bitterness?

Hi

I have a strange problem. I was talking with a friend of mine, a Chinese immigrant, and he said he hates wine in particular, and most alcohol. I asked him why, he said because he thought wine was too bitter. He wasn’t sure why it was bitter, and he thought maybe the alcohol was bitter - maybe also the tannin.

But I got exactly what he was talking about.

Since that conversation, I’ve been tasting bitterness in all my wines. I had an Alicante that I used to think was perfumed and structured, but now I think is entirely too bitter. Similarly, today I had a PN but again I was tasting so much bitterness …

Strangely, when I started really swishing it around my mouth I started getting some of the other flavors that I used to find and like but still really tasting alot of bitterness.

Has anything like this happened to anyone? Is wine actually very bitter - like bitter almonds or something? Somehow I really doubt it, since so many experts with such excellent palates have tasted wine and really know so much about it.

While I do think I’m tasting alot of bitterness that is real, somehow I think maybe I just wasn’t tasting it before and now I am and so it’s somehow shocking to me what I was missing before.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
-Neal

Doctor ?

That’s definitely no normal man, visit your doc.

actually, funnily enough, i was sick 2 weeks ago, and now as im getting better the taste is coming back. [wow.gif]

Have you tried any dessert or late harvest wines to see if you find those bitter too?

While this hasn’t happened to me I did have a really good customer that loved bordeaux and Rhone wines. Then he had quadruple stints put in and his palate changed. He doesnt enjoy old world wines anymore (he told me they were to bitter oddly enough) but now loves California cabs. It took him 4 months before his palate would allow him to drink any wine but he was on meds the whole time.

My experience has been that when I’m sick I can’t stand the taste but as soon as I’m better my palate returns to normal.

I’m fairly sensitive to bitter and like it in small quantities when balanced by other flavors and it gives some complexity.