Spitting?

Is it possible to get the full sensory effect of a wine without swallowing? How do you get the full taste effect of the wine if you spit? Is spitting a compromise that’s simply necessary to retain a modicum of sobriety, or am I doing it wrong?

I’ve tried spitting lots of times, and I’m convinced that a significant portion of my overall tasting experience comes from swallowing the wine. The finish, certainly, is directly related to swallowing and continuing to experience the flavors of the wine. I find that other subtle flavors also seem to derive from the passage of the wine over the entire length of my tongue before swallowing.

If I taste and spit, I can identify wines that I actively dislike. But without swallowing I’m not entirely certain that I can distinguish between something I like and something I love - so much of what makes a wine special seems to come as the culmination of swishing in the mouth and finally swallowing, savoring the accumulated flavors.

I post this with some trepidation that I’m revealing myself as a complete heathen, or maybe I’m just really bad at delayed gratification. But there you have it. Thoughts?

Interesting question, quite possibly the most interesting of the day on this whole board. [1974_eating_popcorn.gif]

You can discern a wines qualities by spitting. Its the actual spitting into the bucket that needs the real skillset–and don’t ever wear white.

This is the way it was explained to me when I felt the same way as you. You actually have 1000’s of taste buds on your tongue that are actually nerve endings that detect the differents flavors. These nerve endings send the message to your brain to determine the different flavors you are experincing, you do not have to swallow to be able to tell what you are tasting… I’m sure a Dr. might be able to give you a better explanation but that’s what I was told.

I don’t think the direction the liquid leaves your mouth really has much effect on the taste of it. At least in my experience it doesn’t. I did think that it did before I really dove in and started doing lots of large tastings and dinners.

I think what Steve is saying (forgive me if I’m misunderstanding), and I somewhat agree, is that it’s hard to get the wine to fully cover your tongue without swallowing. I also feel like I have to swallow at least a bit in order to get full coverage.

Resist temptation . . .

Oh never mind!

Did you learn that in prison?


Sorry I have nothing of value to add.

Depends on how you spit. If you spit out the wine in a vigurous manner, then I think you will get most if not the whole picture of the wine. IMHO

Uh oh. I envision a projectile spitting experiment tonight on the patio. Thanks Otto!

You taste wine in two ways:

(1) in your mouth, including the tongue. Here you experience sweet, sour and bitter flavors as well as temperature, tannins, and mouthfeel generally.

(2) in your nose, through the retronasal passageway.

The latter method gives most of the sensation of flavor – if you don’t believe this, try to taste while holding your nose. You’ll pick up almost nothing.

You can get all of this without swallowing the wine.

I find that I can usually tell whether a wine is to my liking when spitting. Hell, I can usually tell while it’s still in my mouth. If I’m in doubt, I swallow. Sometimes it’s just so damn good I have to swallow, but that’s dangerous when I’m doing 6 or 7 excellent wineries in one day.

Steve,
For me, the only way to properly assess a wine is to have it with dinner. That gives me sufficient context and time to make a reasoned evaluation.
I have never been able to evaluate wine well by a single sip, even if I spit.

I do know a man who buys very fine wine and spits it all. He likes the smells and flavors but hates the buzz. I assume he gets what he wants even though he spits.

I also know that, when I am at tastings, I always spit. Usually I’m driving - and avoiding being under the influence seems the prudent choice, whether I learn enough about the wine I tasted or not.
Best, Jim

At the end of the day, I agree with this completely.

As do I, so long as the food is receptive to the wine. It allows the wine time to open and evolve, as well as time to contemplate the wine’s interaction with the food.

There are some wines which are not as happy with food, however. One may reject them tout court on that ground alone, however I prefer to have them with very bland fare, or decide to enjoy them on their own. But whatever the case, one does need plenty of time to properly assess a wine. This makes large tastings exercises in frustration, useful though they are in their context.

Steve – I think there’s some truth to what you’re saying. Unless a wine seems really nasty all around, I usually take a couple of small swallows even when I’m spitting conscientiously. But with just a little down the throat, I find I can retaste and spit completely many more times and get more out of the wine. The other things that helps enormously is to swirl the wine in your mouth and girgle a bit. I suspect that – and swallowing – sends more aromas into your nasal passages and explains that sense we have that swallowing adds something.

But I don’t think you have to swallow every mouthful at all.

The fact that nobody to my knowledge has ever invented an eating disorder in which one chews food but spits it out, which seems to make way more sense than, say, bulimia, suggests to me that the human body is wired to obtain satiation from the act of swallowing itself and not just physical contact with the taste buds.

And of course there is also the whole principle of the thing.

I’ve read all the responses - thank you everyone - and I agree with every single one.

I know that biologically we are able to taste via multiple receptors, and that swallowing should not be necessary in order to fully taste a wine; I certainly agree that smell is an enormous contributor to our overall “taste” experience; and I absolutely agree that the real way to experience a wine is to have it accompany a meal. That last leads into a slightly different topic, that of how we enjoy wine versus how we simply taste it.

A couple of folks mentioned the idea of swallowing only a small portion, just to confirm in-the-mouth impressions, and that approach kind of makes the most sense to me. Although I’m often reticent to do it, I can imagine tasting, spitting, and only swallowing a small confirming portion of a few wines that are of particular interest. But damn, that sounds hard to do! It’s that satiation thing that Keith just mentioned…

And that in turn leads to my reluctant conclusion, which is that I’m a lush with self-control issues.

To answer your opening question, in one word, obviously the answer is no.

The reason is related to the two sensory input zones and the anatomical mechanics of swallowing. Certainly a practiced
swirl and spit taster will effectively experience a wine. But, there is an additional final phase that only happens with swallowing. Depending on just how skillful you are at spitting, this could happen to a small extent anyway. When the wine passes the soft palate as you swallow, in a addition to extending the tannins etc to the far reaches of the mouth and throat, a second bloom of aromas rise into the nasal cavity augmenting or reinforcing what’s already getting there. Vigorous swirling will get some there that way, but swallowing completes the effect.

Then of course swallowing delivers alcohol to the stomach which will deliver a subtle effect almost instantly. It may be very subtle but it isn’t zero. These sensory effects are diminished by spitting.

I’ve always recommended swallowing. It’s just . . . better.

What Douglas said.
At large tastings my first pass is always spitting. I then go back to re-taste the what I rated best and then swallow a bit. If they have dessert wines I taste them last but those i do swallow.

I would agree with Ron (and accordingly, Douglas). A few years ago I was the designated driver to HdR. I tasted many wines, spitting with each taste (discretely into a plastic cup). At the end, I wanted to actually sip and swallow a wine which was ethereal…the Saxum Broken Stones (sorry, can’t recall the vintage right now, but it is in my tasting note database so it will appear at some point later on). Unfortunately, Justin and his wife had left at that point. Therefore, everything tasted was via the spitting adventure. Much to my surprise, I feel that my notes are actually quite accurate (if not fulfilling). I paid my dues that day, but drove quite responsibly and got us all home in a safe manner (which meant going over CA-46 and avoiding the physical and man-made obstacles).

Colin