How Emotions Affect the Taste of Wine
I had a marvelous dinner last night at Cookshop, catching up with my friend from my investment banking days. We are both working for ourselves now and truly love what we do. Over fried hominy (delicious!), we deliberated on how difficult we find it to tear ourselves away from our work. When you have so much personally invested in your work, “balance” becomes more challenging yet much more important to incorporate into everyday life. We also reminisced about a day (six years ago) when Anuj appeared in my cube after an investment banking VP on a project exclaimed:
“We have an infinite amount of work to do & a limited amount of time to do it in.”
Kill me. At the time, I remember Anuj laughing and going to start in on the work; I, on the other hand, was fresh meat, and terrified by the thought. Nowadays, I have an infinite amount of work which excites me and the prospects keep me driven and reassured that we have indeed created a business model that works at Cork’d. But there I go again ranting about something unrelated to wine…
The point of the story above is this: Anuj and I were enjoying a bottle of wine while talking & laughing over dinner. He always defers to me when choosing wine which I love which means I get to order something I haven’t tried before. We depleted a 2007 Muscadet Sevre et Maine “Sur Lie” Domaine de la Tourmaline made with the Melon de Bourgogne varietal. I use this wine for illustrative purposes, to expatiate upon tasting, reviewing and scoring wines…and what might happen with the subjectivity of ratings.
Scenario UNO – You drink this wine alone on your couch. Yeah, I said it. And I do it. SO? Here’s the thing. You have no one to discuss the wine with, you’re likely not deep in conversation (except in your own MIND). Similar to seeing a thought provoking movie, you want someone to discuss with afterward, otherwise it’s not as fulfilling. This wine is fine, but that is all…it is wine, it’s in a glass. Perhaps you have it with a salad, do some work while you eat. You think about it, review it on Cork’d, but of course. You may rate it 86 points.
Scenario DOS – You imbibe this baby with a dear friend over dinner (my experience over the weekend). Mesmeric conversation not only about the wine but also about life, politics and relationships ensue giving this wine new life. You are feeling good about life, about yourself and having a remarkable time as you sip. You feel satisfied as you both agree on the backbone of this wine and debate about particular flavors. You score this sucker 88 points – see my review here.
Scenario TRES – You drink the wine with the winemaker at a restaurant. He visually brings you to the vineyard, telling you the history of the terroir, the vines, the labor that goes into the very bottle you are consuming. You hear his story, learn about his family and his passion for wine. You taste his sweat in the glass. After this encounter, you dig this wine, give it a 90.
Scenario QUATRO – Now… for the kicker! You go to Loire Valley, sojourn on the vineyard, see the vines, tour the cave with the winemaker. Feasting on an incredible meal with the most interesting people who live life the way it should be, you taste the wine again. Conversation is flowing and ever engaging. You are the life of the party and have never felt so good. You are influenced by how much everyone loves the wine. You give this baby a 92.
In my world, I often meet with the producers or folks in the industry and taste the fruits of their labor. I’m not naïve to think that knowing the winemaker and drinking his or her wine has no effect on scoring the wine. However, can I do it objectively? I’d like to think so…but relationships are powerful. The human connection is moving… and sometimes has subconscious implications. Moreover, when it comes to wine “objective” doesn’t exist. However, I often rate wines on Cork’d right in front of winemakers and have no problem scoring a wine sub-90 points with my honest thoughts. Nothing against the person or the wine. My palate simply doesn’t LOVE the wine…doesn’t mean you won’t.
Just food for thought… or wine for reflection, as I like to say. Score a wine how you will. Just be AWARE of the surrounding situation and embrace it. Better yet, note it (in your review or tasting notes if you take them) so others know how to interpret your score.
MUCH LOVE to you all because human interactions and connections influence our thoughts and almost everything we do.
Hi Lindsay,
thanks for writing such an honest piece. Personally, I prefer writing reviews about a wine under scenario UNO. This is exactly the situation where you are only influenced by yourself, you judge and you score. At wine events where you taste north of 70 or 80 wines on a day, the experience is similar (no time for talk), but it is harder to concentrate. As far as scenarios DUO, TRES and QUATRO – fair enough, take some notes, then go ahead and retaste the wine under scenario UNO – I admit that there are times that in those cases I will score the wine in question a touch lower than on my original assesment. Which might just proof your point.
I definitely find this to be true and I feel that a lot of wineries, and particularly winery owners can over look this aspect of the business. Where I am from we have to charge a relatively hefty amount for local wines compared to California wines due to harder growing conditions and a general lack of competition in the growing market. Its almost impossible to find a Texas wine that is better than something coming out of California for less money. I always tried to tell people when I worked at a winery here that what we are selling is an experience of drinking wine, not the wine itself. If we were just selling wine we would be out of business. Smell (and as an extension taste) are the senses that have been most strongly linked to the memory zones in our brain, so as a winery owner or employee, if you can create an enjoyable experience in a pleasant atmosphere that is fun and exciting, people will not only want to come back to the winery but will also want to drink your wines at home, because the smells and tastes of the wines will bring back the memories of their trip to the winery. In a sense the wine becomes an anchor to a pleasant event in our memory, a way of going back an reliving it whenever we want.
This is very interesting, and deadly accurate.
There are certainly instances where the taste of the wine was enhanced by the experience… and that’s a great thing. Even better, there have been times where I’ve tasted a wine at an event, purchased a bottle, and it tasted better when opened on a weekend night on the back patio. Love when that happens.
I agree, the notes that accompany ratings/reviews are extremely important (and helpful). Aside from the context of the review, they sometimes provide some great ideas like food pairings to try or even restaurant recommendations – an added bonus.
Enjoyed the post, and congrats with the recent re-launch of Corkd!
- Rick from Hello Vino
I couldn’t agree with you more. I noticed this when i visited the north fork of LI for my 1 year anniversary. When i re-tasted the wines that i brought home they were not as good as i “remembered” or simply perceived at the moment. The power of persuasion, environment and the mind is extraordinary!