SENSE & SENSIBILITY
The Rolling Stones, Fiano, Ratatouille, Extra Extra Sensory
Like many in my orbit these days, my friend Jasmine is a multi-hyphenate creative professional. She shares the helm of a design company with her partner, she’s an actor, and she recently went back to school, getting her certification through the Applied Sensory & Consumer Science Program via distance learning from UC Davis. I cannot tell you how we initially met, but she’s long been into food and wine, and written plenty about the topics on various platforms. Chocolate is her specialty. Fun, right? Through my restaurant, and now wine career we’d crossed paths many times, and we’re both internet veterans of food forums and social media hubs of all things eat and drink. Also, Vancouver can be a pretty small town for those travelling in similar circles. This is usually a good thing for community!
I don’t think I’ve ever know anyone who’s done an official, university or college sensory program. Being a guy into wine and food, I’m naturally fascinated by all things sensory. The science is something I’m always into learning more of, and I’m also curious how bias and assumptions fit into a subject that’s technically pursued through scientific and mathematical lenses.
Of course, any wine exploration or communication I find myself connected to, the historical, geographical, technical, biological stuff is all pretty black and white. But when it comes to me thinking of my sensory approach, it’s much more abstract and can be fluid, dreamy, whimsical and outright blurry.
Too much focus and analysis on sensory perception during a food and wine experience I’m fully immersing myself in, and it can become sensory overload.
While some can be hyper-analytical, slotting each sensory component into its proper designation and place, my mind pretty much becomes the Rolling Stones’ Michael Gondry-directed video of their Like A Rolling Stone cover, featuring Patricia Arquette. If you haven’t, you must.
I mean, take a sip or a bite of something. It’s so much more than a mathematical process of calculating x amount of acid, x amount of sugar, a texture of x, with a constant x throughout.
Y’all can have your Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Chocolat, and Big Night. Has any film better illustrated the sensory pleasure of taste than Ratatouille? These 98 seconds impress.
And then, the bias thing. If you hand me a glass of Syrah, I’m already expecting flavours of dark berry fruit, pepper, baking spices, and so on. If you tell me to note the cardamom on the palate before I lift my glass, you can pretty much bet I’ll discern it to be there, whether or not I would have come to that assertation on my own.
Bias can’t be discounted, certainly in wine.
Take this bottle:
Unico Zelo ‘Jade & Jasper’ Fiano from Riverland , Australia has become a recent favourite (the winery participated in this year’s festival edition of Top Drop Vancouver, the international, terroir-driven wine festival I own and run with a couple pals). Knowing the Fiano grape, originally from Campania in Italy, I’d have expected richer citrus flavours, perhaps with some apples and pears bobbing around in there, maybe even some honeyed notes; that weight and style coming from its hot climate compatibility.
Glancing at the label though, before the ol’ swirl, sniff and sip, in hindsight - my subconscious saw the green hues suggesting fruit like lime, guava, and Anjou pear, and the fragmented design suggested a notable minerality, perhaps woven with an earthy, warmer character I possibly gleaned from the hue of the glass. Turns out the soil is terra rossa atop rocky limestone, sooo influence in the bottle? Sure. All of these elements did present themselves to me as I sipped. Would they have been as loud were I to have blind tasted?
Anyhow, this is just to say, above and beyond the very real stats and methods of sensory science, there is plenty of noise that also gets in the way.
(Oh, and if and when you get the chance, do nab yourself a bottle of that wine - it’s deee-licious! Anyone around my Vancouver/B.C. stomping grounds, it’s available in BC Liquor Stores. )
So, yeah, there’s a big gap between how we, the consumer, approach and express sensory perception, and how the science pros do it. Jasmine has started a TikTok account, Extra Extra Sensory, where she does both shallow and deep dives into this stuff.
Here’s her take on that gap between consumers and experts:
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Want more? Here she is on hedonic scaling:
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…and then, in our circles we occasionally hear about people who are super-tasters. Is it a blessing? A curse? Let’s do some unpacking:
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I’ve never been that good at academic pursuits. Long study sessions are excruciating to me, and retention from lectures has never been a strength. TikTok though? I can do TikTok.
That’s just me, but if you’re inclined to dig deeper into the subject? You can always start with UC Davis’s free info session on the program. Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here scrolling and sipping away.
🍾 Kurtis Kolt is a Vancouver-based wine and hospitality consultant who writes about wine, presents seminars, hosts events, judges competitions, works with restaurants on their wine programs, and so on. Beyond consulting, he is the co-proprietor of Top Drop, “the most awesome wine festival in Canada,” and most recently Free Spirit, a hub for non-alc writing, tastings, and events for everyone! Follow him on Instagram, or to learn more, click here!