Have you ever been to a wine bar or restaurant and decided to try a wine that was available by the glass? a wine that you would have wanted to experience without committing to a whole bottle? Maybe it was a wine that someone recommended. Or, you found a wine that you really like, with an unexpected aroma and flavor. Then, on an upcoming subsequent trip to your wine store or Costco, you purchased the identical vintage produced by the same winery. You take it home, light the candles, and break the same cheese and bread that you enjoyed at that memorable tasting, only to be completely disgusted that the aromas and taste of the wine weren’t what you remembered in that restaurant or wine bar when that ah-ha moment hit.

Every two weeks I go to the wine country and San Francisco to make sales calls, and when possible I visit Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant in the late afternoon to get a taste of what’s new in the wines. Because they have a great selection of wines by the glass, I can experiment. I recently tried (not cheap by the way) a Zinfandel with some cheeses and bread and really enjoyed the flavors of the wine. I was so impressed with the Zin that I bought a bottle of Zin on the spot, along with the cheese and bread, and went back to the hotel to continue the wonderful flavors. Guess what? It wasn’t going to be replicated, not even in a few hours. What happened?

To try to find out what happened, I contacted my friend from Master of Wine. I explained in detail the dilemma I faced in relation to my experience of changing the taste of a good wine in a wine bar (a public place) versus my hotel room. My question was: What happened to the wonderful experience between Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant and my hotel? It has probably happened to all of us; a pleasant wine experience in a place and time that cannot be reproduced later in a casual home setting. So I will try to merge what I learned on the subject into a neat look of explanation.

The taste and pleasant reaction to a wine are affected in 4 ways: psychological, physiological, properties of the wine itself, and the environment (s). There may be iterations of these or even a whole new category, but let’s focus on them because they seem to explain why wine tastes different when consumed in a public setting compared to home, even with similar / exact accessories (cheese, bread and grapes, etc.). Below are the issues in each of the categories that can impact the taste of wine, in various places, which is identical in vintage, varietal and winery.

Psychological

• Attitude plays a critical role in how we approach most events. Back to the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant experience. I noticed that some people were drinking wine while waiting for the ferry to board the destinations on the other side of the bay; They just didn’t have a laid-back attitude in a hurry. Others followed the movements of having a glass of wine without concentrating on anything that had to do with the wine itself. It is probably difficult to replicate a specific wine experience if one’s attitude is not consistent, and rarely can be.
• Stress obviously impacts attitude: the stress of the moment or the ebb and flow of residual stresses from the daily work routine. Don’t forget that stress impacts us physiologically, affecting the way we process flavor and aroma profiles.
• Wine appears to be a mindful drink that is best enjoyed with clear focus. Are aromas, color, and flavor approached with positive anticipation or casual appreciation? The mind forms the definition of the experience of that wine, even the exact wine that you are tasting a second time.
• We also approach wine with a preconceived expectation. Any variation on that, for whatever reason, we set ourselves up for disappointment in an attempt to replicate a given wine experience. It seems that nothing is repeatable.
• Relaxation is essential and there are degrees of relaxation. A relaxed state of mind opens the senses of smell and taste and regulates how wine is perceived.
• A Master Sommelier told me about a time when a middle-aged couple walked into his restaurant and when they sat down, it wasn’t long before an argument broke out. He said he was concerned that an enjoyable meal will determine how the restaurant is judged by customers. “At that time it was imperative that he try to defuse the situation,” he said. Yes, even sommeliers know that the psyche can direct a person’s attitude towards wine and food, even within the course of an hour.

Physiological

• Supposedly 90% of taste comes from our olfactory sense. If something changes the way we perceive the aromas around us, the taste will also change.
• Nothing is constant except change. Therefore, the ability to accurately repeat the utopian experience of wine is, by definition, difficult, if not impossible, because our bodies are in a constant state of flux.
• The tongue will tell the brain how to process the taste of the wine. If the taste buds change from one tasting to another, the differences will be recognized. Too good is a recipe for failure. That also applies to wine because tannins and acids will negatively affect the taste if burned. Taste is subjective, so technically taste is always true.
• The age of the consumer will also affect the way the wine is experienced. Although we focus on why the taste change, in just 60 minutes with a change of location, if you wait a year to experience exactly that same bottle of wine, you might be disappointed by age factors.

Wine properties

• There may be different batches of the same vintage that will slightly affect the taste. The time of day a specific vintage and variety was collected and processed can affect wine from bottle to bottle. The fermentation tanks themselves can add some subtle differences and even the oak profile of the barrels between barrel sellers.
• Does the time and distance a wine box travels versus an exact vintage / varietal one make a difference (remember the movie Bottle Shock) or was a different case exposed to heat?
• How long did your special wine breath last that produced that great taste that you are now trying to reproduce? Remember, you are trying to find that magic in a bottle again; Hard to do.
• Did the temperature of the wine change between your big bottle of wine and the one you bought in hopes of finding that magic again? Temperature is a critical element in your attempt to match flavors, even within the same vintage, variety, and winery.
• Now ask yourself if the vintage has aged in the bottle since you first experienced wine.
• There could be some odors from a “corked” bottle from that same vintage and from the cellar due to the contamination of the cork.

Surroundings / surroundings

When trying to reproduce the same great taste of a wine that you experienced in a wine bar rather than at home, the environments are different. The environment is recognized as an important element in the wine experience.

• The temperature in the room will affect the way you perceive the wine you are drinking.
• Sometimes even a subtle difference in the way the wine is stored can affect the taste, even if the wine is from the same vintage and from the same winery.
• Like golfers who repeat a routine / ritual, when trying to achieve maximum pleasure from a wine, be consistent in the ritual you perform when tasting the wine: let it breathe, do not over-manipulate the bottle before opening and decanting it.
• Where were the wine glasses kept? New cabinets (if the wine glasses are stored in a cabinet) may still have a woody smell that will linger in the glasses. It is suggested that they be rinsed, dried and air out to eliminate inherent cabinet odors.
• Room lighting will create an atmosphere that can change the way wine is appreciated. You don’t need a mood ring, but be aware of how lighting will even change the look of a good wine in the glass.
• If you are trying to reproduce a taste that you previously got from good wine, the food should be the same. For the sake of this discussion, we are assuming identical cheese and bread.
• We said earlier that smell drives taste, so in your environment, what aromas are you feeling and are perfume aromas present? Some tasting rooms will ask people to leave if the perfume is too strong.
• As a penultimate statement: recommendations from a friend or sommelier will definitely establish you relative to what you will expect from a wine. So don’t let people dictate your taste standards.
• Never underestimate the impact the company has around the use when we drink wine. The social environment of friends impacts us a lot.
• Music. This is a topic that has received some research in recent years. In a 2011 article in the British Journal of Psychology, it was reported that wine tastes best with music. Adrian North, from Heriot-Watt University in England, said: “The research … considers the possibility that the emotional connotations of music may function as a symbol influencing the perception of the taste of wines. The reported results … indicate that the independent groups’ ratings of the taste of a wine reflected the emotional attributes of the background music played while they drank the wine. ” The connotations it refers to are descriptive attributes such as: bold, sparkling, light and airy, well developed, etc., which are applied to the wine. Mind you, you are talking about people who unconsciously interpret the characteristics of music and use them to describe the wine they were drinking, especially if they like music.

Regarding the two bottles of wine that started this whole discussion; the first one you tried and fell in love with and now the second identical bottle you hope is the same and it is not. We’ve talked about many reasons why the second identical bottle will not provide the same stimulation of taste profiles. But have you ever thought of “music” as a component of an oenological experience? in private or in a wine bar?

It is almost impossible to reproduce the taste of wine from one bottle to the next identical bottle, even if the wine is from the same vintage, varietal and cellar. There are simply too many factors that come into play that can and will affect taste. The old adage is: you can never get back exactly what you once were.

Health!