horizontal tasting

horizontal tasting (GB)

A special form of wine tasting in which the quality of wines from a particular growing region for a particular vintage is usually determined. The "horizontal" refers to the time axis. Naturally, these are wines from different producers, but they should have rudimentary similarities to enable an objective comparison. These are, for example, the same grape variety or blend of grape varieties (cuvée), the same ageing (e.g. barrique ageing), the same flavour (e.g. dry) and the same quality standard (e.g. known top producers or a similarly presumed class). Of course, differences in quality between producers can also be identified. However, the wines can just as well be a cross-section of different (presumed) qualities.

Whether a tasting takes place in the form of a blind tasting (also known as a blind horizontal) or in another form depends on the objective. Tastings with the purpose of a targeted wine purchase are usually horizontal. A special form of horizontal tasting is the arrivage carried out during a subscription (pre-ordering of wines), in which the quality of a wine or vintage that has not yet been bottled is determined. In contrast, a vertical tasting usually compares different vintages of the same wine or producer in order to determine differences in quality. See also under wine talk, wine evaluation and wine tasting.

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horizontal tasting

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