Ned
01-26-2006, 07:13 AM
I can see it now. It's your 25th wedding anniversary. You're in that expensive specialty restaurant aboard one of those super luxury ships, on that special Silver Anniversary Cruise, and decide to go all out. You purchase that famous and incredible tasting bottle of wine the Sommelier suggested, for a thousand bucks, no less.
Then the Matre'd brings you out some complimentary cheese for you to enjoy with the wine. Hey wine and cheese, a natural you think. From then on, that $1,000 bottle of wine tastes like that gallon jug of "Tiger Rose" you used to buy for a $1 at the state store while in college, and you're beating yourself up that you shelled out a $1,000 for a bottle of vinegar.
It's not your fault, and don't blame the Sommelier, it's that Matre'd. Sometimes one's best intentions fall way short of the mark. Here's why it could happen to you.
As reported by the Discovery Travel Channel on Jan. 19, 2006
"If you are organizing a wine-and-cheese party, don't waste your money on a fabulous wine: Chateau Rotgut is as good as Cheval Blanc.
So say scientists, who have found that anyone who eats cheese will then find it impossible to distinguish the subtle tastes which are the hallmarks of a quality wine.
University of California at Davis researchers asked trained wine tasters to try four different varieties of wine, noting each for their flavors and aromas.
The same assessment was carried out again after the tasters nibbled eight different cheeses.
"They found that cheese suppressed just about everything, including berry and oak flavors, sourness and astringency," the British weekly New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue.
"Strong cheese suppressed flavors more than milder cheeses, but flavors of all wines were suppressed. In other words, there are no magical wine and cheese pairings."
Fat from the cheese may be to blame because it could coat the mouth and tongue, deadening a good's wine subtle bouquet.
Alternatively, certain proteins in the cheese may bind to certain molecules in the wine, preventing these molecules from activating taste buds, the scientists speculate.
Only butter aroma in a wine was enhanced by cheese, and probably because cheese itself contains the same molecule responsible for a buttery wine savor.
The research, carried out by Bernice Madrigal-Galan and Hildegarde Heymann, is published online in the March issue of the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture."
Then the Matre'd brings you out some complimentary cheese for you to enjoy with the wine. Hey wine and cheese, a natural you think. From then on, that $1,000 bottle of wine tastes like that gallon jug of "Tiger Rose" you used to buy for a $1 at the state store while in college, and you're beating yourself up that you shelled out a $1,000 for a bottle of vinegar.
It's not your fault, and don't blame the Sommelier, it's that Matre'd. Sometimes one's best intentions fall way short of the mark. Here's why it could happen to you.
As reported by the Discovery Travel Channel on Jan. 19, 2006
"If you are organizing a wine-and-cheese party, don't waste your money on a fabulous wine: Chateau Rotgut is as good as Cheval Blanc.
So say scientists, who have found that anyone who eats cheese will then find it impossible to distinguish the subtle tastes which are the hallmarks of a quality wine.
University of California at Davis researchers asked trained wine tasters to try four different varieties of wine, noting each for their flavors and aromas.
The same assessment was carried out again after the tasters nibbled eight different cheeses.
"They found that cheese suppressed just about everything, including berry and oak flavors, sourness and astringency," the British weekly New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue.
"Strong cheese suppressed flavors more than milder cheeses, but flavors of all wines were suppressed. In other words, there are no magical wine and cheese pairings."
Fat from the cheese may be to blame because it could coat the mouth and tongue, deadening a good's wine subtle bouquet.
Alternatively, certain proteins in the cheese may bind to certain molecules in the wine, preventing these molecules from activating taste buds, the scientists speculate.
Only butter aroma in a wine was enhanced by cheese, and probably because cheese itself contains the same molecule responsible for a buttery wine savor.
The research, carried out by Bernice Madrigal-Galan and Hildegarde Heymann, is published online in the March issue of the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture."