Tastings are a huge part of the world of wine, whether you’re a professional or a wine enthusiast. They’re also what most people look forward to when diving into the wine spectrum. 

Wine tastings range from knowing what types of wine you are tasting, evaluating them, and assessing the vintage, where the wine is from, grape varieties, etc. 

Ideally, there are four basic types of wine tastings, namely Vertical, Horizontal, Blind, and Double Blind. 

Let’s take a look at what each of these tastings are and how they can help you derive what you’re drinking.

1. Vertical tasting

Vertical tastings are those where all the wines you taste come from a selected winery, but are of different vintages. Vertical tastings are done to see how the terroir affects the vineyard and the grapes it produces year to year. The same varietal produced in two different years can taste completely different.

2. Horizontal tasting

Horizontal tastings are those where you taste wines with the same vintages, but from different wineries. Typically you should have the same varietal, year, and region, and the only difference would be the producer. This kind of tasting helps you in understanding different producers and their styles of winemaking.

3. Blind tasting

One of the most distinguished and toughest parts of the wine industry is blind tasting. When blind tasting, one has no information about the wine they are tasting except the varietal. The wines are of the same varietals. Wine critics usually taste blind so they can have unbiased opinions about the wine. This method is mostly used in judging competitions. 

4. Double Blind Tasting

In double blind tastings, the bottles are wrapped in a bag, and all of the bottles are of different varietals and vintages. When tasting, you have to figure out the wine’s varietal, vintage, and if it’s a New World or Old World wine. Most of the time, the double blind tasting is done during wine certification exams and qualifications.

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