Grapes of Wrath ~ When Wine Tastes Bad

You know, not everybody is into wine. OK, I see the shock on your face, but hear me out.

Aside from the obvious reasons like religious practice, under aged youngsters, food allergies, psychological references and previous bad experiences and so on, there seems to be taste incongruence's from person to person. Taste is the discerning sense.

Unlike eyesight where we see and accept what we see, taste makes us wait a moment to decide if this nibble will please us. To make it more interesting we aren’t consistent with ourselves - we don’t always like the same foods; “I’m off shrimp.” or “I’m not in the mood for ice cream.” but you never hear, “I’m in the mood for a purple sunset.” Taste is so finicky that when the sommelier pours a tiny bit of wine for the customer to try, to be certain it pleases, I wonder if the should serve everyone at the table this way.

I have a friend that likes wine fine, but enjoys food far less spicy than I do. I was curious what she would think about an Italian red I had just purchased. I poured her a tiny bit and let her see, sniff, then sip…

Her face screwed up into a raisin, her eyes squeezed shut, and her lips puckered smaller and smaller, worrying me I might have to call 911. She shook her head, then again more vigorously. “No. No! I don’t like this at all.” I was not prepared with a spit bucket so was relieved when she had decided to swallow. It looked like a tough desicion, though.

The men that tried it, were ok with it but would refer to drink something else, and I was somewhat in the middle, leaning toward not liking it.

So, a few questions:

1. If it’s that hard to like, why does the vintner make it?
2. Are there cultural preferences that can dictate taste?
3. Can a vintner make a profit with only first time sales?
4. Wasn’t there anything they could do to make it taste better?
5. Why does ‘taste bad’ provoke a universal face of revulsion when ‘taste good’ is so personal - not universal at all?
6. How can something taste so bad without smelling that bad?
7. If it tastes bad, is it in bad taste?

If you’ve had wine at all, you’ve probably tasted wine you didn’t like, but was it you or was it the wine? How do you know? And if it’s the wine, is it bad for you? I mean, if you were to drink straight vinegar, it wouldn’t hurt you. So exactly what are our taste buds telling us? I’m open to input on the subject and I’m betting others would like to know, too. If you have any of the answers we are waiting for your response before we take another sip.

Oh, one last question: Could these be the origins of the spit bucket?

LiveJournal Tags: bad wine,sense of taste,tastes,Niki Chanel,vintners,involuntary response,spit bucket,wine sales