Two different aspects of wine memory just struck me and I wonder if everybody experiences this.
The first, remembering nearly every bottle you ever had in context. Just an example, I remember that the first time we visited Manresa, nearly six years ago, we drank an 05 Trespass CF. Or, my wife will occasionally select a cork out of the hundreds in the vases around the house and say, “tell me about this one,” and the memory is often clear. Bought it here, drank it then, ate this with it, in that company. If only I could remember other more important stuff.
The other type of memory… a few minutes ago a vivid taste memory flashed. I could momentarily taste it. And it was specific. Took me about another minute to place it. Clos Mimi Petite Rouge, maybe 2001 or 2002. Had that maybe 8 years ago. Does that happen to you?
Brian, I am right there with you. The first one drives my wife nuts. It amazes me what I can remember about wine and what I can forget about on a daily basis.
Yes on the corks (or empties) - not 100% but I can remember details of the notable bottles. On taste memories, I will get connections to wines I’ve had in the past in something I’m tasting in the glass now, but not a random flavor flash without something there to prompt it. That is, I don’t spontaneously taste Echezeaux, but may find that something in my Vosne Romanee tastes distinctly like that Echezeaux I had seven years ago at such-and-such restaurant where I ordered the duck to go with it.
We once had a discussion on the Tanzer board as to whether there are individuals who have a “photographic” memory in terms of taste for wines. apparently there are a few individuals who claim that they can recall the taste of every wine they’ve ever had. I polled various taste and smell experts and memory experts around the country, and even emailed Oliver Sacks, but no one was aware of any more scientific information as to this phenomenon.
As for me, I can recall the nose/taste of a few wines vividly for weeks/months, but they eventually fade. And, yes, I’ve totally forgotten my bank PIN number on more than one occasion.
When I began to drink great wines, some friends told me : “do you remember the wine we had last Wednesday?” and I had forgotten. But I could remember details that they had forgotten.
Memory is extremely selective.
Since I write about what I drink, I remember a lot more as the writing process increases the memory of an event. And I continue to have a memory of significant details, forgetting more important things.
Some friends have a greater memory than mine.
Considering the memory of taste, it happens ever and ever that I think : “I know this taste, it is sure that I know it”. But I am unable to name it. On the contrary, on many wines that I know, I have a mental representation of what it is, and I can have in mind a very precise image which I will compare with what I drink. And very often, what I drink looks like the image that I had in mind.
I read an interesting article in a scientific mag while waiting for a Dr.'s appt. that discussed memory and how it was formed and could be changed. Basically, it said that if you recalled an experience within 72 hours you not only reinforced that memory but could change the emotional context for it. The article was mainly about how to desensitize bad memories in dealing with PTSD. Very interesting and I was reluctant to see the Doc before I finished. Writing tasting notes on wine and thinking about what is usually a pleasant experience can reinforce your memory of the tasting and reinforce the memory of your pleasure linking the two.
Folks don’t often realize that memories can be changed. memories are periodically recalled and can be adjusted in this process, or as you say, the emotional context can be changed. so distant memories that to an individual can seem vivid and certainly accurate, can infact over time become altered and not actually reflect what occured (or what was tasted).
I have a lot of this first one, about wine definitely, but also about many things in life. The second, not at all. I can’t really recall the full qualitative experience of some flavor or wine unless I am drinking it again or drinking another wine that reminds me of it. I have a hard time getting into the recalled experience in any emotional or qualitative way–I feel like it kind of gets conceptualized or intellectualized for me, rather than actually reliving it.
I think for me these memories might be more about context–I have a pretty good contextual memory, especially visually (hence remembering labels I either see or can visualize triggers broader memories), but sometimes about smells too. I know that olfactory triggers are pretty amazing for a lot of people. The smell of laundry detergent for me takes me back to points in my life when I’d smelled it before in the environment. The memories can be really vivid, sometimes disturbingly so.
Someone else here mentioned this beer and spirits. I have no memory for beer, but I can remember cocktails, both the experience of drinking them and in the context of everything else going on. But I can’t remember for the life of me the proportions to make them, even my favorite ones.
Same thing for me (and many guys) when it comes to sports trivia and movie lines. I have amazing recollection of those things, but I’m lousy at calendar stuff like birthdays and appointments. Maybe it’s just a matter of what you care about the most?
My wife mostly remembers wines by association with occasions. If I ask her what she thinks of Wine X, she usually has little recollection of the name, but if I say “it’s the wine we had at Marche Moderne with Rich and Lisa last December,” then she will often remember it pretty well.
I certainly can’t bring about a taste memory at will and I don’t remember the taste of the glass I had a week ago much less 8 years ago. This is involuntary and happens from time to time. The one that made me bring it up was a taste memory that happened over a few seconds, developed and honed in kinda like the way deja vu seems to and was very like tasting that Clos Mimi again if briefly.
And fwiw, when I was drinking that wine frequently back then, it had a signature that was pretty unique among my regular rotation stuff. I loved the stuff. So it must’ve gotten certain brain real estate.