Welcome to the first part of Tasting Analysis Like a Professional, a nine-part series in which we take a systematic approach to wine tasting. Before we throw ourselves into sight, smell and taste one by one, we need a foundation: the method itself. Because professional tasting is not about having an especially gifted nose, but about working in a structured way, so that what you experience can actually be trusted and repeated.
In this part we look at why a fixed method beats gut feeling, which overall steps a professional tasting follows, and how the setting around the tasting (glass, light, order and temperature) helps reduce the sources of error that otherwise creep in.
Hvad du lærer
- Why a systematic method gives more reliable results than intuition alone
- The overall steps of a professional tasting and the logic behind their order
- How the setting and order reduce bias
- What it means to taste as objectively as possible
Why system beats gut feeling
Sensory analysis is a scientific discipline used to evoke, measure, analyse and interpret the reactions our senses give to what we put in front of us. Note the four verbs: evoke, measure, analyse, interpret. They describe precisely the difference between a casual taste experience and a professional tasting. A gut feeling leaps straight from impression to conclusion. The systematic method inserts four steps in between, and it is in those steps that the quality lies.
The reason the system wins is that our senses are physiological instruments with both strengths and limitations. What we experience as taste and smell is the result of transduction, where physical events are translated into electrical activity in the sensory nerves. Sight, taste and smell each have their own instrument, and each instrument can be led astray. A structured approach forces us to use the senses in the right order and under conditions where they work best.
This is also why professional tasting panels are trained with clear goals in mind. A well-trained panel is expected to produce data that are accurate, repeatable, sensitive and reproducible. These four qualities are not something you are born with. They are something that method and setting create. The same principle applies to you, whether you taste for fun or professionally: the more consistent your approach is, the more you can compare one wine with the next, and your own notes from one day with another.
The overall steps
A systematic tasting follows the senses in a particular order, and the order is not arbitrary. It goes from what disturbs least to what commits most.
Sight first
We begin with the eye, because it can often be assessed before the wine is even in contact with the nose and palate. The retina holds two types of specialised neurons: rods without colour vision in the periphery and cones with colour vision in the centre. The cones contain three types of visual pigment that respond to red, blue and green light respectively, and it is their interplay that lets us distinguish intermediate colours. This is precisely why light is so decisive when we assess colour and clarity, which we take up in the next part of the series.
Smell next
The sense of smell is our most nuanced tool. The olfactory epithelium holds in the region of five million olfactory nerve cells, and on the cells in the nasal passage sits a large quantity of protein receptors that bind volatile compounds and thereby activate the sense of smell. An important detail with direct practical significance: during normal breathing only about 5 % of the inhaled air reaches the olfactory receptors, while active sniffing increases the share to around 20 %. In other words: you do not properly smell a wine without consciously sniffing. The sense of smell, by the way, involves three nerves, among them the trigeminal nerve, which explains why certain substances are experienced as stinging rather than as pure aroma.
Taste last
Only when the eye and the nose have given their part do we take the wine into the mouth. The taste buds sit gathered in groups and are distributed across three types of papillae, and humans have five basic taste receptors that respond to sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. The actual taste impression is, however, far richer than these four, because a large part of what we call taste is in reality aroma reaching the olfactory epithelium from behind. That is why the taste step is both a check of what the nose promised and an assessment of structure, balance and aftertaste.
The logic of the order is simple: each step builds on the previous one and works as a hypothesis that the next step tests. Sight raises expectations, smell sharpens them, and taste confirms or refutes.
The setting: glass, light, order and temperature
Even the best method falls apart under poor conditions. In sensory laboratories the assessors are arranged with precisely this in mind. The booths are configured so that the assessors cannot see one another, and the room must be temperature-controlled, free of foreign smells and quiet. These four requirements hold a lesson you can take home.
Light. Since colour perception rests on three visual pigments that respond to different wavelengths, coloured or dimmed light changes the perceived colour. So taste in neutral, even light, ideally against a white background.
An odour-free room. The sense of smell can recognise a large number of different aromas, but it is also easy to fool. Perfume, cooking smells or a scented hand sanitiser settle on the olfactory epithelium and contaminate the assessment. If you keep the room neutral, you smell the wine and not the surroundings.
Quiet and separation. The fact that assessors cannot see one another is about avoiding social influence. If you see your neighbour's delighted face, it colours your own judgement before you have had time to form it.
Order and temperature. The order in which the wines are presented affects the result, because the palate carries residues from glass to glass. A well-considered order (typically from light to powerful, from dry to sweet) reduces this carry-over. Temperature counts too, because it governs how easily the volatile compounds are released into the aroma, and how acidity and structure are experienced on the palate. A cold wine shuts off the aroma, a wine that is too warm exaggerates the fullness of the alcohol.
The glass is the last but not insignificant link. It gathers the aroma and gives a uniform starting point, so that what you smell and taste can be compared from wine to wine.
Tasting objectively
Complete objectivity does not exist when a human being is the measuring instrument. But you can come close by consciously separating observation from interpretation. It is precisely this separation that the method's four steps (evoke, measure, analyse, interpret) build on. First you register what is actually there: the colour, the intensity of the aroma, the tautness of the acidity, the grip of the tannins. Then, and only then, do you interpret what it means.
Bias comes from many places. Expectation is the most common: if you know in advance what you have in the glass, you taste a little of what you expect. That is why separation and a fixed order are not pedantry, but precisely the means that keep expectation in check. The professional goals for a trained panel (accuracy, repeatability, sensitivity and reproducibility) are in reality a description of what disciplined objectivity leads to. If you taste the same wine again tomorrow under the same conditions and arrive at the same conclusion, you are working objectively enough.
Kort fortalt
- Sensory analysis is about evoking, measuring, analysing and interpreting sensory impressions, not about leaping straight to a conclusion.
- A professional tasting follows the senses in a fixed order: sight, smell, taste, where each step tests the previous one.
- Active sniffing is decisive, because far more of the aroma reaches the olfactory receptors when you sniff consciously.
- The setting (neutral light, an odour-free and quiet room, a well-considered order and the right temperature) reduces the sources of error that otherwise distort the judgement.
- Objectivity is achieved by separating observation from interpretation and by working so that the result can be repeated.
Ofte stillede spørgsmål
Why should I sniff actively instead of just breathing normally?
Because the amount of aroma that actually reaches the olfactory receptors depends on the way you inhale. With normal breathing only a small part of the air reaches the olfactory epithelium, while active sniffing increases the share markedly. So you leave a large part of the wine's aroma unused if you do not sniff consciously.
Does temperature really play such a big role?
Yes. Temperature governs how easily the wine's volatile compounds are released into the aroma, and it affects how acidity, sweetness and structure are experienced on the palate. Too cold shuts off the aroma, too warm emphasises the fullness of the alcohol. That is why a controlled serving temperature is part of the method itself, not merely a matter of comfort.
Klar til næste skridt?
Now that the method and the setting are in place, we can take up the first step in practice. In the next part, Sight: Colour, clarity and viscosity, we dive into what the eye can tell you before the wine even touches the palate, and how light helps or fools you.
Do bring the method along next time you open a bottle at home. And remember that, for all the systematics, the best pairing is still the wine you like with the food you like. Have a look at our selection whenever you feel like a wine to practise on.