Finish / Length / Persistence

Finish, length and persistence are overlapping names for one stage of tasting. WSET's Diploma Candidate Assessment Guide for tasting (Issue 13, August 2018) defines it this way: "The finish is the collection of sensations on the palate after you have swallowed or spat the wine out." Decanter's glossary defines length as a tasting term for the duration of the aftertaste once a wine has been swallowed. Writing in Decanter, Sarah Jane Evans MW places length at the final stage of sensory assessment, after appearance, aroma and palate, when the taster looks at balance and length, and notes that some people call this stage the finish. Decanter's Jane Anson adds that the aftertaste is also known as the caudalie, the persistency or the resonance of a wine, and is more commonly called its length. The OIV uses caudalie as its unit: its 2021 competition standard calculates persistence in seconds (caudalie).

• WSET (2018): the finish is the collection of sensations left on the palate after swallowing or spitting
• Decanter: length is the duration of the aftertaste once a wine has been swallowed
• Other names reported by Decanter's Jane Anson: caudalie, persistency, resonance
• OIV (2021): persistence is calculated in seconds, also called caudalie

WSET's Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (SAT) includes finish on the palate at Levels 2, 3 and 4. The Level 2 SAT (Issue 2.1, 2026) offers three entries: short, medium, long. The Level 3 SAT (Issue 2, 2022) and the Level 4 SAT (Issue 1.1, 2022) both use five: short, medium(-), medium, medium(+), long. The Level 3 SAT tells students that on lines like this they must select one and only one of the options, and WSET's Diploma tasting guide (2018) adds that giving more than one entry or a range for finish earns no mark, even if one of the entries is correct. The same guide gives finish 1 mark in the Diploma tasting paper and offers a rough calibration: for a basic quality wine the pleasant flavours often disappear within a few seconds and the finish is short, while for a very fine wine the flavours can last for a minute or more and the finish is long.

• Level 2 SAT (2026): short, medium, long
• Level 3 SAT (2022) and Level 4 SAT (2022): short, medium(-), medium, medium(+), long
• Pick one entry only; a range such as medium(+) to long gains no mark in WSET Diploma exams (2018 guide)
• WSET guide (2018): basic quality wines, pleasant flavours often gone within a few seconds; very fine wines, a minute or more

Assessing finish means counting only what is pleasant. WSET's Diploma tasting guide (2018) says that when judging the length of the finish you should only consider the persistence of the positive sensations: a wine with a very long lingering bitterness could be described as having a bitter aftertaste, but if the fruit impressions disappear quickly, the finish is short. The OIV competition standard (2021 edition) describes a counting method: the count starts once the product has left the mouth and is done by chewing, discreetly opening the lips and drawing a little air into the mouth, with slow chewing corresponding to approximately 1 second. Time matters too. Sarah Jane Evans MW writes in Decanter that the taster always needs to give time to assess length, which can be hard in a busy tasting or in the middle of a meal. Decanter's editors suggest building a relative scale through practice: does the aftertaste disappear quickly or do flavours linger, and which flavours stick around? Speaking to Jane Anson in Decanter, Jean-Claude Berrouet, winemaker of Pétrus for 40 years, described sweetness arriving after one or two seconds, then acidity and saltiness, with bitterness not perceptible until after eight or ten seconds.

• Count positive sensations only; lingering bitterness alone is a bitter aftertaste, not a long finish (WSET, 2018)
• OIV method (2021): start counting once the wine has left the mouth; slow chewing is roughly 1 second
• Give each wine time; Decanter's editors suggest noting which flavours linger and which fade
• Jean-Claude Berrouet (via Decanter): bitterness may not register until after eight or ten seconds

The OIV Standard for International Wine and Spirituous Beverages of Vitivinicultural Origin Competitions (2021 edition) builds persistence into its judging sheets. Its still-wine score sheet lists harmonious persistence under Taste, scored 8, 7, 6, 5 or 4 points. The descriptor sheet ties those points to seconds for still wines: excellent persistence of more than 6 seconds scores 8, very good persistence of 5 to 6 seconds scores 7, good persistence of 3 to 4 seconds scores 6, fairly good persistence of 2 seconds scores 5, and bad persistence of 1 second scores 4. The standard defines persistence as a measure of the length of residual olfacto-gustatory sensation, a single time measurement that starts once the product has left the mouth.

• Still-wine score sheet (OIV, 2021): harmonious persistence, 8 points at the top, 4 at the bottom
• More than 6 seconds: excellent (8); 5 to 6 seconds: very good (7); 3 to 4 seconds: good (6)
• 2 seconds: fairly good (5); 1 second: bad (4)

WSET's Diploma tasting guide (2018) calls how long the sensations linger an important indicator of quality, and lists finish among the quality considerations in the Wine SAT, alongside balance/integration, intensity, complexity, mousse, varietal definition and potential for ageing. It links finish closely to intensity: a wine with a pleasant, long finish is likely to have high levels of concentration, while a short or simple finish indicates a wine that lacks intensity. When writing the quality assessment, the guide asks candidates to expand on the finish, describing what flavours persist and whether one element is overly dominant on the finish. Its description of a 'very good' wine is one showing some elements of concentration, length, complexity or expressiveness that lift it above 'good'. Decanter's glossary states that good length is a sign of a high-quality wine, and Sarah Jane Evans MW calls length one indicator of quality. Jane Anson quotes Emile Peynaud's 1983 book The Taste of Wine: ‘If harmony and balance are the hallmarks of a good wine, what distinguishes great wine is the length and aromatic character of its aftertaste.’

• WSET Wine SAT quality considerations (2018 guide): balance/integration, intensity, finish, complexity, mousse, varietal definition, potential for ageing
• Pleasant, long finish suggests high concentration; a short or simple finish suggests low intensity (WSET, 2018)
• WSET 'very good': some elements of concentration, length, complexity or expressiveness lift the wine above 'good'
• Decanter: good length is a sign of a high-quality wine

Sarah Jane Evans MW, answering a reader question in Decanter (last updated 2019), says length does not depend on the grape variety, the youth of the wine or the use of oak. She attributes it to the interaction of many flavour compounds with colloids, tiny particles of pectins, phenolics and tannins that are not removed by fining and filtering; the resulting slow release of flavour compounds creates the perception of length. Balance also plays a part. Jean-Claude Berrouet told Decanter's Jane Anson: ‘If a wine is too bitter, too acidic, too astringent or too high in alcohol, there will always be a rupture in the aftertaste, which means it will lack persistency’. In the same column, Michel Chapoutier said the grapes for Rhône whites are high in sulphur-containing thiols that give an attractive bitterness and bring lift and persistency.

• Evans (Decanter, updated 2019): length does not depend on grape variety, youth or oak
• Colloids (pectins, phenolics, tannins) slowly release flavour compounds, creating the perception of length
• Berrouet (via Decanter): excess bitterness, acidity, astringency or alcohol breaks the aftertaste
• Chapoutier (via Decanter): thiols in the grapes for Rhône whites bring lift and persistency

Primary sources: https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11766/wset_l3wines_sat_en_may2022_issue2.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11767/wset_l4wines_sat_en_aug2022.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/19131/wset_l2wines_sat_en_aug2026_issue21.pdf, https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/6714/wset_l4diploma_cag_tasting_en_aug2018.pdf, https://www.oiv.int/public/medias/7895/oiv-patronage-competition-norme-ed-2021.pdf. Secondary sources: https://www.decanter.com/learn/advice/gives-wine-length-356772/, https://www.decanter.com/learn/length-1-44234/, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/news-blogs-anson/anson-on-thursday-tasting-wine-the-space-between-283413/. Last verified 2026-09-29