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Taste is mostly genetic. But appreciating a fine bottle of wine can be learned. One expert, Gary K. Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, which studies smell and taste and how they affect human health, offers his view of what goes on when we sip.
味覺是否靈敏通常由先天決定。但是人們可以通過后天學習來品鑒出一瓶酒的好壞。加里?比徹姆(Gary K. Beauchamp)是費城莫內爾化學感官研究中心(Monell Chemical Senses Center)主任，專注于研究嗅覺、味覺以及它們對人類健康的影響，這位專家給出了自己對于品酒的見解。
That Tingly Feeling
輕微的刺痛
When we talk about flavor, says Dr. Beauchamp, three factors come into play. The first two are the most familiar: The tongue and palate sense the primary taste categories of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. And smell receptors at the top of the nose capture molecules floating in the air. In fruit season, for instance, 'the odors and the tastes interact with different receptors and all converge in the brain, which tells you that this is a peach,' he says.
比徹姆博士說，談到口味，就必須要提及三個要素。前兩個要素我們非常熟悉：舌頭和上顎感受幾種最基本的口味──甜、咸、酸、苦和鮮味。而鼻腔上部的嗅覺受體捕捉空氣中的分子。他說，比如到了盛產水果的時節，桃子的氣味和口味與身體中不同的受體相接觸，最終匯聚到大腦，告訴你這是一個桃子。
For wine, a third factor is also important -- an irritation in the mouth, the throat and the nose that some people like and others find unpleasant. 'We don't have a good term for it, but it's that sense of pain you feel when you taste something spicy or fermented -- that little stinging,' Dr. Beauchamp says.
而對于品酒來說，第三個要素也同樣重要──一種對口、喉、鼻同時造成的刺激感，這種感受是否討喜則見仁見智。比徹姆博士說，這種感覺就是當你嘗到一些辛辣或發酵過的東西時的那種輕微的刺痛感，但我們還沒找到一個合適的詞語來形容它。
For example, 'If you were to give a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil to people in the U.S., many wouldn't like that burning sensation,' says Dr. Beauchamp, who has done studies on this particular condition. 'But if you give it to people from the Mediterranean, they will recognize the feeling as the sign of the very best olive oil.' Enjoying that subtle pain is learned, scientists believe, but Dr. Beauchamp says they don't yet understand how that happens.
比徹姆博士舉例說道，如果你讓一個美國人品嘗一勺特級初榨橄欖油，多數人都不會喜歡它灼熱的口感，他的實驗也證實了這一情況。但地中海的居民就能從中品嘗出極佳橄欖油的感受?？茖W家們相信，對于那種輕微刺痛感的享受是學習得來的，但比徹姆博士表示他們尚未弄清這背后的玄機。
Expert Palate
“專家級”味覺
One of Dr. Beauchamp's colleagues explains that wine flavors are made up of many chemical structures. They arise from materials in the grape, from enzymatic reactions with grape compounds, through alcoholic fermentation and even from the wooden barrels used in the aging process. In the glass, those scents and flavors react with the nose and tongue at different times during sipping, which may cause one person to taste a cherry bouquet and another a leather finish from the same vintage.
比徹姆博士的一位同事解釋道，酒的口感由很多化學成份組成，包括葡萄自身的成份、葡萄化合物的?促反應以及酒精發酵的產物，甚至還包括存放過程中木桶里的成份。品嘗一杯紅酒，這些不同氣味和口味會在不同的時間與鼻子和嘴發生反應，因而同一瓶佳釀既可能如櫻桃般醇美，也可能像嗆人的皮革一樣難以下咽。
Professional wine tasters are trained to notice the different flavors that tannins, sugars, acids and various processes give to a particular wine, and to put words to them. But tasters' physiology is basically the same as everyone else's. 'It's not as though they were born with more receptors or grew more over time. They simply developed an ability to notice small differences,' says Dr. Beauchamp. 'With experience, some people can become more attuned to certain smells and tastes, which may lead them to like particular wines more, but their chemistry doesn't change; it's a cognitive effect.'
專業品酒師能夠品嘗出丹寧、糖分、酸以及生產工藝所賦予一瓶紅酒的不同味道，并對這些味道做出評價。這些品酒師生下來感官并不比別人靈敏。比徹姆博士說，他們并非天生就具備更多的感覺受體或隨著年齡的增長感覺受體越來越多。比徹姆博士說，他們只是訓練出辨識酒中細微差別的能力，有了一定的飲酒閱歷，人們就逐漸喜歡上某些氣味、口味，對特定的酒產生偏好，但這當中的原理只有一個；這是認知效應的結果。
Bitter Evolution
“苦澀”的進化
Among the basic tastes, people seem to differ the most on bitter -- a big factor in appreciating fine wine. 'It's not exactly clear why there is so much more variation on bitter than sweet and salty. But we have evolved to detect bitter things differently, perhaps to protect us against danger in the environment,' he says.
在所有基本的口味中，人們似乎對“苦”的感受存在最大的差異，而這恰恰是品酒過程中的一個重要因素。比徹姆博士說，至今仍不清楚?什么相較于甜、咸的口感，人們對苦的感受差別巨大。然而是人類的進化讓我們對苦產生不同的感受，因而這或許是?了更好地保護自身遠離環境中的危險。
And because so many factors are at work in the preference for certain wines, it would be very difficult for one person to tell another what he should like.
因為如此多的因素共同決定了我們對于酒的偏好，所以品酒是一個因人而異的事情。
'Take your genetics plus your experience, and we are all living in our own sensory world,' Dr. Beauchamp says. For that reason, he has one simple recommendation: Enjoy what you enjoy, and don't worry about what the other guy is savoring.
比徹姆博士說，遺傳加上閱歷，造就了我們每一個人的感官世界。也正因如此，對于品酒，他的建議很簡單：喝自己愛的酒，讓別人說去吧。
