A special form of wine tasting and wine evaluation in which wines from different vintages of a single producer or winery (therefore also referred to as a château vertical) are usually compared with each other to determine the vintage influence on wine quality. The vineyard can also act as a representative for an entire growing region. Ideally, these are wines of the same "construction" (in terms of grape variety mix and style of v inification) and from the same vineyard. The "vertical" refers to the time axis (vintages) "from top to bottom". So it is not a matter of determining the quality differences between producers, but between vintages. Whether this takes the form of a blind tasting (then called a blind vertical) depends on the objective.
The tasting order of the different vintages does not necessarily have to be chronological. It should be noted that the oldest vintages may have already reached or possibly even passed their peak, but the youngest may have yet to develop. By comparing vintages, it is also possible to derive a trend about the development or drinking maturity of a wine. To be able to judge this more precisely, however, one would have to observe or re-taste the same wine or vintage in its further development. In contrast to vertical tasting, horizontal tasting compares wines of the same vintage but from different producers and/or growing regions. Horizontal and vertical can also be combined; for example, first six wines of the same vintage from different producers and then six different vintages from one of these six producers.
