Tasting is an integral part of our everyday work. Despite enormous progress in chemical analysis, nothing today can replace the precision and experience of the palate to detect certain defects or anticipate the development of a wine. This is why, during the vinification, the ageing process, and right up to the bottling, we can often be seen carrying a glass in our hands.

Tasting has also become the everyday work of a growing number of professional wine critics, who shed a different culture and experience on our wines. This diversity enriches the world of wine. It would be wrong to think that there is only one truth, which by the way, we have never claimed to possess.

Finally, tasting wine has caught the imagination of more and more enthusiasts among wine lovers. There are countless tasting clubs where friends get together to discover, taste and compare bottles of wine that come from all over the world. It is a wonderful thing for wine, although the pleasure of discovering wines and the beauty of the flavours sometimes lose out to overserious analysing.

Tasting is seldom a solitary exercise; the sensations it brings generally lead people to give their opinion, which is expressed in a particular language. It is fair to say though, that words have no need to be mysterious. Tasting comments, whoever the author is, should first and foremost be comprehensible, if not accessible to everyone. It is always possible to explain, even thrill people, with simple words...

There are sensual, intellectual, social pleasures in tasting wine, but they should not be confused with the pleasure of drinking, in the most sober sense of the word, of course; since tasting and drinking are not quite the same thing. We have all had the experience after a tasting of finishing the half-full bottles during the ensuing meal. We do not always enjoy finishing those bottles which we had preferred during the tasting. There is nothing shocking in this ; it just shows the richness and complexity of the sensations that come into play in each of the two cases. It is also a warning to us of the risks, and vanity, of extrapolating our first impressions, however right and relevant they may be.