Tasting palette and Budometer.com

“Temperance, like chastity, is its own punishment.”

As any one reading this page knows, we all have very different palettes. There’s an interesting, informative, and fun way to determine where your palette resides on the palette continuum.

Go to budometer.com and take the simple quiz to get some interesting feedback. It’s known that some people have 10 times the number of taste buds of some of us. Interestingly, those most sensitive palettes, the top 25%, often prefer sweet wines and those in the bottom 25% of tasters prefer the bold, Robert Parker style of wine. My supposition is that “sweet” is one of the major tasting categories so with 10 times the number of buds, there is probably a plethora of data to sift through and “sweet” would stand out. But that’s just my opinion. I sometimes need a big, bold, wine that hits me over the head with a hammer, to make a lasting impression. Or is that a scar?

I am on the cusp of the bottom 25% and the middle 50%, which I suspected. When I read a wine description and it says something like, “hints of cherry, chocolate, leather, smoke on the front, with walnuts and smores on the middle palette, and nuances of artichoke on the finish,” I am totally lost. I usually get no more than two “hints” unless someone else describes their sensation and then I may also get it, but I need the nudge.

Anyway, go to budometer.com (not to be confused with butt thermometer.com) and take the quiz. It not only describes your category of tasting but it also provides a list of the types of wines you might enjoy.

Have some fun with it!

Tom Da Wine Guy