One of the other things mentioned at Tobin's party last night ...

[xiphias]

One of the other guests mentioned that, at another party she was at, someone had set up a party challenge, that, you take one red wine and one white wine, at the same temperature, and you see if people can tell them apart.

I thought that sounded TRULY strange, that people might NOT be able to, so I tried it this afternoon, with the cheap wine I keep around for cooking. (I don't drink much wine, but I do cook with it. So I basically just have table wines around. Paul Mason jug wines, actually. You can drink them. They're not horrid. And they're fine for cooking with. And you don't feel bad about cooking with them.)

And I realized what it is. Or at least, what I THINK it is. Obviously, all wines taste hugely different from each other. But there's not really one way that RED wines taste vs. another way that WHITE wines taste. I mean, there are differences between the categories, but they're really dwarfed by the differences between the specific wines. At least, that's what I think it is. So, unless you can recognize what wine you're drinking, there's not really that much to guess whether the SPECIFIC wine you're drinking is red or white.

Anyway, that's my guess, knowing as little as I do about wine.

Comments

[angelovernh.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. I think I could tell. Wine is the main thing I drank way back when I was an alcoholic. Since I learned how to drink in moderation (the last couple years) I have reaquainted myself with it a tiny bit. I like sweet 'dessert' wines like Riesling and Guwertzeminer (sp?)
I can't STAND red wine. I have tried lots of kinds and even good Merlot is bitter to me compared to nearly any white. OTOH, I don't care for room temp. wine at all. I might like red wine better if it were chilled, but who the heck chills red wine? LOL. And it's not like I WANT to like it any more than I already do, anyhow. Ah well.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

If I had a headache next day it was red wine... just can't drink the stuff, luckily I tend to prefer white anyways!

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think that I can tell.

I wonder if it's different for supertasters versus non-supertasters...

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that I could tell, if I were drinking something other than jug wine-it isn't terrifically complex.
It's an interesting question. I'll have to try this out some time and see if I really can make the distinction.