Tolerant, sensitive or hyper-sensitive?

Lodi wine contest picks winners with revolutionary method

Judges in Lodi this year evaluated more than 500 wines from around the nation using a new method based not on the traditional standards of wine but on tastebuds alone.

The Lodi-Tokay Rotary club presented the Lodi International Wine Awards in March. Organizers had hoped to have no less than 200 wine entries, but the total number came to 526, which were judged in Kirst Hall in Hutchins Street Square. The success of the event's debut has prompted the club to make it an annual event.

Wines came from Canada, Virginia, South Dakota, New York and Lodi.

The judging concept is based on a system of determining the number of tastebuds a person has. Based on buds, a person will fall into one of three categories: Hyper-sensitive, sensitive and tolerant.

The system was developed by Master of Wine Tim Hanni, along with Dr. Michael Mahoney, professor and sensory scientist at University of California, Davis, and Rie Ishii, a sensory research associate at UC Davis.

Hanni was on hand to test judges' level of taste sensitivity by painting their tongues blue with food color. With the help of the blue tint, he was able to look at the number of tastebuds each judge had.

"One person could have as few as 11 tastebuds per square centimeter of their tongue, while another can have as many as 1,100 per square centimeter," Hanni said. The more tastebuds, the more sensitive a person's taste. The fewer, the more tolerant of bitter tastes, such as black coffee and Zinfandel wine. Hence the three categories of judging.

People curious to find out their level of taste sensitivity can visit http://www.budometer.com, answer a simple questionnaire, and determine what wines they would most enjoy.

Thirty wine experts ranging from wine writers, such as Stacy Finz of the San Francisco Chronicle, to local vintners, such as Betsy Kane, a winemaker with Turner Road Vintners.

"It's a great approach to wine competitions and judging," Kane said. "There's less note-taking and more focus on wine tasting."

Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.