


At least according to a new book, Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine, by Gordon Shepherd. Mike Meisner of Napa Valley’s Last Bottle Bar summarizes the importance of this research:

Based on our own exhaustive research at the Last Bottle bar, er, laboratory, we can conclude that yes, genius is apparent in the entire staff. Plus, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the cerebral power of wine. Last year, another study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience compared the brains of 13 sommeliers and 13 people working “regular” jobs. The brain scans showed the somms had developed thicker and more robust areas of the brain that deal with olfactory and memory response. In turn, the researchers concluded that studying wine might help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Basically, what we conclude from these studies is that if you drink wine while also listening to Beethoven, you’ll end up with a Stephen Hawking like intelligence. Seriously though, if you think of all the cases of wine you buy as “study materials” and actually treat them as such by learning more about the regions, the methods, and identifying the unique characteristics of smell and flavor, you might be better off in the long run. Add that to your list of totally legitimate reasons to drink wine.

So why take chances?