Burning Question: Do People Really Taste Wine Differently?

(WSJ) - Taste is mostly genetic. But appreciating a fine bottle of wine can be learned. One expert, Gary K. Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, which studies smell and taste and how they affect human health, offers his view of what goes on when we sip.

That Tingly Feeling

When we talk about flavor, says Dr. Beauchamp, three factors come into play. The first two are the most familiar: The tongue and palate sense the primary taste categories of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. And smell receptors at the top of the nose capture molecules floating in the air. In fruit season, for instance, "the odors and the tastes interact with different receptors and all converge in the brain, which tells you that this is a peach," he says.

For wine, a third factor is also important—an irritation in the mouth, the throat and the nose that some people like and others find unpleasant. "We don't have a good term for it, but it's that sense of pain you feel when you taste something spicy or fermented—that little stinging," Dr. Beauchamp says.

For example, "If you were to give a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil to people in the U.S., many wouldn't like that burning sensation," says Dr. Beauchamp, who has done studies on this particular condition. "But if you give it to people from the Mediterranean, they will recognize the feeling as the sign of the very best olive oil." Enjoying that subtle pain is learned, scientists believe, but Dr. Beauchamp says they don't yet understand how that happens.