Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

tasting, the act of consciously assessing a wine’s quality, character, or identity (see blind tasting). It is certainly not synonymous with, nor necessarily contemporaneous with nor accompanied by, the act of drinking it. The ideal conditions for the act of tasting, and the organization and classification of formal wine tastings, is outlined under tastings. This article is concerned with the activities and mechanisms involved in consciously receiving the sensory impressions a wine can stimulate.