After having watched the supposed revolution in wine-tasting promised by the new “Think like a Genius: Wine Master” DVD, I must admit I was a bit skeptical.
The half-hour tutorial offers to help turn you into a skilled oenophile, thanks to the techniques of Master Sommelier Tim Gaiser, and the “deconstructor of genius,” behavioral scientist Tim Hallbom.
It’s Hallbom’s contribution that really intrigues. He claims that by exploring Gaiser’s techniques for evaluating wine, he’s learned that people engage their visual memories while tasting wine. He says we see images that correspond to wine’s attributes. For instance, if a Chardonnay has the smell of apples, we “see” an apple in our mind’s eye. If we’re serious about wine, and we compare several Charonnays, we may “see” apples of different sizes, colors, positions, etc. Over time, we create a visual memory bank of different apples, oaken barrels (for the oak aroma), piles of dirt (earthiness), cinnamon sticks, etc. We carry these “grids” in our memory bank for every attribute of wine – the color, legs, aroma, taste, finish, etc.
Simply by being aware of these images and where they lie in our subjective grids, we can grow into wine experts, and enhance our grape-loving adventures. Maybe so, but now that you know what’s on this DVD – and truly, there isn’t much more than this simple concept – you can save the $39 and begin thinking in mental grids if you’d like.
Wine lovers probably know most of the other basic tips Gaiser throws in, like comparing a flight of similars (three Chardonnays, for example) to develop baselines of color, smell, and taste. He also reminds us to put our nose inside the tipped glass to really get a whiff of the wine, and to smell with the mouth open to draw the aroma onto the tongue.
Another of his tips is sure to draw some curious looks – he encourages wine lovers to head to the grocery store and poke our noses into the apples, pears, lemons, etc. for deep snorts to enhance the smell-memory.
It’s not hard to imagine yourself pulling back to find another shopper reaching for the produce around you.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” you’re forced to say, “were you going to buy those bananas?”
Editor's note: The Relish editor reached a similar conclusion, finding Halbom's observations useful and easy to comprehend, and Gaiser sincere and believable, but the sum total delves no deeper than a well-chosen Wine 101 class. For almost the same amount of money, attending a local wine class will yield virtually the same information but have the added benefit of seeing, smelling, and tasting actual wines.
