Tasting: Factors affecting taste

We cannot know what other tasters experience for the tasting mechanism is far from public. Furthermore, individuals vary in their sensitivity to different compounds and dimensions of wine. But even as individuals, the way our brain processes information sent from sensory receptors changes all the time so that the same wine will have a different effect on us depending on the state of our palate. The most obvious example of this is how different something tastes before and just after we have had a mouthful of red hot chili, or brushed our teeth with a mint toothpaste. But even something as apparently innocuous as a particularly hot drink or salty solution can affect the way we taste. An acid wine will seem less acid if tasted immediately after a very acid one, which is why the order of serving and tasting is crucial, but extremely difficult to get right until every wine has been tasted. See also food and wine matching.