Wine At Altitude Continued...

[wineo]

To continue from http://wines.com/ubb2/Forum37/HTML/002946.html

Well, I found this out since...

The flight attendant was quite right but did not go nearly far enough. The aromas and flavours of wines vary sometimes drastically not only on flights but at very high or even extremely low altitudes while we are still in touch with the planet. Aromatic and flavour differences are due largely to two broad factors, the first of these being that the volatile essences of wine react vastly differently at high than at near sea-level altitudes and the second being that our palates (literally in this case, the taste buds) react differently to stimuli at extreme altitudes.

With regard to the taste buds, it is easily demonstrable that these tend to become less porous and thus less receptive to sensations at high altitudes, this also accounting for why airline food is so outrageously seasoned that it would be considered nearly inedible on the ground. Several studies carried out by the United States Air Force and by NASA demonstrate nicely the negative impact of altitude on the ability to discriminate taste sensations. I do not know of any controlled studies carried out specifically with regard to taste perceptions and wine at varying altitudes.


[This message has been edited by wineo (edited 07-21-2004).]