Wine Tasting Without a Tongue: Wine Taste Perception in a Person with Isolated Congenital Aglossia, Average Taster, and Sommelier
Authors: Mahood Kristin , Wang Long , McMicken Betty , Rock Cheryl 
Published: November 2023

Objective

Isolated congenital aglossia (ICA) is the absence of a tongue without the presence of other syndromes or symptoms. Previous studies have confirmed taste perception in ICA using single taste solutions including sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and umami.

Methods

One average taster and one sommelier were age‐ and sex‐matched to the 46 year old female with ICA. The taste perception of wine was evaluated by measuring 73 variables using a sommelier validated Nose and Palate Survey developed by the researchers from the Court of Master Sommeliers Deductive Tasting Format. Five types of medium‐bodied, red wines were sampled in triplicate. While the overall order of samples was randomized, the subjects tasted the samples in the same order to account for any taste perception variations due to the order in which the wine was tasted. Data were analyzed with one‐way independent ANOVA with post hoc tests using IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Significance was set at p ≤ 0.05 and results were expressed as means ± SE.

Results

The sommelier had the greatest amount significantly different variables compared to the person with ICA and regular taster at 37 and 31 variables, respectively (p<0.05). The person with ICA and regular taster had the least number of significantly different variables at 15 (p<0.05). Post hoc analysis revealed that both the smell and taste of dried fruit had significantly different results among the three subjects. The smell of dried fruit was significantly different between the person with ICA (M=2.13, SE=.165) and sommelier (M=0.20, SE=.107, p<0.001), the person with ICA and average taster (M=1.36, SE=.248, p=0.041), and the average taster and sommelier (p=0.001). The taste of dried fruit was significantly different between the person with ICA (M=2.85, SE=.191) and sommelier (M=0.33, SE=.126, p<0.001), the person with ICA and average taster (M=1.57, SE=.228, p<0.001), and the average taster and sommelier (p<0.001).

Conclusion

This was the first study investigating taste perception in a person with ICA using a whole food and/or beverage approach. The novice tasters, both with and without a tongue, had greater similarity of nose and palate variables than either compared to the sommelier. This suggests that the person with ICA had similar wine taste perception to the average taster, while wine taste perception varies greatly between trained wine experts and novice wine tasters with or without the tongue. Previous research suggests that naïve wine tasters and sommeliers use different neural pathways when tasting wine, with the naïve tasters showing activation in the primary gustatory cortex associated with emotional processing, while the sommeliers had activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex associated with high‐level cognitive processes. This difference in neural processing may account for some of the differences demonstrated in this study. Further research could overcome the limitations of the small sample size and number of tasting samples, perhaps by utilizing discrimination tests, and expand on how a person with ICA tastes similarly to a person with no abnormalities within the oral cavity.

Support or Funding Information

This study was sponsored by Dr. Long Wang's personal fund. Wine samples were generously donated by District Wine in Long Beach, CA.