranges is amazing. This is also one of the primary reasons why there is often so much argument over different wine qualities and wine and food combinations. Two people can drink or eat the same thing and have completely different sensory experiences. Something else pertinent here - two people may have the same sensory experience but draw totally different conclusions due to life experinces or psychological conditioning!

Over time many people adapt to tolerate higher levels of bitterness if the combination of sensations (smell primarily and other tastes) are associated with something emotionally pleasing. This is how some people can adapt to scothc, cognac etc. Those hyper-sensitive bitter will rarely ever "acquire a taste" (this is when a psychological attraction to a sensation over rides a biological aversion) for scotch, coffee, many vegetables, etc. The idea that "your palate matures" or that people should be expected to adapt to unpleasant tastes is the incorrect assumption here, and one commonly held by the wine community.

Also of interest, people can also "dispose" of a taste, usually sweet or salty, if it becomes negatively associated with rotting teeth, being childish, making you fat or stopping your heart from functions.

The article on this was very short and did not give much backgroung. There is a lot of "fallacious reasoning" about taste and flavor, especially in regard to wine. for example: "I find that wines that have extremely high alcohol content (say, the 14.9% Zin we had the other night) are in fact bitter -- because alcohol is bitter" - this is a comonly held assumption, but the taste of alcohol is sweet. Since alcohol is a solvent, the association of high alcohol and long fermentation often result in bitter wines because the alcohol disolves small molecular weight phenolics that result in bitter wine. There are many very high alcohol products, including vodka, with virtually no trace of bitterness. Scotch and Cognac have a combination of high alcohol AND bitter phenolics, and the alcohol also increases something called chemesthesis, which is an irritation of your touch nerve endings that will amplify the bittenress.

Anyhoo, we have a lot more detail goin in to this. Thanks for your interest!

And, by the way, we can learn a lot by any combination of preferences (of course you can't draw any conclusions from my preferences) The combination of biological sensitivities and psychological adptation is referred to as the psycho gustatory phenomenon and opens up a really cool new field of study with a great deal of relevence to truths about the different way individuals experience of wine and food.

[Suzanne F]

Neat. Even though from personal observation I have problems with some of the statements. But please keep us informed.

Related but not obviously part of this all: where does astringency fit in? Tannins, high-alcohol mouthwash, spinach, that sort of thing??

[timbo]

Astringency is tactile (touch), not taste, from larger molecular weight phenolics. Bitter sensitive individuals are typically more sensitive to astringency, although it is probably a compound effect from the two.

By the by, if you have never experienced this, try a strong red wine and then lick a bit of lemon juice and salt, yep, just like for tequila, and try the wine again. The wine becomes soft and very fruity. The entire paradigm of red wine with red meat is simply the experience of the salt and wine, not the meat which actually amplifies bitterness and tannin for most.

[pleiades]

^

^

werd.

Grilled steak finished with fresh lemon juice and good evoo + moderately tannic red wine=

[badthings]

Salt suppresses bitterness, which is unpleasant to humans, and sweet (sugar) is attractive as is umami taste (cream). Sweet and umami also mask bitterness. People who are extreme "oversalters" are most likely to be bitter sensitive...

This is interesting. From this article in the 2/7/03 Cell, I gathered that sweet, bitter, and umami all use the same signalling pathway (but different receptors). So it would make sense that sweet or umami would disguise bitterness. But how does salt (or sour?), using another pathway, disguise bitterness?

this (unresolved) thread is devoted to salt as a flavor enhancer, which would seem to be the opposite of a disguiser... unless disguising bitterness enhances flavor?

More taste science, please.