If you’ve been to a wine or spirits tasting, you’ve heard all sorts of puzzling/pretentious descriptors offered up after a sniff or two. And it’s not all totally fluff. Scientists believe they have discovered the protein that gives wine drinkers the sensations of tasting and smelling things, such as butterscotch and tobacco, that aren’t actually present in their glasses. Wired reports on the latest studies of the bacteria Oenococcus oeni, which produces, “enzymes involved in rearranging molecules to form diacetyls, acetoins, or esters, the compounds that give wine nutty, buttery, or fruity aromas.” The protein is the common denominator found in almost all red wine from “magnificent Barolos to Two-buck Chuck.” We’re looking forward to future studies that help us understand how and why the same protein can create such vastly different results. [Wired] [Photo: Flickr/wawineguy]