[matthewaveryusa]

The thing about wine is, if you don’t physiologically have tons of fungiform papillae on your tongue (ie super taster) you’ll never appreciate the nuances in wine. If you’re a non-taster wine is pretty much wasted on you for sure and you should seek out enjoying food with regard to texture rather than flavor. So it very well may be that it’s not even a matter of preference, but a matter of nature.

[SergeAx]

This is equivalent of "if you don't have enough muscle fibers of specific type in your legs - you'll never win the Olympics". While it is probably true, it doesn't mean you can't run just for fun with friends or play football with colleagues or do a ton of other physical activities.

Taste can be trained, and to surprising extent. Any person without tasting apparatus injuries may learn to evaluate wine and distinguish good $10 bottle from bad $50 one in a blind tasting.

[dmcginty]

I don't know if I'm a super taster, but I am a huge fan of other beverages, alcoholic or not. I collect Scotch, rare beers, meads, and I used to help organize a liquor tasting/sharing group. I can definitely understand wine tasting notes - I may not be able to tell a vintage by taste but I can tell different styles of reds apart. I just don't think I like wine that much, which I'd assert is a preference.

[robben1234]

How do you know if you have it? When trying different wines all I can notice is how strong the alcohol tastes. The same thing about vodka and other stronger drinks. I can notice change of flavor in beer and food more or less fine.

[karmakaze]

I knew a super-taster. She was a foodie and a chef. Her favourite things were Oreos and vanilla ice-cream. She could tell if the milk was left out of the fridge for a minute. She could distinguish all the variance in wines but didn't specifically enjoy any of them. I think a lot of the pleasure in wine tasting is the 1-upmanship. Personally I have been recommended wines for certain meals that complemented so well it made me notice. That's good but only in context not in isolation.

[karmakaze]

Is wine snobbery real and present here?