Let’s talk about taste. Not about whether any of us have good or bad taste but about the experience.
Particularly when it comes to wine tasting, a surprising number of people underestimate their taste sense with statements like “I can’t tell the difference between a $10 and $50 wine.”
Over the years, I’ve had opportunities to put that belief to the test and in every instance, ordinary folk have picked the nicer, more complex wine. Often that wine was more expensive, but not always.
What this suggests is that people are being too modest! Or they’re not concerned very much with analyzing everything they put into their mouths. That’s perfectly reasonable of course, but this doesn’t mean that their palates are finite.
As with any instrument, your palate perceptions can be refined with practice. You may love singing opera, and with enough practice, you will get better. You may not become an Asmik Grigorian, but you will gain greater skill and confidence.
It’s this spirit that leads those interested in wine to take courses in wine tasting and here I’ll issue a word of caution. I’ve been to many seminars, and too often I’ve heard instructors say in response to the question “How can you tell if a wine is good?”, “Whatever wine you like, that’s a good wine.”
If you hear an answer like that from an instructor, I would hasten to get my money back. It’s a weasel response and has implicit in it, “There’s actually no point in taking this class”.
The entire purpose of taking classes in wine is to expose your palate to a broader range of tastes and styles of wine from the whole of the wine-producing world. You will also learn the difference between bad and good wine.
A proper wine training will also connect you to a greater vocabulary, which will further enhance the connectivity between your palate and brain and that will in turn then become your rolodex of tastes.
Please never underestimate the power of the taste-brain connection. Famed Alinea chef Grant Achatz once lost his sense of taste due to tongue cancer. He was eventually cured and I did see a documentary where he described continuing to cook by remembering the tastes of the foods he was using. It raises a number of profound questions.