What makes wine taste good: the product or the tasting experience itself?

For a recent press interview I was asked the following question about "what influences how you taste wine: the experience or the product itself?" I had a good time pondering the answer so thought it might interest you.  

 

Q) Do you think it's the taste of a good wine or the experience while drinking the wine that makes it good?  Why?

A) Both. A phenomenal bottle of wine is a phenomenal bottle of wine, whether enjoyed in the woods or in a five-star setting. As my friend Robert Hall, the founder of Bottega del Vino Crystal, says and has trademarked, “If the wine matters, so does the glass.”™ It is easier to enjoy fine wine in fine stemware- which is often easier to find in fine dining establishments- so in that sense, the setting can impact the physiological experience/sensations of wine drinking.

 

But like so many forms of artistic appreciation, the setting in which you are experiencing the art (a museum vs. someone’s home vs. the artist’s studio), with whom you are experiencing the art (knowledgeable/engaged friends or companions vs. not), and what is complementing the experience (great “pairings” or not), will undoubtedly impact one’s experience of the art- or wine in this case. So, in short, in my humble opinion, intrinsic and extrinsic factors both impact one’s perception if wine is or isn’t good, though the objective criterion on which one assesses a good or bad wine are actually not impacted by the setting, as they are discrete: acidity level, body weight of the wine, subtlety of the tannins, color, aromas, etc.

 

Alyssa J. Rapp, Founder & CEO, Bottlenotes, Inc.