Scientific research reveals why wine ratings and recommendations fail so often

Everyone has a different sense of smell. Taste is mostly determined by smell.

“Each of the individuals examined had a unique genotypic [odor receptor] pattern.” –Menashe et. al, Nature Genetics

A description and a rating will be accurate only if you are genetically “calibrated” with the reviewer.

• No smell = no taste.

• 80% to 95% of ”taste” comes from odor receptors (ORs)

• Human genome codes 1,000+ genes for ORs

• Only about 350-400 of those ORs are active in the average human.

• But almost no one has the same set of active ORs

• “Different noses for different people” – Nature Genetics paper (left)

• Result: Of 189 people genotyped, NONE has the same of odor-related genes.

See also:

• 66% of wine drinkers find wine descriptions UN-helpful in choosing wine. Only 9% rely on critics

• Does a unique olfactory genome imply a unique olfactory world?

• Do you smell what I smell? Genetic variation in olfactory perception

• The missense of smell: functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire.

• An olfactory demography of a diverse metropolitan population. (free full text)

• The missense of smell: functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire

• Just how much of what we taste derives from the sense of smell?burnt

• Consumer Segmentation Based on Genetic Variation in Taste and Smell

• Do you smell what I smell? Genetic variation in olfactory perception