A WINE EXPERT AND A WINE NOVICE: WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE?

Oaky, racy, toasty, thick, corky, fruity, flabby, muddled. Whenever I hear someone in a formal affair starting to blabber about these fancy wine terminologies, I think to myself, does this guy in the black suit really know the difference? And most of all, how does he do it? These terms I have described above are only a few of the wide array of terms wine experts use to recognize and identify wines based on their olfaction. Being a self-proclaimed wine ignorant, I always think to myself, what underlies a wine expert’s ability to identify his favorite bottle of cabernet sauvignon through his nose? Clearly, olfaction is an important process when assessing complex mixtures such as wine where flavor that can be derived mostly from the aroma. The apparent volatility of wine has indeed played a vital role in affecting the judgment of the quality of wine one receives. The nose, with years of wine-tasting experience, can evaluate the wine’s age, condition, and its overall quality. Amazing, right?

In addition to this, I always ask myself, “What makes the difference between wine experts and their novice counterparts in recognizing and identifying wine-relevant smells? Is it their broad knowledge in wine vocabulary or is it their enhanced sensitivity?” The study by Parr et al.(2002) answers exactly what makes the difference. The research sample consists of 11 wine experts and 11 novices and they were asked to participate in tasks measuring odor recognition and odor identification. Results have shown that superior olfactory recognition is present in expert wine judges. However, their olfactory sensitivity, bias, and odor identification were found to be similar to those of novices.  In addition to this, the ability to recognize odors and ability to name odors were not positively associated. This suggests that the cause of superior odor recognition in wine experts was not based on improved recall and linguistic competencies. It was interpreted in the study that the difference happens on the effect of verbal shadowing on novices and experts. When forced to classify the odorants, experts' superior perceptual skills safeguarded them from verbal interference, whereas novices' generated verbal representations of the odors were emphasized at the expense of the odorant itself. Thus, it is the perceptual skill that makes this distinguishable disparity between wine experts and wine novices.

            Wine tasting is an art form and for some, it is seen as occupation. Instead of just trying to figure a way out of an indecipherable wine tasting jargon, I suggest that you do the actual wine tasting itself. Through the years you may be able to figure out the difference between corky and oaky, and you can eventually identify red wine varietals such as merlot, cabarnet franc, shiraz, etc. The most important reminder of all, however, is just make sure you are over 18 to do this.

Parr, W., Heatherbell, D., and White, K. (2002) Demystifying Wine Expertise: Olfactory Threshold, Perceptual Skill and Semantic Memory in Expert and Novice Wine Judges, in Chemical Senses, 27(8): 747-755