Wine tasting: let's start...from the end!

We have long thought about how to make the subject of tasting accessible to our public, who we imagine are comprised of wine lovers, curious to be able to expand their consumer experience. Our discussion may be considered rather simple, perhaps even banal for an expert in the sector, but we wish to hold firm to our goal of dedicating our work to all wine lovers, starting with those who are taking their very first steps in this wonderful - and very complex!! - world.

As we said, we have reflected a lot on how we should go about dealing with the subject of tasting in order to be able to transmit, in a simple way, its profound complexity.

In short, our starting point was a real contradiction in terms. Not in the least discouraged, we - on the contrary - drew inspiration precisely from the contradiction contained in our assertion, and we therefore decided to… start from the end!

The first subject we will deal with will in fact be the final phase of the tasting, that is the formulation of the overall opinion on the wine.

We are convinced that clarifying the goal we set ourselves every time we prepare to taste a wine, fully understanding what we are aiming for, can throw more - and better - light on the understanding of the different stages of sensory analysis.

Let's start by saying that the final judgement we are going to formulate is not actually just one, but will be composed of three distinct evaluations of the whole.

1. THE STATE OF EVOLUTION

2. THE QUALITY, in terms of finesse and the complexity of aromas that we were able to detect during the sensory analysis

3. THE CONGRUITY, that is to say how much the organoleptic characteristics harmonise with one other and are consistent with the type of wine tasted. In future articles we will see precisely how the theme of congruity calls into question another key concept of tasting, that of typicality, understood as adherence to the criteria - categorically typical - both of the vine and of the territory from which the wine originates.

Although they come at the end of a sensory analysis, and consequently draw their impetus from subjective perceptions, we can still see how the sense of each of these judgements aspires to assume an objective character.

It is precisely in this element that lies the incredible charm and at the same time the fabulous complexity of tasting: on the same path that we tread to refine our personal taste, we confidently search for an increasingly perfect objectivity. It is a delicate interplay of cross-referencing in which the one can never overwhelm or be overwhelmed by the other.