11 Wine Tasting Palate Cleansers that Actually Work

If you’ve ever been to a wine tasting where there was more than 10 wines, you know the urgency of having a wine tasting palate cleansers. Sommelier and wine buyers often have to taste up to 200 wines in one day! Your taste buds are exhausted and need a break. This overstimulation and muting of the palate is called palate fatigue. At some point you feel like you just can’t taste any more, or at the very least differentiate between the wines you’re tasting. Queue wine tasting palate cleansers!

What is Palate Fatigue?

Palate fatigue exists! It’s when your taste buds get over-stimulated or just get tired. It can come from tasting both white and red wines. The acid in white wine is usually the culprit. I once tasted 18 Assyrtiko wines in a row and my mouth literally went numb, like I was slapping myself in the mouth to feel anything. With red wine, tannins can be brutal. They dry the ever-living *bleep* out of your cheeks and after a few Barolos your tongue basically becomes a strip of leather.

If you’re at a wine tasting to pick wines for a list or to help you learn more about wine, palate fatigue can render you useless. Palate fatigue is another reason I’m a little skeptical about wine ratings. No way someone can taste 300 wines in a day and rate them effectively. But I digress. Even for a casual wine lover, palate fatigue can prevent you from getting the most out of the experience.

Why You Need a Palate Cleanser for Wine Tasting?

A wine tasting palate cleanser is a food or beverage you consume between wines to reset your palate. When you’re stimulating your palate with similar flavors, at some point it has just had enough. In order to taste the differences and nuances between wines, your taste buds need to be clear and fresh. One wine on top of the other, especially of the same variety, makes it difficult for your tongue to distinguish flavors. Essentially, you aren’t getting the most of your wine tasting experience if you can’t taste.

List of Wine Tasting Palate Cleansers

Palate cleansers for wine tasting should have neutral flavors and not leave a lingering after-taste so that the wine taster can get back into the game. Whether you’re hosting a wine tasting at home or attending a wine event, these are the foods to seek out to cleanse your palate during wine tasting. I saved the best for last so read until the end.

Bread

Good old fashion white bread, a baguette, or even a croissant is a great palate cleanser for wine tasting. Bread is neutral and those carbs suck up all the lingering flavors on your tongue. Bread also helps keep you sober(ish) since even though you are spitting, alcohol does seep into your cheeks.

Sparkling Water

For those that are gluten-free or keto and can’t have bread, sparkling water is the next best option. The effervescence lifts flavors from your palate and washes them away. Skip the ice so that your tongue doesn’t get numb a different way. Throw in some lemon slices or cucumber slices, they’ll help, too.

Rare Roast Beef

I’ll never forget one of the first big wine tasting events I was at in Chicago. It was in a grand ballroom and everyone who was anyone was there. (Don’t ask why I was there, I used to be somebody, too, ya know!). Here I am rubbing elbows with some of the best winemakers and sommeliers in the world. The first table I went to was Chateau Montelena, the famous Napa winery that won the Judgement of Paris. The movie Bottle Shock had just come out and I knew I needed to get there early before they ran out of wine. They had won for their Chardonnay, so I tried it. Delicious. Then moved on to their Cabernet.

A gentleman came up next to me and put his glass out to taste as well. We tasted the Cab; also delicious. Then to my absolute horror and shock, the gentleman pulls out a slice of roast beef and starts blotting his tongue with it! Like, not even in a discreet way. Just straight up purple tongue and roast beef less than a foot away from my eye balls then right back into his pocket (wrapped in aluminum foil, but still). Ew, David.

Now though that’s super gross to witness, here’s why it works. Red wines have tannins. Tannins are the part of red wine that dry out your mouth. Tannins bind to your saliva and it creates an astringent feeling in your cheeks, gums, and teeth. Tannins will linger for a while unless a new protein source appears, hence the roast beef. By blotting his tongue he was relieving his taste buds of tannins. So yes, it totally works.

Cheese

Cheese works in the same way that roast beef does; the tannins bind to the protein in the cheese. Keep the cheese as neutral as possible like a mild cheddar or mozzarella. Blue cheese will not do the trick. May I suggest eating the cheese and not blotting it on your tongue.

Apples

Apples are slight tart and slightly sweet. They’re also starchy. All these components make them a great and simple wine tasting palate cleanser. They’re also lovely on a charcuterie board.

Raw Pineapple

I’ll have to take others word for it that pineapple is a good wine tasting palate cleanser. Personally, it makes my mouth taste all funny, apparently this is a common allergy. The enzymes in fruit, especially pineapple, help to break down proteins, carbs, and fats. Pineapple basically takes a squeegee to your tongue and gets your ready for the next wine.

Celery

Is there a more neutral vegetable than celery? Okay, maybe cucumber. Celery also has a rough texture that gives your tongue a nice scrub. Celery doesn’t have an aftertaste either whereas cucumbers repeat on lots of people, even burpless cucumbers. Yeah, that’s a real thing.

Wine Crackers

There’s actually a whole world of cracker makers that make crackers just to cleanse your palate for wine tasting. Conceptually they work just like bread would. Now, plain old unsalted crackers work just as good but for half the price.

Beer

Brilliant, right? It’s basically all water and bubbles with a touch of bitterness. It’ll be a little shock to the palate and liven it right up. According to my friend Sarah May, there’s a beer table at every wine tasting in Italy for precisely this.

Coffee Beans

My loyal readers know I couldn’t let a single post go by without reminding everyone how important smell is in wine tasting. It’s way more important than taste! Coffee beans are often found on perfume counters to reset your nose to keep smelling perfumes until you find the one you like. Same can be applied to a wine tasting. We also need to neutralize our nose.

Champagne

I saved the best for last. Champagne is the absolute best wine tasting palate cleanser of all time! Am I biased? Yes. Do you care? No. Champagne is bubbly which lifts any lingering flavors and washes them away, acidic to brighten the palate, and delicious to keep a smile on your face.

More Helpful Wine Tasting Advice

Just as it’s important to be careful what you eat and drink during a wine tasting, same goes for before you even begin. Toothpaste is the absolute worst thing to have in your mouth immediately before tasting wine. Like, big oj and toothpaste vibes. Although, it’s not a bad idea to bring a toothbrush (no toothpaste) with you so you can get that nice shade of purple off your teeth.

I want to hear from you. What do you eat or drink when you get palate fatigue? What’s your go-to wine tasting palate cleanser? Let me know in the comments.

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