What kind of taster are you?

This has been around for a while, so pardon me if it's already been posted. But here's a link with a simple test which purports to let you know whether you're a supertaster or not. After you take the test, you can click on a link to see what kinds of wine you're supposed to like. The test is here: BUDOMETER. Just click on GO.

I stumbled across this while reading in the archives of SFGate.com. Here are a couple of articles which talk about supertasters and a wine tasting in Lodi before which the judges were classified as to their taste buds' sensitivity.

The original article is here: Unconventional wine expert says the number of taste buds determines your wine preferences.

The follow-up article after the tasting event is here: Taste-bud theory put to the test.

By the way, the BUDOMETER was dead wrong with my preferences!

For me, they were right about everything except oak.

[Jenise]

This has been around for a while, so pardon me if it's already been posted. But here's a link with a simple test which purports to let you know whether you're a supertaster or not.

Actually, I don't think that's what its attempting to do at all. It sorts you into a group called Tolerant, Sensitive, Hyper-sensitive, etc, according to, best as I can figure, things that easily offend you. Or to put it another way, it measures you by what you can't do, not what you can. It certainly doesn't attempt to determine (nor could the questions it asks result in same) whether or not you're someone who detects and rewards complexity and nuance. It's basic premise, that "more sensitive tasters tend to favor wines with delicate flavors, lower alcohol and often sweetness" where "more tolerant tasters tend to favor wines with intensity, higher alcohol and more oak aging" is inherently flawed. It pegged me as 'tolerant'. So I went back and changed several answers then, and as I thought, to increase mmy sensitivity level I had to put cream and sugar in my tea and love diet sodas, (which I don't). Basically, a "sensitive" taster is your mother-in-law, and a "tolerant taster" is everyone on this board.

Then note it attempts to match you up with wines that will suit your tastes. All are the big corporate brands like KJ, Gallo, Fetzer and Chateau Ste. Michelle--and that's probably the point of the website. To sell you wine.

This has been around for a while, so pardon me if it's already been posted. But here's a link with a simple test which purports to let you know whether you're a supertaster or not.

Actually, I don't think that's what its attempting to do at all. It sorts you into a group called Tolerant, Sensitive, Hyper-sensitive, etc, according to, best as I can figure, things that easily offend you. It certainly doesn't attempt to determine (nor could the questions it asks result in same) whether or not you're someone who detects and rewards complexity and nuance. It's basic premise, that "more sensitive tasters tend to favor wines with delicate flavors, lower alcohol and often sweetness" where "more tolerant tasters tend to favor wines with intensity, higher alcohol and more oak aging" is inherently flawed. It pegged me as 'tolerant'. I went back and changed several answers then, and as I thought to increase in sensitivity I had to put cream and sugar in my tea and love diet sodas, (which I don't). Basically, a "sensitive" taster is your mother-in-law, and a "tolerant taster" is everyone on this board.

Then note it attempts to match you up with wines that will suit your tastes. All are the big corporate brands like KJ, Gallo, Fetzer and Chateau Ste. Michelle--and that's probably the point of the website. To sell you wine.

Right on, Jenise.

In one of the press releases connected to this gimmick, the claim is made that judges at wine competitions would get a blue die applied to their tongues so that they can receive a taster analysis. The idea is that individual judges would pass judgment on wines that fit their flavor-desire profile, and that, in the words of the press release, "would give all wines a fair shot," in the competition.

It's great: instead of training judges, paint their tongues blue and give them what they like...

Incidentally, I took the Budometer test--it was dead wrong in analyzing my wine palate.

Incidentally, I took the Budometer test--it was dead wrong in analyzing my wine palate.

Keep in mind that their caveat is that it's intended only for beginners with no great experience tasting wine. In my own case, it also was dead wrong, pegging me as a tolerant taster -- but when I began tasting and drinking wine, that's what I was. 25+ years later, my tastes have evolved to more align with the hypertasters.

Mark Lipton

It pegged me as a tolerant taster as well - which is probably correct because I will drink just about anything, at least as regards wine!

The Budometer and its associated questions don't consider one major aspect of wine appreciation and that is aroma/bouquet. Mouthfeel, balance and structure are important but sometimes the smell of a wine just captivates me. Two of the best wines this week were a Carlisle Zin and a Russian Hill Pinot. As expected the Zin was big, bold and loaded with flavor but it was the smell of the Pinot that received most of my attention. But then maybe that was because I'd just read Geoff Kelly's article on the floral component of Pinot!

Mike

[Robin Garr]

It pegged me as a tolerant taster as well - which is probably correct because I will drink just about anything, at least as regards wine!

Another "tolerant taster" here. I think the analysis is actually pretty close, but the style and specific brand recommendations they drew from it are not. "Reserve-style" California Chard? Big Shiraz? I don't THINK so ...

I agree this thing must be set up to sell wine, but to what kind of person I don't know.

The questions don't even make sense for my eating habits.

"Do you add extra salt to your food?"

What does that mean? Of course I add salt, it's called cooking. Are they really only talking to people who eat out for every meal.

And all the bit about flavored syrups in coffee. Seems pretty tangential to the core of a diet or of preferences. At least to me.

The Budometer was correct in my preferred type of wine and that is sweet. There are a lot of other wines that I like really well that fall outside of that category. The one component of wine that I like the least is tannins. I have taken a similar test in person from a master of wine. There are a couple of things that I remember from that test.

@Jenise Your comment about diet soda is just the opposite of what I had been told before. I put down on my test that I hate diet sodas and I really do. It would be interesting to see you take the test again and score that part that way.

He made another point about people who have dense taste buds. The mothers of people with really dense taste buds had really bad morning sickness when they were pregnant with that person. I was tasting wine with my mom and I asked her if she had really bad morning sickness with me. She kind of had a puzzled look on her face because we were talking about wine but she said that I was the worse morning sickness of the bunch. Then I explained to her the connection to wine. She likes sweet wines too.

As far as trying to get people to buy wine based on what I was supposed to like? Did you notice all the wines were 2000 vintage or older? The generalizations were off compared to what I was taught before also.

I would say the budometer is a work in progress. I can see some truth in some of it but it needs to be developed more

Bottom line I drink what I like and I don't let someone else tell me what I should like.