Making sense of wine: Cognitive Psychology’s contribution to understanding wine tasting and wine tasters

Abstract

What allows us to appreciate a fine wine? And how do we make sense of the idiosyncratic thoughts, memories and emotions a wine can evoke? Wine is as cerebral as it is sensual. Experiencing wine is not just a physical experience but also a cognitive and emotional experience. The sensory input associated with wine tasting is subjected to cognitive processing from the moment of perception. Emile Peynaud’s frequently-reported observation that blind tasting is often disappointing alerts us to the importance of our cognitive processes when we experience a wine. Despite research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience confirming the cerebral nature of wine tasting, sensory scientists and professionals have been slow to embrace the opportunities offered by these cognate disciplines. It is within the last 20 years only that significant change has occurred, with innovative scholars challenging the contrived methodologies and a-theoretical, tool-box status of sensory evaluation by incorporating cognitive concepts to explain their data. Introducing methods and theories of cognitive psychology into sensory science, involving a philosophical shift in the field, is most obvious in the increased salience given to the role of the taster in oenological research and in particular, conceptualisation of the taster as a processor of information rather than an instrument that can be calibrated to produce repeatable and reliable data. By elevating the status of the wine taster and the wine-tasting context when considering a wine our understanding of wine-tasting phenomena has begun to progress beyond descriptive reports.