Have you ever popped the cork on a winery tour purchase, taken a sip and been reminded of that regrettable one-night stand from years ago, where you rolled over, looked at the person next to you and thought, “What in God’s name was I thinking?”

In both cases, a little too much alcohol might have dulled your decision-making acuity.

Let’s consider a five-winery tour with good friends. I doubt if most of my companions have ever made a wine purchase they truly regretted at Winery #1. And very few at Winery #2. But after that, all bets are off. The service was probably great, the banter was laugh-filled, and the wine—well, almost all of it was outstanding, wasn’t it?

And then flash forward to your dinner table and the bitter reality hits you: That six-bottle purchase at Winery #5 was not as good an idea as it seemed at the time.

Beyond the “buzz effect,” though, there are several very legitimate reasons why the wine in your glass at home can taste different than you remember. Part of it is the wonderful romance of the sampling experience at a winery, where an affable, expert staff member educates you about the process and philosophy of the winemaker and the nuances of the fermented grape juice sitting in front of you. Maybe that wonderful storytelling has seduced your tastebuds. Perhaps there’s even a little guilt in rewarding their dutiful service with a two-bottle purchase rather than paying the $8 tasting fee and marching off. We’re Canadian, after all, and we hate to offend.

VARYING CONDITIONS

But there are also non-emotional reasons as to why your fondness for that bottle of wine might feel different the second time around, explains Ann Sperling, the Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Southbrook Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and co-owner/winemaker (I think she prefers “wine-grower”) at both Versado Wine in Mendoza, Argentina, and Sperling Vineyards in Kelowna.

“I attribute it to a couple things,” Sperling says. “The first is that people should decant every bottle of wine—even for a few minutes—before serving. When you first pop the cork or open a screwcap bottle, it’s like opening a room in your basement that’s been closed for a long time. The wine can always benefit from a little exposure to air, whether it’s well-aged or it’s one that’s meant to drink fresh. It gives the wine time to open up and express itself more fully. If you think about it, the bottle you’re sampling in the tasting room was probably opened in the morning and you’re tasting it at, say, 2 p.m. So it’s had time to open up.

“Another factor is that when you’re in a winery and working your way through their lineup, or you’ve been in wine country and tasting all day or for a couple days, your palate starts to adjust to the nature of those wines—whether it’s the terroir or style or climatic influences. So if you pull that bottle from the cellar and open it, it might be out of context. You might have remembered it being more full bodied, but now it seems leaner. Or the opposite—maybe it seems oakier to you now.”

Sometimes the palate culprit is the Tim Horton’s Double Double that visitors arrive with,” Sperling notes. “It sometimes drives me crazy,” she concedes. “You’ll see someone walk in with their big Starbucks, which could be sweet or maybe bitter. And I want to say, ‘Here, please have a glass of water before you start your tasting.’”

It’s also important to remember that the winery setup is designed to enhance the tasting experience, from the quality of glasses selected for your particular samples to the food you enjoy while there. “You’re relaxed and loving the atmosphere and maybe enjoying the charcuterie, which is salty, or the cheese—both of which help bring out the wine. But maybe the food pairing or your mood at home are different, which can also change the way a wine tastes to you.”

SOMETIMES THINGS JUST TASTE DIFFERENT

Not surprisingly, Sperling, a trailblazer in Canadian winemaking when it comes to biodynamics, also recognizes that human beings don’t experience the same taste sensations 24/7. “People are different day to day,” she says. “Whether you want to call it the phases of the moon or a biodynamic calendar or things like that, I learned early on in my winemaking that if I was tasting in the morning or afternoon or certain days when I was a bit tired or congested, my impressions would vary. That’s why when I’m working on blends and working on wines ahead of bottling, I always do it at least two different days, and two different times of day, and reformulate the blends and taste them at different times so that I’m sure I’m hitting all the points that are important in that blend. We’re living beings and most wines are too. Sometimes things don’t line up perfectly.”

The transportation process between the winery checkout counter and your dinner table can greatly affect the final product as well. Did you store it in the kitchen or someplace warm or bright for weeks or months on end before serving? Did you leave it in the back seat to fry in your car last summer while visiting multiple wineries? (BTW, my wife and I always bring a cooler and icepacks for any summertime winery visits.)

On occasion, your wine might have been tainted by a faulty cork. Even the way you wash your wine glasses at home can impact the experience. “A lot of residential water has chlorine in it and that water residue can influence the taste of the wine,” Sperling says.

And never underestimate how warm or cold you serve your wine. Wineries are careful to optimize the temperature of each bottle, depending on its variety. “With Versado, we wish the alcohol would be under 14% every year, but some years it creeps up,” Sperling explains. “So we prefer it to be served slightly cooler so that the alcohol is less pronounced, whereas if you have a lean white that we might make in Niagara, I’d rather have it at 12C than 8C so that you get more of the textural elements and maybe a bit more richness. If you taste that wine super-cold, on the other hand, you’re just going to taste the acidity and lose a lot of the subtlety of the flavours and aromas. And if you’re having a barbeque and want a red wine but serve it too warm and the alcohol is too high, there’s no refreshment value there. So you’re better off to stick it in an ice bucket for 10 minutes to improve the whole experience.”

So remember, it’s not always a matter of your taste in wine; it’s the manner in which you’re tasting it.

And you never know—sometimes that impulse decision you made one foggy-headed afternoon actually turns out to be better than you expected. And that awkward first encounter becomes a long-term relationship.