Our most sensitive of the five senses is our sense of smell. Our noses are so sensitive that they can detect one odor molecule out of a million, whereas with taste, the ratio is closer to one in 10,000. In fact, when we experience a taste, 75% of the "taste" is actually in our nose, rather than our taste buds. Our noses can distinguish over 10,000 different smells... but not automatically.
When we're very young, our nose has the ability to recognize scents, but not distinguish them from one another. We can only tell whether the scent is a new one, or one that we've experienced before. The ability to distinguish them from one another is developed over time, as we are exposed to more and more scents, over and over again. So, this explains how an experienced wine critic would taste a wine and describe it like this: "Full-bodied, fleshy and sinewy with dark mulberry and notes of eucalyptus," while someone new to the world of wine would swirl and sip and describe it like this: "It's... fruity? I guess?"
All this stuff about scents should not downplay the importance of those 9,000 little receptors on our tongues, though! They play an important part of how we experience a wine, in fact, our entire mouth does. The mouth is what senses the acidity of the wine, or how tannic the wine is. And, like our sense of smell, the mouth-palate is developed over time as well.
Now, when we're talking about enjoyment of wine, this too varies greatly from one individual to the next. What causes one person to prefer one thing over another? In addition to maturity of nose and mouth, there are so many variables that would lead someone to enjoy a particular wine.
Cultural upbringing is one. It's been studied and noted that Americans, having a culture of milk and sweetened beverages, prefer sweeter wines, while other cultures prefer bitter, citric or spicier wines, depending on their ethnic fare.
Another variable could be temperature. The same bottle of wine could taste entirely different if consumed in a 72 degree room as opposed to a 68 degree one. Same with humidity; if you drink a wine in a high-humidity environment and don't particularly care for it, try it again after you've run a dehumidifier for a couple hours and see if there's a difference.
And the one variable people may not think of is mood. If you're amongst company you don't particularly care for, you're not going to particularly enjoy the wine. Oh, it'll get you through the night, but begrudgingly. This about it in relation to your own wine drinking experiences. I remember wines I've enjoyed while having fun. I had one of my favorite wines for the first time over a sushi dinner "Girl's Night Out" with my best friend. I was having a great time and enjoying a great wine. But other wines that I know I've had, perhaps after a very hard day at work or a during a particularly uncomfortable dinner, I can't remember a thing about. Did I like it? Did I hate it? Was it acidic? I don't know... I was too busy adjusting my shirt or smiling and nodding to notice.
It all boils down to my main wine mantra: Drink what you like. BUT, and it's a big but, don't give up on a wine after trying it once. Try it again to celebrate a promotion. Try it on a warm summer evening, rather than a cold, snowy night. You might like it!
Enjoy!
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