At some point, almost everyone who tries or loves wine has experienced it. The moment when someone describes a wine as having aromas of blackcurrant, graphite, violets, forest floor, and tobacco, and you smell something completely different.
Or another moment: you taste a wine that received an impressive score and has the price tag to reflect that score and you quietly wonder, “What am I missing?”
The result is that quite a few people assume they simply do not have the ability to understand wine. They believe that somewhere along the way, experts developed a language and a sensitivity that they were never given. (I will talk more about this topic at a later point…).
So here is the reality... Your palate is NOT broken.
Wine tasting is not a test you pass or fail. It is an observation. In fact, if you taste the same wine a few separate times and on different days, after a long day at work or during a luncheon, you will also observe something about yourself. You may notice that perhaps after certain foods, the wine tells a different story and highlights features gone unnoticed before. Or perhaps at the end of a long day when you are quite tired, the wine is just not showing as you thought it would show….
Every person experiences wine through their own memories, experiences, culture, and senses. A person who grew up around orchards may recognize fruit aromas differently than someone who grew up around spices, coffee, or forests. Someone who has spent years in vineyards or tasting a vast range of wines may notice structure and texture that another person has not yet learned to identify.
In other words, one person is not right or another wrong. Rather, different people notice different things.
Learning about wine is about expanding your ability to observe; refrain from replacing your own impressions with someone else’s vocabulary. A tasting note is not a command. It is an invitation.
The beauty of wine is that it sits at the intersection of nature and perception. The vineyard provides the raw material, the winemaker shapes it, and your senses interpret it so that your memories give it meaning. This is why two people can taste the same bottle and have completely different reactions- and both experiences can be genuine!
Knowledge matters and expertise should open doors. Learning about wine is not about becoming better at repeating someone else’s opinion. It should be so that you become better at forming your own opinion with your own sensory system (eyes, nose, and mouth).
So, the next time you taste a wine and wonder whether you are “getting it” or not, remember:
You are already tasting.
You are already experiencing.
Your palate is not broken.
It is simply yours.
100%!