The Practice of Wine Tasting


The results of the four recognized stages to wine tasting: appearance, «in glass» the aroma of the wine, «in mouth» sensations, «finish» (aftertaste) — are combined in order to establish the following properties of a wine: complexity and character, potential (suitability for aging or drinking), possible faults.


Whereas wines are regularly tasted in isolation, a wine’s quality assessment is more objective when performed alongside several other wines, in what are known as tasting «flights». Wines may be deliberately selected for their vintage («horizontal» tasting) or proceed from a single winery («vertical» tasting), to better compare vineyard and vintages, respectively. Alternatively, in order to promote an unbiased analysis, bottles and even glasses may be disguised in a «blind» tasting, to rule out any prejudicial awareness of either vintage or winery.