Does weak wine taste BETTER?

Low alcohol bottles of red stimulate our senses more, scientists claim

• Spanish neuroscientists gave volunteers samples of red wine to drink while they scanned their brains in an fMRI machine
• One sample was low alcohol while the other was more potent
• They found that weaker wine better stimulated areas of the brain that are sensitive to taste intensity, including the insula and cerebellum
• Experts say the weaker wine may have tasted better because the volunteers paid more attention to the flavours than the stronger tipple

You might imagine that stronger wine would pack more of a punch in the flavour department.

But Spanish neuroscientists claim that red wine with a low alcohol content produces more brain activity in ‘taste processioning’ areas, then stronger tipples.

While the low alcohol bottles may not contain more flavour per se, people pay more attention to ‘fruity bouquets’ and ‘woody notes’ so the wine appears to be tastier.

Neuroscientists led by Ram Frost, of the Basque centre of Cognition, Brain and Language in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain, wrote in their study, published in the journal Plos One: ‘Over the last few decades, wine makers have been producing wines with a higher alcohol content, assuming that they are more appreciated by consumers.

‘To test this hypothesis, we used functional magnetic imaging to compare reactions of human subjects to different types of wine, focusing on brain regions critical for flavour processing and food reward.’

They noted that 30 years ago, it was typical for red wines to contain around 12 per cent alcohol, while now quality tipples can be 15 per cent.

This is because wine makers ‘seem to… assume that strong wines are, on the average, more appreciated by wine consumers,’ Dr Frost said, adding that they seem more intense, which is considered desirable by some foodies.


Spanish neuroscientists claim low alcohol red wine produces more brain activity in ‘taste processioning’ areas, then stronger tipples. A stock image is shown

To reveal that stronger wines aren’t necessarily better, his team measured the brain activity of 21 volunteers in a fMRI scanner.

During the scan, the volunteers had the enviable task of sipping samples of different red wines where one was low alcohol and another stronger, but they tasted similar.


The researchers measured the brain activity of 21 volunteers in a fMRI scanner while they sipped red wine. They found: Contrary to expectation, significantly greater activation was found for low-alcohol than for high-alcohol content wines in brain regions that are sensitive to taste intensity, including the insula as well as the cerebellum. An image from the study showing brain activity triggered by wine is shown

‘Contrary to expectation, significantly greater activation was found for low-alcohol than for high-alcohol content wines in brain regions that are sensitive to taste intensity, including the insula as well as the cerebellum', the researchers wrote.

In fact, there was no part of the brain that responded more strongly to the more alcoholic wine, meaning that strong wines ‘induce weaker activation relative to the low-alcohol content ones’.

This may be because people paid more attention to the flavours of the less potent wine, even though they are not more flavourful themselves,

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reported.

The experts hypothesised: ‘The low-alcohol content wines induced a greater attentional orienting and exploration of the sensory attributes of wines relatively to high-alcohol content wines.’

Wine critics have previously said that New World, or high alcohol wines, often lack the finesse of less potent options, because the alcohol overpowers some of the more subtle aromas and flavours.

‘The findings raise intriguing possibilities for objectively testing hypotheses regarding methods of producing a highly complex product such as wine,’ the researchers wrote.


Wine critics (stock image) have previously said that New World, or high alcohol wines often lack the finesse of less potent options, because the alcohol overpowers some of the more subtle aromas and flavours


LAWSUIT CLAIMS SOME CHEAP CALIFORNIAN WINES CONTAIN ARSENIC

Dozens of cheap and popular California wines are tainted with dangerously high levels of arsenic, claims a new lawsuit filed this week.

Sutter Home, Korbel, Franzia and Trader Joe's Charles Shaw White Zifandel, also known as 'Two-Buck Chuck,' were just a few of the 31 wine brands the lawsuit claimed were unsafe.

Twenty-eight California wineries were listed in the complaint, which is asking for a halt in production of the wines in question.




A new lawsuit claims dozens of cheap and popular California Wine, including Franzia and Trader Joe's Charles Shaw White Zifandel, are tainted with dangerously high levels of arsenic

The lawsuit was filed by four individual Southern California wine consumers who, according to their attorney Brian Kabateck, had 1,306 wines tested at a Denver-based laboratory and then confirmed results with two additional laboratories.

Kabateck said 83 wines, almost all of which sell for below $10 a bottle, contained arsenic levels 10 parts per billion above the range considered safe for drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency standard for drinking water is 10 parts per billion - meaning that the tests allegedly found arsenic levels that were double the federal drinking water standard.

'This is a very serious public health concern,' Kabateck said. 'We would hope the wine industry would take these wines off the shelf immediately.'

'If not voluntarily, we would ask the court to do it.'