Oenophiles Confirm Fruity Flavors Finish First
Wine researchers find that fruity flavors tend to finish quickest on the palate, whereas oaky flavors linger longer--as aficionados have long claimed. Christopher Intagliata reports
By Christopher Intagliata
SUBSCRIBE TO Science Quickly
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The lore among wine aficionados is that fruity flavors tend to finish quickest on the palate, whereas oaky flavors linger longer.
“And then when you go to the scientific literature, you find out that really there haven't been scientific studies done on it.” Carolyn Ross, a sensory scientist at Washington State University.
She and her colleagues investigated the claims. They identified four flavor compounds common in white wine, which give floral, fruity, mushroomy and oaky notes. They then studied the compounds in what’s known as a model wine: “Meaning that it had alcohol in it, it had some sugar, some acid in it, but it wasn't actually wine.”
They added the compounds one at a time to their model wine, and asked trained tasters to clock how long it took flavors to fade. Fruity did indeed finish first—lasting a minute and a half. The others took 30 seconds longer to fade. And even when mixed with the other flavors, fruity still finished first—so the lore was right.
The study appears in the journal Food Quality and Preference. [Emily S. Goodstein et al, Perception of flavor finish in model white wine: A time-intensity study]
As for home tasters? “Pay attention to the finish, perhaps time it, if that's your thing.” It does happen to be ours.
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
