TAS2R38: the gene that changes what you taste
Some people are genetically wired to taste bitterness far more intensely than others. It's a clear sign that a single universal score can't fit everyone.
By The OENRA team
There's a gene called TAS2R38 that encodes a bitter-taste receptor. Depending on your variant, you might be a “non-taster,” a “taster,” or a “supertaster.” In the foundational work, most of the inherited variation in how intensely people taste a key bitter compound (PTC) traced to this single gene (Kim et al., Science, 2003) — people really are, measurably, different tasters.
Studies have also linked TAS2R38 variants to perceived bitterness in wine, though there the effect is real but modest — one input among many, not the whole story. Still, when one person calls a wine “beautifully structured” and another calls the same glass “harsh,” they may both be right: they can be tasting genuinely different intensities.
The takeaway
If biology changes what you taste, then a single universal score is indefensible as a personal recommendation. The only honest recommendation is one calibrated to your palate. That's the whole idea behind Taste DNA.
Sources for the studies referenced across the Journal are collected on our science page.