by Gregory D. McCluney

Pull a Cork with a SuperTaster
If you taste significantly different flavors than your friends when sampling wines and food, you could be a Super Taster!

Pour the same wine (blind) to ten professional wine tasters, Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers, and you will usually get a lot of the same descriptors in their reviews. “Tropical fruits, medium oak, hint of mango, crisp acidity and a smooth, well-rounded and lingering finish,” for example.

But taste the same wine (also blind) with hundreds of tasters, professionals as well as just wine lovers, and around 20 percent of them will report radically different tastes from the same wine on the same night in the same location. They may be Super Tasters. (STs). This ability, generally thought to be genetic, is a matter of degree or intensity in taste. Super Tasters taste in neon while the rest of us taste in pastels. It affects all of their diet, not just wine, and actually has far-reaching health implications. more »

by Gregory D. McCluney

The Wine Drinking Habits of Men vs., Women
(P.S. It’s not what you think)
Conventional wine-wisdom says Chardonnay is the most popular wine in America,  Women drink more Chardonnay than any other varietal, Men buy most of the premium wine purchased, and Women prefer a sweet (as in White Zin) wine while men prefer a tannic red.

More or less, all of the above is false.

According to recent research documented by winebusiness.com and summarized by Dr. Liz Thach, MW, many marketing stereotypes about gender and wine drinking simply aren’t true. Things have changed. Over 300 California wine drinkers (equal in gender) were surveyed about their habits and preferences. The results were compiled, both those where men and women agree and those where the research revealed strong differences. According to Nielson, wine consumers overall consist of 55% women and about 45% men. In the last decade, men have become more avid wine drinkers while drinking less beer. more »