Yes. This is true for aged fine wines for sure.
Also, there are significant nuances of the finish that happen due to some bounding around on the posterior tongue. The aromas reflux up into the nasal passages.
It is possible to get past this by gargling like I have seen some do and then spitting. Makes a little sense here if you are tasting young bottled wines. Makes a nasty sound however.
If you taste barrel samples, you might as well spit. No need to gargle IMHO. All you are going to get are basic components that can be obtained without swallowing IMHO.
My take from someone who hates to spit out but is forced on cellar tours.
BTW, Emile Peynaud discusses this in his book. He talks about the importance of the release of aromatics from the posterior pharynx. Hard to get the wine back there without swallowing.
A great book btw.
Well actually, you do swallow a bit of the wine - or at least I’m sure I do. Despite spitting out most of what is in my mouth, there’s bound to be some residual wine left. So, the first time I swallow, in between tastes, some wine does go down the throat. I pay no attention to that factor probably 90% of the time. But there is that other 10% where, when walking back to the pouring station or to another table, I will notice something about the length or aftertaste that catches my attention. Bottom line for me, I spit as a means to an end - knocking down many wines w/o getting sideways.
I think you make a good point about seeing good vs. bad when spitting, but needing to swallow to see good vs. better. Jim’s point about having a wine with dinner follow, for quality determination and sheer wine appreciation.
Yet with practice you can do very well spitting. I used to find it tough to get the full sensory effect when spitting, but over time I think I’ve gotten much better at it. I think of it this way. Spitting is a little like listening to music a bit muffled. At first the contrast is distracting and hard to get past. With time, you get tuned to the new context and become better able to read differences that exist between any wines, when spitting or swallowing. At least that’s my experience. Certainly my ability to evaluate wine changes after a few samples if I’m not spitting. On the other hand, it’s hard not to be affected by 20 or 30 samples even when you’re spitting.
Spitting has more to do with location than anything IMO. Have never seen a person spit at an offline or private tasting with friends. Sure it happens, just have not seen it myself. Only see it at commercial tastings (were a large number of wines are poured - 50+). Not a personal fan of spitting, just take a small taste and dump if necessary.
I spit at offlines quite a bit. For the record, I am morally opposed to spitting.
Of course, at work I have to spit, and I do at most tastings I attend. I do feel like I get a better feel for a wine if I can swallow, though. We have started taking 375mL bottles of newly blended wines home to see if they taste the same/as good at home as they do when we are blending them. Maybe it is more the fact that when you are at home and eating/relaxing, things taste different? I have often found the same difference between wines that I buy at a tasting room, and when I later taste them at home. Maybe I am paying more attention when that is the only wine being tasted? IDK. I just know that situations can play a huge role in the tasting experience.
I see lots of spitting at west coast offlines, and even know at least one person who frequently spits at home. It depends a bit on the people and a bit on the amount of wine at the offline.
Yeah, we (well, not ALL of us) usually even spit at dinner, during road trips. My excuse at dinner is that I’ve been spitting all day, so I’m entitled.
Hey, as a sidebar question, has anyone noticed a decline in spitting accuracy/technique as the tasting wears on? I wonder if the alcohol has a cumulative effect of anaesthetising the lips or tongue?? Or, maybe it’s just so unnatural an act that we resist spitting at some point.
In a video clip I posted elsewhere here, Neil Rosenthal promotes the wine with food approach and refers to many highly scored wines rated by critics as “taste and spit” wines, FWIW. What on earth could he be talking about?
I would think he’s referring to the fact that some wines actually aren’t food wines - they not only don’t pair well, but it brings down the pleasure of each. For instance, IMHO a highly concentrated, big fruit, big alcohol, low acid wine would be a tough match to almost any foods.
I tend to agree for me they tend to be better as a cocktail than as an addition to the meal.
As for spitting, I mostly practice this when I taste though large numbers of wines in a short period of time.
As previously stated, there always seems to be a small amount of wine left in my mouth, enough to taste the finish.
So IMO I feel that I get the entire representative experience.
A revisit of an old topic that is not covered very frequently on this board. I have embraced the practice of spitting at whatever event involving multiple wines to taste, say a wine:taster ratio of greater than 1. I find a completely satisfactory experience in spitting, at least early on. At a recent offline tasting of older white burgs I paid quite a bit of attention to the volume of wine in my spit cup. As is the tradition for our group, we seem to consistently have a very high bottle:taster ratio so spitting is almost out of necessity. Had I swallowed the amount of wine I observed in the spit cup I would’ve been blitzed.
A recent patient of mine in the beer industry stated that he cannot spit. He felt that to get the full “olfactory experience” he had to swallow whole tasting, and consequently estimates he drinks maybe “two to three beers a day.” My first thoughts were:
Probably more like 4-5 beers a day. In watching how much I spit during this last offline, I would have greatly underestimated how much I was actually drinking.
Maybe there is some additional sensation one can get from swallowing but the bonus of not getting hammered while tasting through a bunch of great wines far outweighs this subtle difference.
I’m surprised there haven’t been more posts on this subject since 2009. Ok, you are all 6 years older and wiser now. New perspectives?
I spit at tastings and dinners. I get a coffee cup and discretely spit into it, then transfer when half full to a larger container. Did this at Don Cornwell’s recent white Burg tastings, as did the taster sitting next to me. Nobody hurls it across the room into a spittoon (crachoir) .
I spit at wine dinners unless I know the quantity will be quite limited. The one exception is that I don’t spit a Champagne starter. FWIW, I also spit at home. As a friend of mine once said, “I don’t have taste-buds in my throat”.
The first couple years of my wine life, I thumbed my nose at spitting (and dumping). That of course worked real well. Then I started taking smaller sips and dumping more, but still rarely spit.
Now if the situation calls for it (any type of tasting event) I spit early and often. I’ve found I have a hard enough time keeping my palate fresh under normal circumstances; as mentioned above, no need being hammered.
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