(Decanter) - Master Sommeliers require so much mental agility to make the grade that the sensory part of their brains becomes physically thicker, a scientific study has found. 

Master sommelier exams are notorious for being some of the most gruelling that an aspiring wine expert can undertake.

There’s even a film about the tension involved in becoming a ‘Somm’.

Now, researchers have discovered that the process is akin spending several hours every day in a kind of sensory gym.

When the scientists compared master sommeliers’ brains to those of a control group, they found that the sommeliers had a ‘thicker’ sensory area.

Previous studies have shown that a portion of the brain called the insular cortex helps to control sensory perception.

A part known as the entorhinal cortex has been associated with memory capacity.

Researchers in the latest study found that both the right insula and entorhinal cortex were larger and more developed in master sommeliers versus a control group of ‘normal’ people.

These areas were most active when a sommelier was smelling and tasting a wine, said researchers, writing in the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal.