(Wines&Vines) - Do you sneak sips of pickle juice? Take in stray cats? Then you also probably don’t like tannic Cabernet Sauvignon wines, says wine sensory expert and Master of Wine Tim Hanni.

Hanni made those unexpected observations and more at the recent Wines & Vines Oak Conference. Iconoclast Hanni has been on a mission to punctuate the many myths of wine sensations, claiming, “Winemakers are acting in a vacuum. They have ridiculous notions of wine and food pairing. The whole concept doesn’t work.”

His basic premise is that individuals’ tastes differ widely because of their physiology and experiences.

He believes people can be classified into various “vinotypes” that express the physiological and psychological factors that determine their preferences.

The genetic and sensory physiological factors include the ability to perceive sensations (or not), the perception threshold and intensity of the sensation.

Some people are obviously more sensitive to some sensations than other people are. Hanni attributes that to more taste buds, for example.

“A hyper-sensitive taster has more than 11,000 taste buds, while a hyper-tolerant taster may have less than 500. The average is 3,000.”

And according to Hanni, those aligned with wine critic Robert Parker’s ratings are people at the tolerant end of the spectrum with fewer taste buds.

These physical factors can be modified by experience, however:

Sensory psychology factors that influence taste include instinctive reactions, hedonic value (like/don’t like), memory triggers (recognition), evaluation and valuation.

Hanni said, “Simple questions can determine consumers’ sensitivity to wine flavor attributes: aromatic, bitter, astringent, sweet and hedonic preferences.”