Women are better at telling the differences between wine and have more discerning palates, a study suggests.
It also found that they were more likely to describe themselves as feeling ‘joyful’ when drinking white wine than men.
Spanish researchers asked male and female volunteers to take part in a blind-tasting of six varieties and describe their feelings as well as the quality of the wine. They found that women were also better able to discriminate between different tastes.
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A total of 208 volunteers took part in the research, which was conducted by the Technical University of Madrid.
Dr Carolina Chaya, who led the study, said that when it came to evaluating their feelings, compared to men, women reported ‘significantly higher scores for joyful when consuming white wines, and lower scores when consuming red wines’.
In addition, she said that women reported greater differences between the wines, noticing more differences between the wines than the men.
Women have a more discerning palate than men. Pexels
The volunteers were asked to take part in a blind-tasting of six wines - two whites, one rose, and three reds – of four different grape varieties. Graded by professionals, the wines were less than five years old, and had an alcoholic strength of around 13 per cent.
After sampling each one, the volunteers were asked about the quality of the wine and the feelings it evoked.
A further finding was that older drinkers drank to remember, and the young to forget. Chaya says: "Young adults drink wine for reasons related to disinhibition and social status, while older people use it as a social catalyst, to evoke memories and traditions."
Overall, the report in the journal Food Quality and Preference found that the young also felt less guilt about drinking than older tipplers.