Are you a Super Taster?
It is interesting to sense that “A-HA” moment when someone finds out if you are what Tim Hanni, MW calls a “super taster.” It is not if you have educated yourself and honed your senses into being a “super taster.” Tim is America’s first Master of Wine and an innovator in pairing wines with people’s individual tastes. Genetics plays a significant factor into how you experience your senses. This is different than when the blind enhance their other remaining senses to help them through life. This is not about adapting. It is all about GENETICS and your core make-up. Each of us are individuals with different genetic traits like blonde or brown hair or like the color of your eyes. Each of us is genetically disposed to be what we are. Some people are genetically linked to being a “super taster.” Your tongue and palette are sensitive to sensation. With this trait of being genetically sensitive on your palette, your nose is also normally sensitive to smells and your skin is sensitive to touch. If you experience this acute sense of sensitivity, you are what Tim Hanni defines as a “super taster.” That basically means you have with your genes about 15,000 to 17,000 taste buds on your tongue. Since you are a “super taster,” your senses are normally over-whelmed with sensations. To get away from the overwhelming myriad of those taste sensations, you want something to dominate like sweets or salts in order to simplify the sensations. This is a normal reaction with sweets and sometimes salts dominating your taste buds. This is WHY some people like sweet wines like Moscato and Rieslings. These are your “super taster” sensation causing you to drive to a dominant taste. This is the root of why Tim Hanni, MW got Berringer Wines to produce the sweet, light sensations of White Zinfandels. Tim sensed there were groups of people that would gravitate to those sweet wines. It was in the last fifteen years that Tim’s research shed strong light on the reasons for people going toward those sweet wines. He held numerous group tastings to provide the data which showed that people who were “super tasters” were genetically driven to be sensitive to tastes, smells, and touch. He found that “super tasters” have sensitive noses (unless you had allergies) and sensitive skin. Those people were the ones who normally “cut the tags out of their clothes” and slept on high-count thread sheets. His findings are outlined in his book, “Why You like the Wines You Like – Changing the Way the World Looks at Wine.” This book is a huge blockbuster since it methodically outlines why certain people like sweet wines and the reasons others choose to trend toward those allegedly classic wines. There is absolutely nothing wrong about enjoying and drinking sweet wines. What is wrong is how some wine snobs blast sweet wine drinkers because they do not enjoy what many wine snobs label as the “classic dry wines” from France, Napa, Italy, and other wine regions. These “super tasters” are WHY there are sweet German Riesling wines and sweet Asti Spumante sparkling wines. We enjoyers of wines should never judge another by the wines they enjoy that are different than ours. We should understands the reasons some trend toward the sweeter and more fruit-oriented wines. It’s all about genetics! Stop being a wine snob! Enjoy wine and share with your friends, especially if they like the sweeter wines. Those people are the ones that are genetically more sensitive!
We do season our foods so why not season the wines we drink. If you enjoy sweet wines, it is fine to put a little sugar in your wine. If you want my oak feel in your wine, add a small drop of Extract of Vanilla. For more pepper in your Zinfandel, add a flake of black pepper. It is a matter of enhancing and enjoying your wines?