Tim Hanni, Why You Like the Wines You Like. 2013.

Writing about the problems of “misunderstood” Riesling earlier this summer (and why people are so hung up on the dry-sweet thing), I was struck by a distant memory of … the Budometer! I recalled reading an article some years ago about a wine expert who had taken the qualitative differences in personal wine perception and taken them to the next level by quantifying them through painstaking experimentation.

The result was the Budometer which was not a measurement of how many Budweiser beers a person could drink (although that would be interesting, too), but a way to determine what types of wines an individual consumer might prefer, with the seemingly inevitable trial and error  phase eliminated. Budometer and is taste buds if you see what I mean.

It seemed like a great idea when I read about it, however I admit that I didn’t do much with it at the time.  But it was easy enough to find that old Wall Street Journal interview online and so I set about to retrace my steps.

From Budometer to Vinotype

I have bad news to report. The Budometer is no more. But don’t despair because it’s been replaced by something better, the Vinotype. And the wine expert who got all this started is still at it, too. His name is Tim Hanni and he’s a famous person in American wine history. He and Joel Butler were the first Americans to pass the devilishly difficult Master of Wine exam. Fewer than 400 people in the world have survived the rigorous process that gives them the right to wear the initials M.W. next to their names.

I’ve never met Hanni but he seems like an unusually interesting person. Although he knows pretty much all there is to know about wine he doesn’t drink the stuff (or any alcohol) any more. His mission now is to help others enjoy the beverage that he no longer imbibes.

Hanni’s research indicates that wine drinkers hardwired into four basic groups or Vinotypes, which he calls sweet, hypersensitive, sensitive and tolerant. It you want to know all about Hanni’s system you should probably read his 2013 book, Why You Like the Wines You Like or visit his websites www.timhanni.com and www.myVinotype.com. I’ll provide a quick summary here, but I risk over-simplifying. You should seek out the more complete reports available in the book on the websites.

Sweet to Hypersensitive

“Sweet” wine tasters are very sensitive to anything that assaults their senses (not just in wine, according to Hanni). Bitterness and alcohol in wine must be covered up with a blanket of sweetness.  Women (about one in five) are three times more likely to be Sweet Vinotypes. White Zinfandel is their kind of wine. It isn’t a lack of sophistication (White Zin drinkers get a bad rap in wine circles), it’s just the way they are built.

A little more than a third of both men and women in Hanni’s surveys are Hypersensative Vinotypes. They have intense sensory experiences as the name suggests. Hanni says they love fragrances and “revel” in aromatic memories. Rather than cover up offending flavors with sweetness, however, they instead seek out delicate wines that are dry or off-dry, aromatic (obviously) and very smooth. They avoid big red wines with lots of oak (or any wine with overt oak treatment). Sparkling wines, drier Rieslings and Sauvignon Blanc wines fit this profile very well along with lighter reds like Pinot Noir.

Are You Sensitive or Tolerant?

“Sensitive” vnotypes make up about a quarter of the wine drinking population and Hanni says they are the most adventurous drinkers (and eaters, too). They like to try new things. Accordingly they enjoy a broad range of red and white wines while leaning towards the drier side of the sweetness spectrum.

“Tolerant” Vinotypes are less sensitive when it comes to harsh, bitter sensations such as you might find it rugged, high alcohol red wines.  Given a choice, Hanni says, Tolerant Vinotypes head for the big reds like Cabernet Sauvignon and are not daunted by high alcohol levels because the smack of the alcohol is mitigated by a deceptive sweetness that they perceive even in a completely dry wine.

You won’t be surprised to learn that men outnumber women two to one among Tolerant Vinotypes. The next time you see a couple drinking in opposite directions – he with a big, bold Aussie Shiraz and she sipping a delicate Oregon Pinot Gris, don’t shake your head, just appreciate that you’ve stumbled onto a “mixed marriage,” Tolerant male and Sensitive female.

You Are What  You Drink

The key to the Hanni’s Vinotype analysis is that people are very different from each other and their wine preferences are not just about wine – they reflect a person’s sensibilities more generally. Thus in one incident reported in his book, Hanni pressed an apparent Hypersensitive vintoype all the way and asked if by chance he sometimes wore his underware inside out (to avoid the relative harshness of the interior seams). “How did you know!” came the response.

I hope you take Hanni’s test and find out your Vinotype. It’s fun and also useful to think seriously about your habits, attitudes and sensory experiences. What will you learn when you are finished? Well apart from Hanni’s cool list of suggested wines,  I hope this helps you accept that people really are different when it comes to wine and other things in life. There is no reason why you should like everything your friends like in wine (and indeed there are good reasons why you might disagree). If you are a Sweet Vintotype you are never going to enjoy that Napa Cabernet and the Cab lover is never going to understand your passion for White Zinfandel.

The Riesling Question

Hanni has gone far beyond the Vinotype in his research and I encourage you to check out his work because there is a lot that might stimulate your imagination (if you are a Sensitive type) or challenge your firmly held habits and beliefs (if you are on the Sweet side and unwilling to break out of your comfortable routine).

For me, thinking about the Riesling problem, there were several key points. The sweetness scale that the International Riesling Foundation promotes is probably more important than I thought since both Sweets and Hypersensitives might look at Riesling wines, but they will be looking for very particular styles.  Senstitives might find something interesting in all Riesling styles, but Tolerants will want nothing to do with the wine.

This is a problem, according to some research that Hanni reports, because Tolerants buy wine much more frequently than Sweets. Getting Sweets to drink more Riesling could be problematic because they just don’t drink it very often in the first place.

Food for thought, don’t you think?

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In other news … the Kindle version of Extreme Wine has been released!