July 9 2010
When I read a recent Wall Street Journal article that suggested the American palate was evolving towards more intense and exotic taste sensations (dubbed “adrenaline cuisine”) my first thought in viewing the article through the prism of wine was not whether this was substantiation for “big wine” over a more refined style. Instead, I immediately thought about the upcoming exotic taste descriptions that would be forthcoming in tasting notes before becoming commonplace.
Perhaps one of the most notable examples of a once exotic taste sensation made “everyday accessible” is the pomegranate.
In grade school over twenty-five years ago, my social studies teacher brought a pomegranate to class as a part of a Native American Indian diet lesson. In handling the foreign looking fruit, she was careful to peel it and gently pull out the delicate and juicy nubs and divvy out the small kernels to each of us, admonishing us not to get any of the staining juice on our shirts. It was the first and last time I saw the pomegranate until the early 2000s when scientific research surfaced touting its antioxidant properties, saving the fruit from irrelevance.
In 2002, an opportunistic California company resurrected the nationally moribund pomegranate industry and created Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice … and an entire cottage industry sprung up around the use of the pomegranate in all manner of foodstuff.
This quick anecdote would be germane to nothing were it not for the preponderance of pomegranate references that occur in wine tasting note and reviews … tasting notes that, ironically enough, start immediately after the introduction of Pom Wonderful in 2002.
To test my hunch that, indeed, “adrenaline cuisine” that brings new flavors to our consumer food pathways affects the wine world via tasting descriptors, I did an analysis of the Wine Spectator (WS) ratings database encompassing 232,000 reviews and tasting notes dating back to the mid-80s.
A search for “pomegranate” in the WS review database retrieved 546 wine reviews with “pomegranate” as a tasting note descriptor. Wouldn’t you know it, but of those 546 wines, a mere nine of those pomegranate references occurred in vintages that were released to market prior to 2002 when Pom Wonderful launched, re-igniting the pomegranate industry.
Coincidence? Surely not. However, it is not indicting conspiracy, either – it’s more of a statement on the evolution of our palates. We taste what we know and prior to 2002, not many people knew the taste of the pomegranate.
So, again, when I read the Wall Street Journal article, I’m thinking about “what’s next?” After all, before the Asian food aisle at the grocery store expanded beyond chop suey, nobody used “lychee” to describe Gewürztraminer, either.
To find out more, I did some fruit trend research to determine what might be the next pomegranate or lychee in our tasting notes.
It seems that fruit trends come to market via three channels:
• Niche health foods and juices
• The produce aisle
• Flavorings for mass market foods
And, you can find examples for each that don’t necessarily crossover to the other. Goji berries and the mangosteen live in the health food section. Star fruit lives in the produce aisle and the dragon fruit primarily exists in processed flavorings.
While the wine taster is influenced by new flavors that crossover to the wine palate, it seems that we pick up most of our influences from whole foods. A dragon fruit flavored chewing gum or flavored rum does not a wine descriptor make, even if others want to reference Twizzlers and Jolly Rancher candies. Nor does a super food juice drink from the likes of the noni tree or the goji berry.
Given that, the best bet for projecting new flavors is to see what fruits are coming to a produce section near you.
I checked out the California Rare Fruit Growers web site and did some additional research.
In a highly subjective bit of analysis, based on viability in distribution to supermarkets and yield, here are two upcoming fruits that the wine enthusiast might want to taste:
Cherimoya: soft scoopable white flesh tastes like a blend of pineapple, mango, and banana with a tinge of strawberry
Star fruit: slice and eat, or eat out of hand like an apple. Very subtle. Tastes like a plum with subtle pineapple and tropical hints.
In short, when looking at the evolution of the American palate as cross-referenced against our taste sensations in wine, the influences are varied. A super-charged influence in processed and prepared food likely does not translate to a need for bigger flavors in wines; instead, it broadens our tasting sensations and interest in those influences that, in my opinion, principally derive from the source flavors and the produce section.
So, go get a cherimoya and get ahead of the tasting note pack.
Posted in, Good Grape Daily: Pomace & Lees. Permalink | Comments (13) |
Just this week I ran across guanabana in a review of a Wakefield Promised Land Chardonnay, new to me but a fruit with flavors of strawberry and pineapple, sour citrus notes contrasting with underlying creaminess of coconut & banana. Who knew? Spiky lookin’ green fruit also called soursop but somehow I’m betting that descriptor doesn’t catch on….
Love the cherimoya…have enjoyed as many as I could each time we’ve gone to visit my wife’s family in Chile…simply delicious and texture is sublime. Last time I saw one up here is cost about $5…that would buy you kilos of them down there. They are VERY tender when ripe and I can only guess at the shipping implications.
Thanks for the comments and observations.
Jim - the guanabana—new on me, but speaks to the timeliness of the post, I suppose. I always chuckle at “pain grille” instead of toast, I should note.
Todd—the Cherimoya is tasty. I understand its ripening is similar to the avocado—when it’s ready, it’s ready.
“In grade school over twenty-five years ago, my social studies teacher brought a pomegranate to class as a part of a Native American Indian diet lesson.”
I’m really curious as to what part a Middle Eastern fruit introduced to America in the late 18th century had to do with Native American diets. I’m not arguing with you here, I’m wondering what the teacher was thinking.
You’re dead on with your analysis. I’m wondering when açai berry will show up. When I first started attending wine tastings, I always hated it when people referred to quince, gooseberry, lychee, etc., because although I’d tasted them (once), it really wasn’t much to go on for reference. What’s that one famous tasting note? “Wet monkey riding bareback on a sweaty horse”?
I’ve been guilty of this myself, though I try to avoid it as much as possible. I figure Meyer lemons are mainstream enough to reference; freshly chopped cactus leaves, maybe not.
It’s a good point, Benito.
I should track down Mrs. Lawler from 6th grade because I distinctly remember it being a Thanksgiving / Indian food lesson.
But, then, it was a catholic school, so historical accuracy is tenable.
Jeff
It’s no big deal and doesn’t take away from your point at all, I just found it amusing. Sort of like how people associate potatoes with Germany/Ireland and tomatoes with Italy when both came from the Americas.
You know how the Brits call a flashlight an electric torch? It came up in a short story in English class and, when a student asked, my 7th grade teacher explained that an electric torch was sort of like a roman candle: a metal tube that shoots out a stream of sparks so you can see in the dark.
You folks are way ahead of me. I’m still trying to figure out what “cassis” tastes like…
I think a good deal of it has to do with your ethnic background. As Sasha mentioned, if we are raised eating different fruit, we grow up with different flavor profiles that we assign to things. I’ve got no idea what the hell a gooseberry tastes like, but the guanabana Jim mentioned, as well as the star fruit (carambola), papaya, and mamoncillo were common flavors for me growing up in a Cuban family. In the end, it’s all very “relative”.
Great pice and an interesting look at wine trends. I’ll definitely be paying more attention to what shows up at my local market.
Does raise an interesting question though - if Pom contributed so much to the rise of pomegranate in tasting notes, I wonder if people actually picked up real pomegranate aromas and tastes or if the fruit was top of mind enough that it drove people to believe it was there. I’m always very curious about how people pick up on different elements in wine and how they got there.
Philippines is a tropical country and the fruits back there are way diverse than here in the US. Is it guanabana or guyabano? Cheers!
Mart….it’s both…it’s where you’re from that will determine what you call it. Just like star fruit = carambola.
Oh thanks Katie for clarifying. I got mixed up on that one. Cheers!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License
Design by The Blog Studio
Print
Great piece! The best taster I know is from the Philippines. When she came to the US, she had a hard time ID’ing all the berry flavors, but tropical notes were a breeze. She trained herself by tasting all kinds of berries, jams, etc. and she said it really helped hone her palate. Not just on those particular flavors, but across the board.