Gaby
Thanks to its pearly-pink hue and subtle aroma of summer berries, rosé wine from Provence has become a symbol of this region. Here, tourists from all over indulge in the legendary drink and often buy a few bottles of Provençal rosé to remember their wonderful vacation. However, when travelers pour the wine into glasses back home, they are surprised to find that the drink tastes completely different.
Professor Charles Spence from the University of Oxford has sought to unravel the phenomenon of Provençal rosé wine.
What the Professor’s Team Discovered
Charles Spence confirmed that wine from the south of France doesn’t seem as flavorful when consumed, for instance, in Britain on a chilly winter evening.
The professor suggested that the paradox of Provençal rosé lies in the fact that the same wine can taste entirely different depending on the situation in which it is consumed.
To decode this phenomenon, the scientist collaborated with experienced wine distributors. The team aimed to understand why wine (and possibly other products) can have different flavors in various consumption scenarios.
The team surveyed 2,000 respondents and found that 62 percent of participants enjoy the taste of food and drinks more when dining with friends than when alone.
However, 58 percent of those surveyed indicated that having dinner with someone they dislike can negatively affect the taste of the food.
According to Professor Spence, there is an “inseparable connection between social and emotional cues and the experience of eating and drinking wine.” This aligns with the so-called “social facilitation effect,” a well-known theory in gastrophysics. He noted that we tend to enjoy food and drink more in the company of people we like.
He also pointed out that it’s not just the people we share a meal with that influence the taste of food and drinks. The setting in which this occurs is also crucial, as reported by the Daily Mail.
“The taste and enjoyment of a particular wine can change depending on the context and environment,” Professor Spence concluded. He explained that during vacations, we are generally happy and relaxed, which affects our perception of flavors. The social situations we find ourselves in are linked to how we perceive taste. When it comes to enjoyment, “it stems from better social interactions and automatically boosts our mood.” This means our ability to assess flavors is entirely different.
White Wine with a “Wet Dog” Flavor
Professor Spence’s team conducted their research shortly after scientists from the University of Trento (Italy) advised producers against bottling white wine in clear bottles. Researchers found that white wines stored in transparent containers can react with light, leading to unpleasant aromas, including “cooked cabbage” and “wet dog.”
In a report for the journal PNAS, the Italian scientists wrote that “light can significantly damage the aromatic profile and sensory identity of varietal white wine in less than a week of storage in colorless glass bottles.”
