Blind Tasting: Systematic Deduction

In a blind tasting, the identity of the wines is kept from the tasters, and the wines are presented in a randomised order with no clues as to their identity, so that the biases of all tasters are minimised. The OIV's 2015 review of sensory analysis applies the same idea to panels: samples must be presented blind and coded, and, generally, three groups of attributes should be assessed: the appearance, the odour and the flavour. Wine education builds on this. WSET students learn to taste with the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT), which WSET designed to build skills progressively through its qualification levels, while the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe tells students to be very familiar with the structure and methodology of its Deductive Tasting Grid before attempting exams.

• Panel practice: in the OIV's 2015 review, samples must go to the panel blind and coded, generally, appearance, odour and flavour should be assessed, and an overall verdict can also be given
• One method, every level: the SAT is used across WSET's wine qualifications; the detail changes as students progress through the levels, but the technique stays the same
• Court of Master Sommeliers: the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe puts its Deductive Tasting Grid at the core of its tasting technique; the grid runs Sight, Nose, Palate (structure, then flavour), an Initial Conclusion (climate, grape, possible countries, age range) and a Final Conclusion (vintage, grape, country, region or appellation, quality hierarchy)
• Removing the label: in the words of Matt Stamp MS, blind tasting lets you view a wine "precisely as it is, unencumbered by the noise of scores, labels, history and perceived value"

In an exam, blind tasting lets candidates show they can evaluate it accurately and objectively. Matt Stamp MS, writing in Decanter, argues that it is a skill that requires practice rather than innate ability, and that practising it sharpens the ability to communicate a wine's character in an objective and meaningful way. The same discipline runs through the trade: Mary Margaret McCamic MW, writing for GuildSomm, places tasting for quality-to-price ratio, typicity and style at every level of the supply chain.

• Credentials: at the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas, the Certified Sommelier Examination uses the Court's Deductive Tasting Method for a written tasting of four wines (two white, two red) in 45 minutes, and the Master Sommelier Diploma includes a deductive tasting of six wines; the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe's syllabus sets a written evaluation of two wines at Certified Sommelier
• WSET Level 3: Unit 2 of the Award in Wines is assessed by a blind tasting of two wines
• Producers: by Nigel Sneyd MW's account, Gallo blind tastes all winemaking trials and also blind tastes for blending
• Buyers: McCamic recalls blind tastings at Balthazar in New York that mostly determined whether a wine's quality and style matched its price point

The SAT is WSET's own framework, with three aims: an accurate and thorough description of the wine, an assessment of its quality based on the tasting note, and an understanding of how production has shaped its style and quality. In outline, the WSET Level 3 SAT (2022, Issue 2) works under four headings: Appearance, Nose, Palate and Conclusions. Appearance covers clarity, intensity and colour, the palate covers structural elements such as sweetness and acidity before flavours and finish, and Conclusions judge quality on a scale that runs from faulty to outstanding. Where a line offers a scale, students pick a single option.

• Aroma characteristics: the WSET Level 3 Wine-Lexicon groups them as primary (the grape and alcoholic fermentation), secondary (post-fermentation winemaking: yeast, malolactic conversion and oak) and tertiary (maturation)
• Tertiary examples in the Wine-Lexicon: for reds, bottle age can bring leather, forest floor, earth, mushroom and tobacco; for whites, petrol and kerosene
• Scales: on the Level 3 SAT, alcohol is judged as low, medium or high, while acidity, tannin, body and finish each use five levels (the Level 2 SAT uses three levels for all five); writing medium(+) or medium(-) for alcohol or colour intensity is a common exam error
• Structure as evidence: acidity makes your mouth water, while tannins have a mouth-drying effect

The blind tasting that became known as the Judgment of Paris took place in Paris on May 24, 1976. Steven Spurrier, who ran a Paris wine shop and the wine school L'Académie du Vin, hosted it with his American co-worker Patricia Gallagher, timed to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial. A panel of French experts compared Napa Valley Chardonnays with white Burgundies and Napa Cabernet Sauvignons with red Bordeaux, and the Californians won both flights: a 1973 Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena led the whites and a 1973 Napa Valley Cabernet from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars led the reds. George Taber, Time's Paris bureau chief, was the only invited journalist who attended, and his item in Time ran under the headline "Judgment of Paris".

• Blind by design: the tasting was blind, to avoid inherent bias
• Scoring: judges rated the wines on a 20-point scale and Spurrier averaged the scores afterward, which obscured the wildly different rankings from each judge
• A lesson for deduction: Spurrier did not tell the judges there would be French wines until the tasting was about to begin, and they spent much of the tasting debating the wines' origins rather than their quality

The WSET Level 3 Award in Wines has a Total Qualification Time of 84 hours, made up of 32.5 guided learning hours (including the 2.5-hour examination) and 51.5 hours of private study. A good starting point is to compare a few wines of different styles and qualities side by side, keep notes of the wines you taste, and taste with people who have more experience; later comparisons can set the same grape from different places against each other, such as a Chablis and a Napa Valley Chardonnay. For candidates preparing for deductive tasting exams, Martin Beally's GuildSomm guide advises knowing the grid so well it can be recited without thinking, and spending most practice time on comparative tastings rather than six-wine flights.

• Calibrate: WSET students taste with tutors who guide them in calibrating their palate and describing levels of sweetness, acidity and tannin
• Evaluate, don't guess: for the WSET Level 3 tasting exam, WSET advises not trying to identify the wine but evaluating what is in front of you
• Double blind, single blind: Beally recommends re-bagging and re-tasting the wines a group found hardest, so the problem areas are worked on while sense memories are fresh
• Hydrate: dehydration suppresses salivation, which can lead a taster to underestimate acidity
• Pace the flight: for sensory panels, ideally no more than six to seven wines are presented at one session, to reduce fatigue and adaptation

Deduction builds a case from several clues rather than one. In Beally's example, a banana aroma in a red is linked with whole-cluster fermentation, which keeps Pinot Noir, Grenache and Syrah in play alongside Gamay Noir; low visual intensity, a garnet colour and herbal notes of cola and sassafras then narrow the wine to Pinot Noir. WSET calls climate the single biggest influence on a wine's acidity. Wines from cooler climates tend to retain more of their natural acidity, with Chablis and the Mosel as classic examples, while warmer climates, and warmer vintages, often produce lower acidity. Aroma can point to a grape as well: green bell pepper or grass aromas are associated with pyrazine compounds in Sauvignon Blanc.

• Same grape, two climates: a cool-climate Chablis should show pronounced acidity and a long, mouth-watering finish, while a warm-climate, oak-aged Chardonnay should feel rounder, softer and more buttery
• Acidity clues: lemon, lime, grapefruit or green apple notes in whites, and bright red fruit such as cherries and cranberries in reds, can point to higher acidity
• Tannin: a Cabernet Sauvignon may have quite a high level of tannin, whereas a Pinot Noir generally has less and may feel softer and more delicate
• Sweetness and acid: a Mosel Spätlese could have acidity similar to a dry Trocken Riesling from the same region, but its residual sugar changes how that acidity is perceived

Primary sources (WSET, the OIV, the Australian Wine Research Institute and the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas and Europe): https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11766/wset_l3wines_sat_en_may2022_issue2.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11731/wset_l3wines_specification_en_highres_may2022_issue2.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/qualifications/wset-level-3-award-in-wines, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2024/how-to-ace-the-wset-level-3-award-in-wines-tasting-exam, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2019/november/how-to-build-your-wine-tasting-skills/, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/understanding-acidity-in-wine, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2023/december/19/how-to-taste-wine, https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/wset-systematic-approach-to-tasting-sat, https://www.oiv.int/public/medias/3307/review-on-sensory-analysis-of-wine.pdf, https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/sensory_assessment/considerations/, https://www.mastersommeliers.org/certification/courses/the-deductive-tasting-method-workshop/, https://courtofmastersommeliers.org/deductive-tasting-grid/, https://courtofmastersommeliers.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/CMS-Europe-Examination-Syllabus-2026-2027.pdf, https://www.mastersommeliers.org/certification/certification-levels/master-sommelier-diploma-examination/, https://www.mastersommeliers.org/certification/certification-levels/certified-sommelier-examination/, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/ugpjmqol/wset-l3wines-specification.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/mz4dnhzc/wset_l2wines_sat_en_aug2026_issue21.pdf. Secondary: https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/mary-margaret-mccamic/posts/blind-tasting-applications, https://www.guildsomm.com/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-components-userfiles/00-00-00-66-84/preparing-for-deductive-tasting-exams-at-high-levels.pdf, https://www.decanter.com/premium/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-master-sommelier-246020/, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-judgment-of-paris-turns-fifty, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-sip-heard-round-the-world-2706. Last verified 2026-11-09