My work as a journalist and wine critic is unthinkable without evaluating wine. Of course, it would be great if everyone around shared this interest and could reasonably discuss the advantages or disadvantages of a particular bottle. However, most people get along just fine without tasting skills. They really don't need them.
About two-thirds of all wine sold in the world is an everyday drink with no special merit.
It only needs to meet two requirements - it tastes good and has no technical defects (in this material we will not consider the price-quality ratio). And if you are able to distinguish good food from bad, then with the same success you will be able to distinguish “tasty” wine from “tasteless” wine.
But let's say you have a special bottle and you'd like to drink it wisely. Or try to be more precise about your taste preferences. Or you really want to learn how to distinguish Sangiovese from Cabernet. Here, simply drinking is no longer enough. You need to actively engage your senses and brain.
Fortunately, the wine tasting algorithm is simple. It is represented by the chain “eye - nose - mouth”.
Before you give step by step instructions For each stage, I will make a few comments that I find no less important than the tasting process itself.
Firstly, about the situation. Clean air, good light and suitable temperature are the motto of any proper tasting. The experience of wine is 80% dependent on aromas, so try to avoid any external odors, be it cigarette smoke, perfume or food aromas. The room should not be too dark. Well, adequate temperature is important both for the room and for the wine itself.
In the cold, aromas are poorly revealed, and if it is too hot, the wine will quickly heat up, and warm alcohol vapors will distort the bouquet.
Therefore, the wine should be tasted at room temperature, after first bringing the bottle to the desired “degree”. The optimal tasting temperature for red wines is 16-18 degrees, for white wines 10-12 degrees Celsius.
IN ideal conditions Each wine requires its own glass shape, but let's leave these subtleties for the professionals. A wine lover needs a universal option that would suit any variety.
The main thing is that the bowl of the glass has a tulip shape (wider at the base and narrower at the top). White wines are usually tasted in smaller glasses, red wines in larger glasses.
Don't forget about your well-being. Drinking wine with a stuffy nose is like looking at a painting blindfolded. Colds and other ailments are bad companions to wine tasting.
And be sure to spit! Alcohol dulls perception. It’s better to “sacrifice” one glass than to fail the entire tasting. The remaining wine can be drunk later, after the educational process.
What you can’t do without is notes. A person's wine memory is very short. Even if the wine made a huge impression on you at the time of tasting, believe me: within an hour you will forget its taste nuances, and a day later, perhaps even the brand!
Think of tasting notes as a valuable bank of information. Analyzing what you have previously written will help identify your preferred wine styles, regions or producers, and simply remind you of your favorite brands.
When taking notes, be sure to include the wine's name and vintage, as well as the producer, region, and country.
Write tasting comments as detailed as possible: include comparisons and associations so that you can remember the wine later. Indicate in what place or on what occasion you tasted the wine - this is an effective memory hook. Don't be afraid that your wine vocabulary will be primitive at first. Finding the right words to describe wine is one of the biggest challenges of tasting, even for professionals. Here, as in any other activity, training and time are important. Don’t forget to rate the wine on a scale that you understand, whether it’s “like it - don’t care - don’t like it” or points from one to one hundred. At this stage, eloquence is not so important, the main thing is that the notes are understandable and meaningful to you personally.
For tasting notes, it is most convenient to create an Excel file that allows you to sort or find wines by different criteria. If you're tasting wine in a restaurant or other place where you can't take notes, your phone can come in handy. Send yourself a message with the name (or take a photo of the label) and two or three main characteristics of the wine.
It is more effective to conduct the first tastings in the company of an experienced person, but you can do it yourself. At one time, I learned to taste wines on my own, having a good reference book at hand instead of an expert.
Tasting abilities begin with the ability to recognize distinctive features young varietal wines.
Just as there are several colors in the color palette, wines are based on certain grape varieties. If the artist’s main palette consists of seven colors, then nine grape varieties are classic for wine. These are five whites - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Chenin Blanc - and four reds - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Any tasting guide will detail the characteristics of each. They can be learned by heart, but this is unlikely to develop your own experience.
In practice, it is better for a novice taster to do this. Choose one variety and buy at least two different good quality bottles, preferably four or five.
All wines had to be young, since their aroma and taste change with aging. It's easier to start with white varieties and then move on to red ones, whose taste consists of more components.
Pour the wine into a glass, read again about the characteristics of the variety and then try to find them in the wine. There is no guarantee that you will recognize them all at once, but the characteristic elements must be there. Some people find this process exciting, others not so much. If you find it too difficult, perhaps you will find solace in the fact that wine tasters are not born. They become one after long and regular practice.
Once you feel comfortable identifying the citrus, apple and tropical fruit tones in Chardonnay, or the blackberry and pepper tones in Syrah, you can move on to the next step. For example, learn to recognize varietal wines with and without aging in oak, analyze blends (wines in which several grape varieties are mixed), look at the difference between brands from different areas of the same region (for example, from Medoc and Pomerol to Bordeaux), or compare young and mature samples. The main principle is from simple to complex.
One more general tip: in initial tastings, try to focus on one aspect of the wine rather than covering everything together, otherwise you risk getting confused.
Now it's time to talk about the tasting itself, which consistently involves three senses: eyes, nose and mouth. Professional tasters follow a clear pattern, first describing appearance, then the aromas and finally the taste characteristics of the wine.
By color, wine is classified into one of three basic categories - white, red or pink, but that's not all.
The color of a wine can be indicated by age: whites become darker over time, and reds become lighter. The color spectrum of white wines varies from pale straw and lemon to dark gold and amber, and that of reds from violet and ruby to garnet and ocher. A golden hue in white wine may indicate aging in barrels. Color intensity can provide a clue to the grape variety for reds: young cabernet sauvignon is often dark ruby and opaque, while pinot noir is light ruby and transparent. It is important that the wine has a healthy shine. A cloudy liquid should alert you, but sediment in a red wine is not a defect, indicating the venerable age of the wine.
Identifying aromas is undoubtedly the most the hard part tasting. You may have seen wine experts swirling wine in a glass.
This not only looks impressive, but also has a specific purpose - to help the evaporation of molecules in order to enhance the bouquet of the wine. Evaluating the aroma requires maximum concentration. Don't rush into details right away, first evaluate the aromas as a whole. Are they clean or do they have foreign odors? Young wines usually smell like fruits, flowers, herbs or spices. Smells of rotten eggs, a musty cellar, or smelly socks indicate a “problem” bottle.
It is much more difficult to evaluate the aromas of aged wines. During long-term storage they change:
“Fruity” is replaced by tones reminiscent of the smells of earth, leather, mushrooms, fallen leaves and even a barnyard. Consumers accustomed to simple fruity wines do not understand why tasters approve of these aromas, but these are the laws of wine evolution. Perhaps over time you will appreciate them too.
You should also pay attention to the lightness or richness of aromas, their simplicity or complexity. It is important to remember that we quickly get used to smells, so there is no point in “sniffing” for a very long time. If you no longer feel the nuances, it is better to leave the glass for a few minutes and then return to it again.
Volatile aromatic components continue to evaporate as the wine enters the mouth. We perceive them as the taste characteristics of wine, which are divided into fruity, floral, vegetal, spicy, mineral and others.
Along with them, the structural elements of taste are determined in the mouth. The most understandable is dryness/sweetness, which even inexperienced tasters can easily recognize.
All wine contains acids. Sufficient acidity gives the wine freshness and liveliness, low acidity makes it tired and sluggish. If there is too much of it and it gives an unpleasant sensation, then it is called aggressive, and in this case the grapes were most likely picked unripe.
Also, wines come in different “physiques,” for which alcohol and extractive substances are responsible. There are full wines, and there are thin ones.
The last important structural element is tannins. Remember the tart feeling of black tea? It is provided by tannins, which are always present in red wines and are responsible for the structure. They can be perceived as soft and corduroy, or, on the contrary, rough and tugging. Finally, you need to pay attention to the texture of the wine - creamy, silky, grainy or rough.
After the wine has passed through oral cavity, followed by the finale, or aftertaste, which can be either short and empty or persistent and full.
Having sorted out all aspects of taste, do not forget to note the overall impression: did you find this wine harmonious or unbalanced, whether it was simple or complex, refined or rough. For tasters, these descriptions are the most valuable because they paint a complete picture.
These are general principles, which allow you to analyze and evaluate wine. One last piece of advice: don't take the tasting too seriously. The idea behind any good wine is to be enjoyable, whether you know how to taste it or not.
Each of us has our own talent. Some people draw well, some quickly and accurately create algorithms, and some are ideal tasters! The job and vocation of such people is to taste food and drinks (and sometimes perfumes and tobacco), distinguish them by quality based on color, smell, taste and a number of other characteristics, depending on the product being analyzed.
But if you think that this profession is limited only to tasting wine and cheese, then you are very mistaken! Meet a whole team of the most unusual sommeliers who actually exist and even get a good salary for their love of food, drink and something else...
1. Water
Martin Riese is a sommelier, but he knows very little about wine. The whole point is that he tastes the water. Moreover, Martin is the only specialist of his kind in all of America.
Since childhood, Rize has been fascinated by the variety of flavors in water. His parents worked in the tourism industry and often took their son on trips to Europe, where the first thing he did in every new place was to try a simple drinking water from the tap. Our sommelier subsequently learned that he was blessed with a special gift that allowed him to recognize the subtle differences in the taste of mineral water from different sources. Fortunately for Riese, it turned out that there was a position in which his talent was considered extremely in demand. This is how Martin became a “water sommelier”.
The man admits that when people find out who he works for, they usually call him a little crazy. He considers this reaction absolutely normal. For most ordinary people, all water tastes the same. But according to Riese, this happens only because they travel little and have not tried water from mineral springs in other parts of the Earth.
Martin received his license in Germany, where he is from, and was given an honorary document by the German Mineral Water Trade Association. mineral waters). Riese now works as a sommelier at the American company Patina Group in Los Angeles. My labor activity In the United States, a water assessor operates under an O-1 visa, which is generally issued only to “individuals of extraordinary ability or achievement.” The water sommelier has long been a celebrity, and several films have even been made about him. documentaries, special news reports and talk shows.
2. Milk
Meet Bas de Groot, the man who could rival Martin Riese for the most enjoyable and easiest job in the industry. Food Industry. True, Groot’s expert opinion has nothing to do with water tasting. Instead, he tastes the milk. As Bas himself states, he is now virtually the only dairy sommelier in the world.
Groot has always loved milk and has been drinking 3-4 liters of this drink a day since childhood. But the turning point in his life was the first tasting of raw milk. The rich, layered taste captured all the senses of the connoisseur of this drink, creating in his admiring mind an insatiable thirst and desire to know what milk from different parts of the world tastes like. Since then, Bas has been traveling around the world, trying raw milk and conducts lectures on the unique properties and advantages of this drink.
3. Poisons
Bryan Fry still remembers being bitten by the lizard and can still feel its teeth on his hand. The spotted monitor was one of over 250 species of lizards and venomous snakes that lived in the area country house Brian near Melbourne, Australia. The lizard was so strong that it gnawed through 2 of Fry’s fingers, tendons and nerve plexuses. The man was bleeding so badly in the ambulance that paramedics had to use two towels to get him to the hospital.
Brian is now a zoologist at the University of Queensland and is obsessed with studying the world's most venomous animal species. His passion is so passionate that the Australian fearlessly risks his own life studying the evolution of natural chemical weapons. After all, a couple of test bites are nothing to a person who thinks about poisons and stings like oenophiles think about the taste of wine.
Being bitten by a horned adder? It’s that “feeling you get after an intense workout that’s been made hundreds of times harder and stretched out over a month.” Have you been stung by a stingray? Hot metal floating in acid is nothing compared to this. What about an Australian copperhead snake bite that destroys fibrinogen (a protein essential for blood clotting)? As Fry says, there's nothing worse than having a reptile bite cause your nose, mouth, and anus to bleed, and being afraid to imagine the same thing happening in your brain right now.
The zoologist's courage very often puts his life in the greatest danger, but he continues to sample poisons because he believes that this can save other lives. Venomous animals have often inspired doctors to create key drugs, including drugs for a number of heart diseases and high blood pressure, created from the secretions of the viper.
To date, Fry has been bitten by 26 venomous snakes, stonefish, centipedes, scorpions and box jellyfish. The man has the physical form of a former professional swimmer, but his body is a veritable walking collection of injuries and is increasingly overgrown with sores. After being bitten by a monitor lizard, Brian still cannot feel his right index finger. In addition, he has three metal braces in his spine after breaking his back. Fry assures that at that time it was not a matter of poison or bites, but that he simply lost his balance and fell from the top of the termite mound.
4. Mustard
Sommelier is a respected profession. Whether you drink wine or just water, your knowledge of fine spirits can come in handy at a dinner party.
But what about the rich world of herbs and spices? Pierette Huttner is considered the best in this field, because it is not for nothing that she became the representative of the iconic Maille mustard in the West from the French Dijon company, whose first American salon recently opened in New York. Here you can not only meet a true connoisseur of bright tastes, but also purchase 5 different types mustard on tap (just like beer from the tap) and over 30 more various types this seasoning in packaged form.
5. Tequila
Katie Schnurr is a real “tequila goddess” of the La Hacienda restaurant in the prestigious Fairmont Scottsdale hotel, USA. Schnurr is still a student at Arizona Student University, and she's certainly not your typical party-goer. Katie's love of tequila began with a project for a communications course, for which she began studying it. alcoholic drink. Now Schnurr is 27 years old, and she is being certified as a taster of exclusive tequila. The training process includes visits to Mexican farms and blind tests.
As La Hacienda's tequila sommelier and head of spirits, Katie oversees all spirits, wine and tequila selections, and hosts special events including tastings, mixing skills and the renowned Tequila 101 course.
6. Beer
The Cicerones program was created to learn from wine sommeliers, raise the level of quality in the world of malt and hops, and launch a beer expert certification course.
Ray Daniels, a Chicago brewer, started his Cicero certification program in 2008. The expert often jokes that he decided to do this for a very simple reason - there is too much bad beer around.
There are three levels of Cicerone: the entry-level Certified Beer Master course (taken online), Certified Cicerone (live interview and tasting), and the most advanced Master of Cicerone course (two-day in-person testing). The exams will test your knowledge in five different areas: storing and serving beer, beer styles, beer flavors and quality, ingredients and brewing processes, and pairing beer with food.
This may sound unreasonably complicated. In reality, everything is really not easy - only a third of those who want to pass the test to obtain the Cicerone certificate. At the moment, only a few beer connoisseurs from around the world have received a master's degree. About 900 people passed the standard test to become a certified Cicerone and another 27 thousand applicants received an entry-level electronic certificate. The brewing world is beginning to pay more attention to this certification system, and many employers are now encouraging their employees (from bartenders to sales people) to take Cicerone courses, and some companies are even paying for the training of their employees to ensure that they receive the prestigious license.
7. Hot sauce
Noah Chaimberg is leaving the corporate office to take his love of hot spices to the next level, becoming a hot sauce sommelier and opening a hot spice shop. In his already famous store in Williamsburg (Williamsburg, New York), under the symbolic name Heatonist (heat - heat), you can buy small batches of sauces from independent producers, and only here there is the only hall for tasting hot sauces in the city.
8. Sake
Don't you like sake? Motoko Watanabe of the cult restaurant Zenkichi will tell you that you've only ever encountered commercialized swill, served hot to hide its absolute lousiness. Watanabe is a sake taster and co-owner of Zenkichi, a modern Japanese cuisine chain with branches in New York and Berlin. Motoko was born and raised in Tokyo, but she did not like sake until she moved to the United States.
While studying biology and working as an assistant in a research laboratory at New York University, Motoko finally tasted and realized the full range of flavors of this drink. The first time such a revelation happened to a Japanese woman was in an underground bar in the East Village area of New York. According to the sommelier, the ability to understand the nuances of sake is no more difficult than the ability to distinguish Merlot from Shiraz or lager from Indian pale ale. Is it easy - that's actually a good question.
9. Pet food taster
Our taste habits develop over the years, but have you ever thought about how high-quality and appetizing your pets' food is? Few people are willing to try the contents of a dog's bowl, but there are those who make a living from it!
“Professional dog food taster” is a highly paid job. For example, in the West, a novice quality department specialist earns about 30 thousand dollars a year, and an experienced professional earns up to 75 thousand a year! Companies that produce the most expensive pet food are willing to pay good money to those who will check that their product meets the most stringent standards, because their clients are owners of elite breeds for whom the health and good mood of their four-legged friends is most important.
Professional dog (or cat) food tasters must inspect each new batch of food, smelling it and tasting it to ensure that only the highest quality product goes on sale. Any good cat and dog food taster will confirm that a balanced pet food made from fresh meat is also perfect for humans.
10. Prostitutes
You heard right! Model and DJ Jaime Rascone is the winner of our rating and the owner of a job that for some may seem like a real dream come true. His responsibilities include quality control of brothel employees. Girls who want to work as a VIP escort for the famous Chilean brothel Fiorella must first undergo an interview, physical examination and photo shoot. After that, Jame has sex with them, several times every day. different girls, carefully assessing their every move. In the office of the “prostitute taster” you will see not only a computer and a fax machine, but also a stripper pole with a box of condoms...
Tea is the most popular drink in the world. And not everyone knows that its taste is determined by just a few tasters.
The fertile foothills of the Malaysian mountains. Tea comes from these places. No matter where you go, someone will be brewing tea for you to have a cup of. Half a billion cups of tea are drunk around the world every day. On average, there are 50 liters of tea per person per year. Whether you drink black tea or Darjeeling, each cup is the result of the painstaking work of a skilled craftsman. This person is a professional tea taster who makes sure that the tea tastes the way it should. But how does he do it?
Yorkshire company Taylors of Harrogate has been producing tea for over 100 years. They sell 1.2 billion tea bags every year. Their regular customers want every bag to taste the same. This is where the difficulty lies. After all, the taste of each tea leaf is influenced by factors such as weather, soil, drying mode, processing technology, and so on. Therefore, to ensure the taste remains unchanged, Taylors of Harrogate mixes tea from different countries, from 25 different plantations.
When it comes to mixing they have their secret weapon in Ian Brabin. This man has an amazing ability to recognize the slightest differences in the taste of tea. On average, he tastes up to 400 cups of tea a day. To become a taster you need to train for 5-7 years, and Ian is one of the best in the business. It only takes one sip to tell him exactly where the tea came from, where it was picked, and even what the weather was like when it was picked.
The average person has 9,000 taste buds. Most of them are on the tongue, so we mix as many types of tea as possible to get the full flavor. If there is any flaw in the tea, we will immediately notice it.
Tea grows in tropical climates around the world. This plantation in Malaysia covers an area of 234 hectares, enough to make 800,000 cups of tea every day. A tea bush can grow for up to 5 years before tea is harvested from it. The youngest shoots, the top two leaves and the unopened bud are collected. Experienced pickers collect 18 kilograms of leaves per day, which will yield only 4.5 kilograms of tea. When the leaves arrive at the plant, they are sifted to remove stems and branches.
After grinding, they are heated in an oven where they are dried and pressed. Then they are crushed to a granular state. The resulting product is shipped abroad. Each tasting requires careful preparation. The cups are carefully placed. Each sliver of tea is carefully weighed. First, Jan tastes the leaves by touch to check their grind, quality and properties. The tea is then steeped for exactly five minutes. Once the leaves are removed from the cups, tasting can begin.
We need tea with a good aroma, good color. We don't need dirty tea. It often turns out that there is too much moisture in the tea. We call this tea wet. During the tasting, for each number, Ian names the price in English pence that he is willing to pay for them. Thus, he expresses his opinion about the quality of this tea. Ian's taste is so subtle that he reacts almost automatically.
Ian's opinion on the taste of tea determines the success of the entire harvest. But Ian must not only choose best variety, but also to understand which combination of varieties will be the best. It's just a tea bag to you, but inside it could be tea from seven different countries. The amount of each tea in the mixture is determined by the taster.
There may be 100 grams of tea, which represents 10 tons produced in the factory. And the taster compares the taste of these 10 tons with others. This is done to ensure that the tea meets the Yorkshire Tea standard. So that it is completely identical to the previous batch. After tasting, the mixture will be sent to the factory for packaging.
After Yang has chosen the composition of the mixture, the tea is poured into large tanks and mixed. Then they place it in a drum, which turns exactly twelve times. This carefully chosen number of turns is necessary to make the perfect mixture. 96% of the tea produced in Britain is sold in tea bags. Each bag contains 3 grams of tea, carefully selected to suit Jan's taste. The bags are then sealed at around 200 degrees Celsius and placed into packaging.
The entire process from picking at the plantation to tea bag takes just 12 weeks. So, next time you want to drink a cup of tea, think about Ian Brabin, who tastes it every day. Or you may not remember. Some secrets are better left undisclosed.
It is quite difficult to surprise today’s buyer by tasting products at “points of sale”: supermarkets, department stores and shops. Manufacturers and distributors are trying to use this type promotion as a method of sales promotion, increasing customer loyalty to the brand, to introduce consumers to new products, and also as a reaction to the activity of competitors.
The main task of a promotional tasting is to present the most advantageous aspects of a product, forcing the buyer to remember the product and subsequently (or immediately) purchase it. The pursued goals are different - “draining” of warehouse stocks, sales promotion, initial acquaintance of the buyer with a new brand, increasing brand recognition or loyalty to the company.
The product chosen for tasting must have several, in our opinion, very important characteristics:
- have excellent taste characteristics;
- be a consumer product;
- have a low cost.
Tasting is a mechanism for “pulling” the client into the process of assessing the taste merits of the product, an incentive and motivation to purchase.
A well-planned and technically correctly conducted tasting at a retail outlet can increase sales several times (usually 1.5 - 2.2 times). Unfortunately, quite often this “surge in sales” effect is short-lived and usually “dies down” after a few months or even weeks. Despite this, tasting is a fairly effective, popular method of promotion, which is rightfully considered a long-term investment in development trademark, creating a positive image of the manufacturer.
In order for a promotional tasting to be as effective as possible, it is necessary to correctly select the object of tasting, develop regulations, and plan the precise work of the entire team from the head of the marketing department to the promotion supervisor and promoter. It is necessary to clearly imagine the goal being pursued, clearly set the task, determine in advance the control points and the methodology for calculating the effectiveness of tasting.
The purpose of the tasting is not only to acquaint the buyer with the taste advantages of the product, but, above all, to create a positive impression of the product, to “push” the buyer to the idea of making a purchase and becoming a “follower” of the product in the future. It is, of course, worth remembering that a promotional tasting is a kind of small show that buyers should remember when they see this product on a store shelf.
When developing regulations for promotional tastings, it is not enough to have knowledge of only marketing communications; it is necessary to imagine the sensory sensations of the buyer. Professional tasters can provide invaluable assistance with this.
The word “tasting” comes from the Latin word degusto, which means “to taste.” Tasting is based on sampling, that is, the buyer evaluates the taste characteristics of products using his senses. This assessment may vary depending on: the mood of the buyer and the degree of fatigue, weather conditions (winter/summer), ambient temperature in the room where the tasting is taking place, the shape of the glassware used, the temperature of the product offered, lighting.
The beginnings of sensory
It is well known that a person is able to distinguish between four main tastes and three minor ones. The basic tastes include sweet, bitter, salty, and sour.
The minor ones are tart (the feeling left in the mouth when drinking strong tea), alkaline (the taste left in the mouth from a solution of baking soda) and the taste called “umami” in Western literature - this is a pleasant feeling in the mouth caused by nucleotides (monosodium glutamate , For example).
Taste sensations arise at different rates, with salty taste occurring most quickly, followed by sweet, sour, and lastly bitter taste. Taste receptors are located unevenly on the tongue: the tip of the tongue is responsible for the sweet taste, the lateral edges of the front of the tongue for the salty taste, the lateral edges of the back of the tongue for the sour taste, and the root of the tongue for the bitter taste. Therefore, if a person tries, for example, the classic bitter drink “Tonic” with the tip of his tongue, he simply may not feel the bitter taste.
The human tongue is his organ of taste, the mechanism of its functioning is that a substance dissolved in water or saliva enters the taste buds through the pores, in which chemical irritations are converted into nerve impulses transmitted to the central nervous system. The sensation of taste may vary depending on the mass fraction of the substance, so the solution table salt below the threshold concentration is perceived as sweet.
An important factor in forming a consumer opinion about a product when assessing its taste is the aftertaste, which can be long or short, pleasant or unpleasant, sharp or round. Aftertaste is the strongest factor in shaping the overall perception of a product. An example is a promotional tasting of sweetener tablets, which took place in a number of stores in Yekaterinburg. The tasting was accompanied by beautiful promotional stands and smart, active promoters, but the tasting literally “failed.” As a result of the tasting, the manufacturer not only did not achieve the sales promotion goal, but, on the contrary, lost part of the target audience and suffered financially.
The reason for the negative reaction from buyers was as follows: the tablets contained active sweeteners - sodium saccharin, sodium cyclamate, baking soda and tartaric acid. This is a standard, fairly popular composition for this product. The peculiarity of these sweeteners is that they give a persistent bitter-metallic aftertaste, which causes a feeling of dryness in the mouth.
Consequently, during tasting it was necessary to take all measures to hide this feature. The manufacturer suggested tasting this product by dissolving it in hot tea. The taste of tea, despite its astringency, cannot hide this kind of aftertaste. If the manager developing the regulations for this tasting knew the peculiarities of sensory perception, he would not have made such an obvious mistake. It would be optimal to offer the buyer not tea, but coffee with milk. The sharp bitterness of coffee and the round aftertaste of milk would perfectly disguise this feature of the product. In general, tasting products of this kind is questionable and you should carefully consider all the pros and cons.
The main source of pleasure when eating food is, oddly enough, not taste, but smell. The reason for this is the limited sense of taste of a person (as we said - sweet, bitter, sour and salty). All other taste sensations are given to us by smell. The sense of smell allows us to appreciate the nuances of taste and piquancy of foods. If a buyer has a runny or stuffy nose, it is useless to tell him about the nuances of taste and aroma - he physically cannot feel them.
Unfortunately, many BTL agencies, completely devoting themselves organizational issues, they often forget about the most important thing - the classical rules of tasting.
We have repeatedly encountered serious mistakes during promotional tastings, the results of which were disastrous precisely because managers of BTL agencies did not know the basics of sensory perception.
For example: tasting savory sauces for meat and fish, ketchups next to a popcorn machine, tasting 10 (!) types of cakes, tasting grain cottage cheese on sweet shortbread cookies, tasting liver pates on bread and butter, tasting blue cheese before soft Brie Blanchette cheese, etc.
Basic rules for preparing a promotional tasting
The manager developing the promotional tasting regulations must be free to navigate the factors influencing the perception of the product - the influence of color on the perception of the taste of the product, the influence of the buyer’s age on the perception of taste, the selection of promoters in accordance with the target audience, the influence of stereotypes and authorities on the buyer’s perception of the product.
When preparing promotional tastings, you need to remember a few important rules, listed below.
Temperature rule. The heated product has a more intense smell and taste. Therefore, if you want to hide an unusually strong aroma (for example, an excess of flavoring), you need to present the product cold, unless this contradicts the traditional rules of its use (for example, it makes no sense to serve cold dumplings). By varying the temperature of the product, you can get more benefit from tasting, since the correctly selected temperature of the product will have a positive effect on its taste. Example: tasting warm carbonated drinks on a summer day in July or tasting cold coffee in the cold of winter is ineffective.
Rule of relevance. You need to taste a product that is appropriate at a given time of year, day, and consumed in a given area. For example, there is no point in tasting pork stew in Muslim countries, kvass in winter, lard in summer, etc.
Rules for choosing dishes. At home, when eating food or wine, we strive to choose the most suitable dishes in shape. A large glass is for red wine, a flute glass is for champagne. Why is it that when conducting a tasting, dishes very often do not meet the requirements? Of course, only disposable tableware should be used during the tasting, in the assortment of which it is almost impossible to find large plastic wine glasses, but you can try to choose the most suitable tableware that emphasizes the shades of taste and aroma.
Flavor enhancement rule. You need to know that after eating a sour taste, a sweet taste will be brighter, and vice versa, after a sweet taste, a sour taste will seem more sour (an apple after a candy); after a bitter taste, it takes quite a long time to restore the receptors. Therefore, if several products are tasted in one sales area, it is better to arrange them from the least to the most intense taste.
Rule of turn. The order in which samples are presented must be well thought out. Tasting should begin from the weakest product in terms of taste (if the buyer has not indicated a specific sample) to the most delicious. The latest product gives the buyer an aftertaste with which he will leave the promoter's counter. The buyer will remember the taste of this particular product better than all previous ones.
The "carrier" rule. Recently, one can often observe how BTL agencies, working in conditions of fierce competition, accommodate clients who insist on conducting a “complex” tasting. Thus, when tasting jam, it is suggested to present it on freshly fried toast, sauces are suggested to be tried with dumplings, processed cheeses with cheese biscuits, etc. When using such a bright and taste-winning “carrier” as dumplings, cheese sticks or fresh toast, the taster the product often fails. If the buyer asks the question “where can I buy such delicious cheese sticks?”, instead of becoming interested in buying the processed cheese being tasted, we can assume that the purpose of the tasting has not been achieved. The “carrier” should highlight the taste of the product, but not overshadow it. Thus, for tasting cheese it was better to use unleavened crackers or biscuits, and for tasting sauce - unleavened reggaetons. The “carrier” must have a neutral taste.
Product “visualization” rule. A person selects a piece he likes with his eyes, and then points to it with his hand. The product should look appetizing.
Rule of participation. If the buyer himself participates in the tasting (selects a piece of sausage on a fork, chooses a drink), then he remembers this tasting better. He feels like he is in charge of the situation.
Fixation rule. The promoter can talk quite a lot about the product (of course, if he is well prepared), but he must convey to the buyer the only idea that the buyer must remember. This is the “stamp” that will pop up in his head when he sees a product that he has tasted on a shelf or in an advertisement. This “stamp” allows the buyer to feel involved in the product. Understanding that the product is familiar to him gives rise to an attitude towards the product as a “friend”.
Increasing the efficiency of promotional tastings by optimizing the process
Using classical methods of tasting analysis, you can significantly increase the efficiency of promotional tasting. Below we describe the optimization method developed by specialists of the educational consulting center “Taster” (Ekaterinburg).
Methodology for selecting a promotional tasting object
If a trading company has an extensive portfolio of products, it is necessary to identify from the assortment list those items whose tasting will be most effective. To do this, rely primarily on an analysis of the taste characteristics and cost of the product, and not on the level of its sales. The latter is taken into account during the detailed development of a promotion, when its budget is determined and its effectiveness is predicted. At the first stage, it is necessary to determine which assortment units are most optimal for tasting. The assessment is carried out according to several criteria, given in order of importance:
- appearance, taste, aroma, aftertaste;
- packaging (individual, family, mass);
- special conditions for tasting (heating, cooling);
- related materials (glasses or shot glasses, disposable tableware or glass, the need for teapots, cutting boards, etc.).
Table 1. Comparative characteristics of possible tasting objects
Items that are not included in the table should be promoted using other methods (promotions with prizes, lotteries, sampling, gifts for purchases, etc.).
Products provided for tasting must have impeccable taste.
So, the main items for promotional tasting were selected using detailed analysis organoleptic properties of each product.
Assessing the competitive advantages of selected positions
Once the object of tasting has been determined, it is necessary to evaluate its actual advantages and disadvantages.
Explicit are those disadvantages and advantages that can be determined during the first try of a product (aroma, taste, appearance, aftertaste), while hidden are those disadvantages and advantages that the consumer notices over time when making several purchases (for example, a change in color during storage, the appearance of fragility, cloudiness, the appearance of foreign odors, etc.). To do this, you need to fill out Table 2.
Table 2. Advantages and disadvantages of the product chosen for tasting
The next step will be to compare the obvious advantages and disadvantages of your own and competitive products. It is optimal to take into account the opinions of consumers, not personal ones. In the columns “advantages” and “disadvantages” it is necessary to enter only obvious advantages and obvious disadvantages of competitive products, since hidden ones are quite difficult to evaluate without knowing well the products of competitors. You can take Table 3 as an example.
Table 3. Advantages and disadvantages of competitive products, using beer as an example
Now you have a clear comparative analysis organoleptic advantages and disadvantages of your and competitive products. This visual method greatly simplifies the task of optimizing promotional tastings.
Next, you should work out in detail the regulations for the tasting in order to increase the emphasis on the advantages food product and reducing the emphasis on shortcomings. It should be noted that it is better not to present products with obvious deficiencies for tasting. BTL agencies are often contacted by clients who insist on conducting a promotional tasting of an obviously losing product. In this case, the agency is able to conduct a promotional tasting of this product with minimal losses, optimizing the tasting process itself.
A technique for enhancing advantages and reducing disadvantages
Example: Analysis of the organoleptic characteristics of boiled sausage “Molochnaya” revealed the disadvantages and advantages shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of “Molochnaya” sausage
One solution could be to present sausage for tasting in two versions: regular and boiled. Boiled sausage should be offered last, since when boiling the sausage, some of the salt will go into the broth and the aftertaste will not be too salty.
The sausage must be cut with a very sharp thin knife or first stripped of its casing so that the buyer does not see the ugly cut packaging. In the promoters' brief, it is necessary to emphasize the noted advantages of the sausage.
Today, in an age of ever-increasing competition and aggressive marketing, when there is a struggle for literally every customer, when product brand managers are forced to come up with more and more sophisticated methods of fighting for consumer demand, we should not forget about a very simple and effective method promotions - about tasting at points of sale. By professionally using the basic rules of tasting analysis and the laws of sensory perception, the effect of such a promotional tasting can be extremely high, and the tasting itself will become an excellent tool in the competition.