葡萄酒爱好者们普遍认为，果味往往在口感上最快结束，而橡木味则会持续更久。
“但当你去查阅科学文献时，你会发现实际上并没有进行过科学研究。” 卡罗琳·罗斯(Carolyn
Ross)是华盛顿州立大学的感官科学家。
她和她的同事们调查了这些说法。他们确定了四种常见的白葡萄酒风味化合物，分别带有花香、果味、蘑菇和橡木味。然后他们在所谓的模拟酒中研究了这些化合物：“意思是它含有酒精，一些糖分和酸性物质，但实际上它不是葡萄酒。”
他们在模型酒中依次加入化合物，并要求训练有素的品酒师记录味道消退所需的时间。果味确实第一个消失——需要一分半钟的时间。其他味道需要多30秒才会消失。即使与其他味道混合在一起，果味仍然是第一个消失的——所以这个传说是对的。
The lore among wine aficionados is that
fruity flavors tend to finish quickest on the palate, whereas oaky flavors
linger longer.
“And then when you go to the scientific
literature, you find out that really there haven't been scientific studies done
on it.” Carolyn Ross, a sensory scientist at Washington State University.
She and her colleagues investigated the
claims. They identified four flavor compounds common in white wine, which give
floral, fruity, mushroomy and oaky notes. They then studied the compounds in
what’s known as a model wine: “Meaning that it had alcohol in it, it had some
sugar, some acid in it, but it wasn't actually wine.”
They added the compounds one at a time to
their model wine, and asked trained tasters to clock how long it took flavors
to fade. Fruity did indeed finish first—lasting a minute and a half. The others
took 30 seconds longer to fade. And even when mixed with the other flavors,
fruity still finished first—so the lore was right.
