MARTIN MORAN: ON THE BOTTLE

June 25 2017, 12:01am,The Sunday Times

Martin Moran

The book goes into great detail about the airflow through the nose, and the differences between sniffing in and exhaling out through the nose, or the retronasal flow

When it comes to wine tasting, the human brain is right in there with the nose and mouth in deciding whether we like something or not. Assessing wine may be primarily about smell and taste but all the senses are involved, and all are interlinked.

I have written previously about the effect of sound on wine tasters, as demonstrated by Jo Burzynska and her oenosthetic events. But now it seems our eyes too, with a little help from our brains, can trick us in dramatic ways while tasting.

Spanish winemaker Campo Viejo Rioja is running its 2017 Tapas Trail (campoviejotapastrail.ie) from now until June 30. As part of the launch event in Dublin, journalists (including myself) were invited to taste wines in a colour lab.

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The neuroscience of wine tasting is not to be sniffed at - The Times (subscription)