Here at our wine appreciation classes at Ross Valley Winery we are always telling people to slurp in air with their wine. Why do we do that?

Your nasal receptors, “smell buds”, number in the hundreds and work together with the less sensitive taste receptors to give you an overall wine tasting experience. In fact, I tell people that if you can’t smell, you can’t taste. Here is an easy demonstration:

Close your eyes and have someone give you a glass of fruit juice, such as apple juice, pineapple juice, orange or tomato juice. Without breathing, raise the glass to your mouth and take a sip. Don’t let air in or out of your nose or mouth. If you have done this properly (you might have to hold your nose) you should perhaps taste a little sour or sweet, but the kind of juice should be a mystery until you try it again with air coming into your mouth and nose while you sip.

Remember how your parents used to try and get you to eat with your mouth closed at the dinner table? The reason small children eat with their mouth open is that the food tastes better with air.

I can remember, too, seeing a blindfolded person with a nose clip eating an onion on television, and thinking it was an apple until his nose clip was removed.

This little demonstration shows that without air you rally can’t taste what you are drinking and Ross Valley Winery’s slurping lessons pay of in a better wine tasting experience.