From the “Òstrakon” to the Art of Wine Tasting and the Measurement of Consumer Emotions

Abstract

The language of wine is richer and more complex if compared to that of other alcoholic beverages, including the tasting, production, history, and culture associated with it. The evolution of the language employed to define the quality and the characteristics of wine from the “òstrakon” of the Ancient Egyptians to the present is shown in the article. The symbolic aspects of wine, the communication of emotions, the wine sensory analysis, and the wine tasting are discussed. The glossaries which appeared in France, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, are mentioned: they attest both the beginning of tasting, and the official recognition of the sensory evolution of wine. Moreover, some considerations are reported on some particular words employed to describe wines: vinous, aftertaste, and body. The language employed to evaluate wine is still evolving. It expresses the need and the desire to communicate and define the perceptions and the emotions derived by drinking wine. Finally, the pleasure of wine is not only a physical pleasure, but above all it is a pleasure of the brain, as well as, naturally, of the word.