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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

They're not what you'd call similar varietals, and rats have powerful olfaction. It's not surprising in itself, unless you're in the habit of thinking of animals as being essentially lesser than humans.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

They're at opposite sides of the sweetness spectrum, they should be distinguishable by sugar content alone.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Riesling can be anywhere in the sweetness scale, both can be equally dry.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Even Trocken is still sweeter than I'd associate with a Sauvignon Blanc, and if they're just calling it "Riesling" it's probably a Spatlese or something.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Any Riesling from Alsace will be XD.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

[Obligatory note that humans are animals]

[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

But, do they know what to pair them with?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

A good Ig Nobel contender here

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It seems really weird to assume that rats don't have linguistic skills given everything we've been learning recently about non-human communication, coupled with the fact that they're extremely social and will not stop chattering away about who knows what. I think a more solitary animal would be better suited to indicating that language and categorization skills may be unrelated, which is unfortunate because they're much harder to work with.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I can distinguish those, and compared to rats I don't have a sense of smell. That doesn't surprise me much.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

surprised the rats don't just have one sniff and bite the researchers in the finger, wine smells offensive to my dinky-ass sense of smell, i can only imagine what a punch it must be to a rat

this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
82 points (97.7% liked)

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