Perceptual and cognitive aspects of wine expertise

Abstract

This paper reviews experimental studies of wine expertise and the evidence that experts are better than novices at discriminating between, recognising, and describing wines in a consistent manner. An Australian Wine Knowledge test is reported that discriminates well between wine experts and novices (1st-year undergraduates). We examine the issue of whether expert performance is based on superior sensory ability, on fluency in “wine talk”, or on knowledge about wine. Despite some evidence for more effective perceptual encoding in regular wine drinkers, it appears that expert performance may rely heavily on explicit knowledge.