©Tasting wine and drinking Chinese liquor

Tasting wine and drinking Chinese liquor

By Vida Zhang Fargis

Let’s examine the different applications of the five senses between tasting wine and drinking Chinese liquor.

You often hear many Chinese people say “I can’t drink,” if you ask whether they like wine or not, or invite them to a wine tasting.   “I can’t drink” here means “I easily get drunk if I drink”.  Therefore “I am not going to any wine tasting.”  Whether liking wine, drinking wine and going to a wine tasting is purely an individual preference and life style.  What I like to point out is there is a deeply rooted cultural element reflected in a sentence of “I can’t drink”.

The emphasis on the relationship of drinking and getting drunk is actually an omission of the appreciation process, which is what wine tasting is all about.  Many people are familiar with “bottom up” drinking style in

China

.  This spirit of abundance doesn't always allow for the application of the five senses, which were given to us by nature and we should incorporate it into our drinks and food.  Often it does not appear that there is any paring connection between the Chinese liquor chosen and the food served to eat.   

• “Drink and get drunk, or don’t drink otherwise” – this norm is why people often say “I can’t drink”.

• Bottoms-up – emphasize on the action to an immediate result.  Perhaps this has something to do with why Chinese people are often stereotyped as a very practical ethic group.

• Food pairing art is not traditionally a part of Chinese drinking style.

• The five senses are not utilized when drinking Chinese liquor.

Let’s take a look at what people do and talk about with regards to wine tasting.  There is a five-step system to understanding wine:

Observe the color & body (sight) – swirl - sniff (smell) - taste (a touching connection is established between the tongue and wine).

These are exactly the steps that need to be followed if you are a host to order the wine at a restaurant.  In other word, you don’t have to be a wine connoisseur in order to perform all the steps.

One of reasons I think the wine is so enjoyable, is that it encompasses all of our five senses.  The sight, smell, taste and touch are well represented during the process of wine tasting as laid out above.  Although the sound seems not that critical in the tasting steps, I do enjoy hear the sound of pouring the wine and the clinking of the wine glasses during a toast (so be sure to always hold your glass by the stem when toasting, so it rings rather than gives a dull clank).

The beauty of having a glass of wine is far beyond just drinking some kind of alcohol.  Rather, I regard the wine tasting process with the five senses application as a way of cultivating our sense of subtlety, sense of appreciation of others and the environment and establishing our inner connection and interaction with the nature.

• Wine tasting and having a glass of wine is no so much associated with getting drunk

• The five-step appreciation process is the opposite of the bottoms-up approach

• Wine and food paring generally go together in American culture.

• The five senses are fully utilized in a wine tasting process. 

As someone puts it –

Wine tasting is actually a complex proposition involving much more than simply sipping some fermented grape juice. There are many variable factors that affect an individual's perception of flavor in wine. There are chemical, physical, mechanical, physiological, and psychological variables.

End.

Comments

[YAN Xin]

Hello, Vida! I read your comment in Thunevin's blog. Thanks for your interest in the story. What a surprise to get to know a great person like you! I really admire the effort you have done in bridging the communication gap and cultural differences between China and the US.
Simply, my job is selling wines to China. But for me, it is also the work to balance the cultural differences between China and France. As the article mentioned, I am just a beginner. There are a lot of things to learn, not only about the wines, but also to be mature and professional.
I would like to keep touch with you. Thanks again!