83% of the wine consumers in France prefer their wine to be closed with a cork stopper. 87% of them associate cork stoppers with quality wine. What can explain this plebiscite? What is the part of rational and emotional approach in this unquestionable judgement?
Nowadays the neurosciences shed new light over this issue. They help us decipher and understand the influence of packaging in wine tasting and why the cork stopper has a special place.
Beyond the physical and organoleptic properties of the wine, the neurosciences show that the “context” of the tasting has an influence over the perception and feeling of the taster. How and why?
In the beginning of the year Philippe Faure-Brac & Gabriel Lepousez hosted a conference at Vinisud to make us better understand the emerging concept of "neuro-enology".
“In the tasting ceremonial the sight and hearing are the first senses to transmit the information to the brain, long before the wine arrives on the palate. In this ceremonial the uncorking is an extremely strong gesture, and what other form of stoppers than natural cork could induce such a tight communion with wine?” — Philippe Faure-Brac, Best Sommelier of the World.
“What determines the appreciation of a wine is not only the chemical knowledge about aromas that come out of the glass. It also is the context of the tasting, one’s life experience, the perception of the packaging and especially of the cork. The brain has the ability to integrate all these elements and to detect the intimate connection between the vine and the cork, two elements that draw their roots in the earth. To me, cork provides a very important message about terroir and serenity, beside the very pleasurable tactile side.” — Gabriel Lepousez, researcher in neuroscience
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