TASTE SCIENCE LLC IS LAUNCHED!
Taste Science LLC is launched and eager for work. You can find out more in About Us or contact me directly at "doctoru at tastescience dot com" (note I have written the address that way to minimize spam).Vinotypes(TM)!
Tim Hanni has coined (and trademarked) the word "Vinotype" to describe people's taste sensitivity phenotypes as they influence wine choice. You will be hearing a lot about the different Vinotypes(TM) and about how to evaluate your own Vinotype(TM) in the near future - keep an eye on this space!
American Society for Enology and Viticulture Annual Meeting, Monterey, CA, June 2011
I presented a paper based on the data that Tim Hanni and I have collected concerning the tastes of wine and the people who like each type of taste - their Vinotype(TM). The major take-home messages of this paper are:
- The words winemakers use to describe their wines really matter because people choose wines to try based on the words used in the wine's description.
- Words serve as signals to the consumer: consumers match the words in the description to their own preferred words to describe the wines they like.
- Consequently consumers will tend not try a wine where there is a mis-match between their preferences and the words the winemaker has chosen.
- If a consumer tries a wine despite the mismatch, they may be either pleasantly surprised or disappointed.
- Either way, the winemaker is likely to lose potential customers if there is a mismatch.
- Bottom Line: Know your wines, know the words that will appeal to people of different Vinotypes(TM), and match them to gain the greatest possible span of consumers. To find out more, please contact me at "doctoru at tastescience dot com."
- come up with the most successful way for winemakers to match their wines to the appropriate words
- help consumers determine their Vinotype(TM)
- enable winemakers and consumers to maximize their satisfaction.
...and now a word about TEA:
I gave a seminar in the Executive and Techinical Sessions at the World Tea Expo 2011 this past week-end, which sparked interest in the question of taste sensitivity and tea choice, to judge by the number of questions I was asked both during and at the end of the talk.
I began by outlining the sources of differences in taste sensitivity, and the mechanisms whereby certain tastes inhibit the sensation of other tastes: for example sour inhibits both sweet and bitter.
The attendees carried out another experiment concerning mutual ihibition of sensation, by consuming a cinnamon containing candy, followed by a mint. It was interesting to see the different reactions to the effects of the competition between these two trigeminal tastes. It showed very clearly how different people experience the same exact foods so very differently.
Finally, I presented data that showed that the issues that are important to tea drinkers differ depending on the tea they preferred - an important point when it comes to both developing new tea beverages and advertising them. Will be collecting new data on this topic through the summer and fall as well. Contact me if you are interested in knowing more.