Understand Tasting

“A winemaker who doesn’t taste is like a blind artist. Firstly, we spend a lot of time tasting and evaluating the juice – which is fairly unusual in the world of winemaking, most people don’t taste juice as much as we do in Australia. It’s one thing to test what the acid and sugar levels are but the aromatics are also hugely important. An astute winemaker will evaluate the aromatics during the whole winemaking process and of course monitor daily for the possible development of any off-aromas.”

“The Australian wine show system has a really important role to play. There is a constant evolution of wine styles and tasting and wine shows play a very important part in defining styles, and leading the way to wines that are more intense, or more subtle, or just better. The primary reason for wine shows is this ‘improvement of the breed’ through time. The importance of tasting can never be underrated or undervalued – if we ever stop worrying about what it tastes like we might as well forget the whole thing!”

Michael Hill Smith MW, Director Shaw and Smith – Adelaide Hills, South Australia.