Wine tasting and body chemistry

[Chanterelle]

Yesterday I attended the annual portfolio tasting of a NY importer/distributer--hundreds of beautiful wines from all corners of the globe at all levels. Not long after arriving I realized it was One Of Those Days: all the red wines tasted sour and astringent. All those beautiful Rhone, Burgandy, Aussie reds, more pain than pleasure. Granted they were young, but still...

While not a complete wine novice (I've outgrown muller-thurgau) I'm normally a white wine drinker, enjoying sauvignon blancs (hate cheap oaky chards) at the more modest end of the scale. I started getting into pinot noir before That Movie came out, and I'm very happy drinking good cabs and syrahs with food. But sometimes I just cannot deal with reds, and it seems to be a fleeting body chemistry thing (but not a recurring monthly thing--'nuff said). Occasionally it's the reverse (i.e. not being able to drink whites--that seems to be an reaction to acidity), but I mostly experience this with reds: the bouquet in the glass may smell complex and delicious, but once I take in and hold a mouthful I can't get past the tannin and acidity.

I don't think it's simply a matter of not having learned how to taste beyond the youth of emerging wines, though that's probably part of it (and how DO you learn to taste young reds?). Does anyone have any experience of this? Could it have been the asparagus risotto I made the night before, for instance? How can I prepare my body, in terms of diet, vitamins, etc., to be in the best shape for a tasting?

[Rebel Rose]

On learning to evaluate young reds, it is a skill that requires practice over a long period of tasting the same wines when they are young, and again when they have matured for a while. I am in the fortunate position of tasting the same wines in the barrel, shortly before bottling, after bottling, and at various points during maturation. I write our descriptive back labels while the wine is still in the barrel, and over the years (and with tutelage from mentors like Ken Volk, Art Norman, and Dan Panico) I have learned to mentally anticipate the effects of bottling, bottle shock and bottle age and then pare away the characteristics that will disappear and describe the essence of the wine. That's an extreme example, but it illustrates that by tasting older wines and then younger wines, you will learn to gauge a young wine accurately. Is it a quaffer? A giant now, but a snore in a few years? Or a lean, long distance runner?

Definitely some people are affected by their metabolism. Since everyone is different, I can't say what regimen would work for you, but I have heard some winemakers mention that a big meal of shellfish, diuretics like coffee or watermelon, or an imbalance of salts in their system, will interfere with wine tasting. Until you discover what is interfering with your palate, I would recommend hydrating yourself thoroughly for 2-3 days before the event.

[Chanterelle]

Thanks for your serious answers to both questions. I guess the metabolism/red wine dilemma is a bit oddball. But then my wine heritage is a little strange: we may have been a rare wine-drinking household in 60's suburban Cleveland, but that consisted of my mother's nightly glass of Paisano or Thunderbird with dinner, from a jug stored under the kitchen sink. Meanwhile back in Paris, her mother had the habit of dropping saccharine into the Graves--she also liked to dilute her Perrier. (hope that's not too much information!)

Henceforth I'll make a point of hydrating before tasting. The vertical tasting over time will be a little harder, but I'll figure it out.

Susan

[jsolomon]

Chanterelle, the natural ebb and flow of body chemistries involves a lot of things happening. There are neurotransmitters that are more prevalent at some times versus others which can affect how you perceive things at those times, and there are chemistries that actually have a scent that may be numbing some of your scent receptors at certain times.

If there are scented products you use to *ahem* cover up at certain times, that may also be part of your problem. If it is one of the other two, you may simply want to accept that during certain times, your enjoyment of wine will be different, and plan your wine choices at certain times differently.

Best of luck!

[CtznCane]

My wife experiences the same sort of variances of taste in red wines. I think one factor for her is that she is diabetic so the current sugar level may have some effect.

Another factor can be having something to eat before hand (or along with) that has some fat in it. Cheese is good for this and the fat does help tone down the tannins.

[JohnL]

Yesterday I attended the annual portfolio tasting of a NY importer/distributer--hundreds of beautiful wines from all corners of the globe at all levels.  Not long after arriving I realized it was One Of Those Days:  all the red wines tasted sour and astringent.  All those beautiful Rhone, Burgandy, Aussie reds, more pain than pleasure.  Granted they were young, but still...

While not a complete wine novice (I've outgrown muller-thurgau)  I'm normally a white wine drinker, enjoying sauvignon blancs (hate cheap oaky chards) at the more modest end of the scale.  I started getting into pinot noir before That Movie came out, and I'm very happy drinking good cabs and syrahs with food.  But sometimes I just cannot deal with reds, and it seems to be a fleeting body chemistry thing (but not a recurring monthly thing--'nuff said).  Occasionally it's the reverse (i.e. not being able to drink whites--that seems to be an reaction to acidity), but I mostly experience this with reds: the bouquet in the glass may smell complex and delicious, but once I take in and hold a mouthful I can't get past the tannin and acidity.

I don't think it's simply a matter of not having learned how to taste beyond the youth of emerging wines, though that's probably part of it (and how DO you learn to taste young reds?).  Does anyone have any experience of this?  Could it have been the asparagus risotto I made the night before, for instance?  How can I prepare my body, in terms of diet, vitamins, etc., to be in the best shape for a tasting?

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Your post was one of the more baffling I have encountered anywhere.

The vast majority of wine produced is made to be drunk upon release or soon after.

red wine has tannin in it and I would be suspicious of any young red that was completely lacking in them.

That said--the key to your dilemma lies in the fact that you note that this aversion to tannins seems to be an erratic occurrence. There is no doubt that one has good and bad days --for just about everything. I am often not "in the mood for....."

If your "problem" (and maybe it isn't really a problem) may be that you just don't like tannins or have difficulty dealing with them. I don't like tasting young vintage ports because it requires a bit of work in dealing with all those tannins. It is not necessarily that I can not taste and evaluate young port --I merely prefer not to.

Also the fact that this "phenomena" sometimes happens with whites tells me that maybe there are just days when you are not up to tasting wine in general.

I would guess that even professionals have their days--I certainly do--and thus have to work through them.

Mary's advice was good though barrel samples are quite another thing apart from wine that is in bottle and released to the public.

I suppose that you should on good days taste a variety of red wines and see if you can train your palate to get past the tannins. And certainly when you are having an off day--just drink other beverages--might be a great opportunity to try beers or iced teas or sakes or....

If there is anything more complex than wine itself it is human beings!

best of luck and cheers!