Tim James: Supertasters and good tasters

Have you counted your fungiform papillae recently? You have quite a number of them on your tongue,  probably 400-600; rosy, supposedly mushroom-shaped things that each house up to about 20 tastebuds. You can actually count them quite easily, it seems, and some people do so in order to see if they are “supertasters” – that is, with a particularly large number of such papillae, making them more sensitive than others to bitter, salty, sweet, sour and umami characters. On average, about a quarter of the population are supertasters; as many are at the other extreme, leaving some 50% of us in the middle somewhere. It seems to be a genetic thing, with gender and ethnicity playing a role (perhaps explaining why, as we all know, women are generally better tasters).

Science is not entirely convinced of all aspects of this, however; I did see an article in Nature saying that fungiform papillae play “a greater role in mediating the physiological salivary response to stimuli rather than determining the perceived intensity of taste”. (Ever since I had a salivary gland removed in what now seems like my youth, because it was prone to painful blockage, I’ve wondered about my saliva flow and its effect on my tasting, so this makes sense to me!) Might still be worth counting your papillae, I supppose, if you’re seeking one-upmanship in tasting.

Or, for that matter, if you’re seeking the reason why you don’t like wine, especially tannic wine. I came across a delightful, well-informed New Yorker article by Anne Fadiman, daughter of an eminent wine-writer, who was immensely relieved to discover that she is a supertaster (quite an extreme one, it seems to me), which seemed to explain why she couldn’t share her father’s vinous enthusiasm, despite all the sympathetic education in the world. (The New Yorker kindly allows viewing of a limited number of its articles, and I do recommend this one.)

Another established test  involves ascertaining sensitivity to a particular form of bitterness, a chemical called propylthiouraci (“prop”). The more bitter you find it, the more of a supertaster you are, apparently. And it’s the bitterness factor that got me thinking about supertasters, after the experience I reported last week when some of the people around a dinner table found it impossible to sip twice at a particular wine because of its awful bitterness (though finding it smelled rather good), while the others were bewildered by that reaction. Interestingly (to me), although that experience probably puts me at the more sensitive end, I don’t react strongly and negatively to many of the other foodstuffs that many supertasters find bitter – strong coffee and dark chocolate yes, but not broccoli and brussels sprouts, for example. So, as in so many things like this, I reckon there’s a continuum

Being potentially more sensitive to flavours (which, remember, have a lot to do with your nose, not just your tastebuds) could help make you a great winetaster. I vaguely recall a flurry of comments about supertasters and wine some years ago. Jancis Robinson, I remember, had herself tested and found out that she was a supertaster on the basis of the prop test – but said she actually rather regretted this as a wine commentator and would prefer to be with the majority of winelovers in terms of her equipment (as it were).

I asked Cathy van Zyl, MW and Chair of the Institute of Masters of Wine, if being a supertaster was “a thing” at that rarefied level, and she was emphatic that it wasn’t – she hadn’t even come across the term for some years. Cathy Marston, an advanced MW student and an experienced wine educator, agreed, and reacted to the perhaps unfortunate association of “super” with “superior”. “I’m not sure I quite believe in the idea of a supertaster,” she said, “although I suppose some people are more perceptive than others. I think when it comes to passing exams, people who are calm, organised, and have practised and researched, will taste the best.”

It’s pretty safe to say that everyone agrees that progress in serious wine tasting, involving identification of various things about a wine, is less a matter of talent and more a matter of concentration and, above all, of experience and education. Connected with breadth and depth of experience, wine memory (I write this with a sigh) is doubtless more of a useful tool than is a physiological sensitivity to smell and taste.

Winemakers, though, have an obligation to be hyper-pernickity that we mere wine lovers don’t – precisely because they have that obligation on our behalf. (Sometimes inappropriately, out of the cellar: I remember regularly tasting with a winemaker who thought it a bounden and even sufficient duty to discover any possible fault in any wine; I don’t think he much liked the stuff.) Winemakers are as liable as the rest of us to have blind (anosmic?) spots, of course. For example, Hermann Kirschbaum, the eminent former cellarmaster at Buitenverwachting, could not identify TCA, the cork contaminant. I asked Andrea Mullineux about this. She was another one who found horrible bitterness in that wine last week, and has in fact “successfully” done the supertaster prop test.  Andrea points out that “If a winemaker knows that they do not have that particular gene, they can have others that do give an opinion.  Just like sensitivities to SO₂, Brettanomyces, TCA…. We all know our weaknesses and have friends in the industry double check.”

This is really the important point: if we want to be “good tasters”, we should all try hard to learn our blind spots and not be embarrassed to admit them (as well as learn to concentrate and to get as much experience as possible). Some we can learn to overcome, some are genetic – and those ones we should admit to, to ourselves and to those who can step in with support: if wine-tasting is anything more than an ego-trip or a wank, we need to see it as a partly communal exercise and delight, rather than an individualistic, competitive one.

As Andrea says, “It is nice to know that there is a scientific way to test and explain why some people experience certain smells, flavours, and sensations while others are completely unaware.”

• Tim James is one of South Africa’s leading wine commentators, contributing to various local and international wine publications. His book Wines of South Africa – Tradition and Revolution appeared in 2013.