The decision on wine quality is made by the consumer and, despite all the scientifically sound methods of analysis, is a mixture of subjective rather than objective impressions. Whether a wine "tastes good" also depends on physiological preferences or dislikes (someone doesn't like red wine because they once had a bad experience due to high histamine levels ), the consumer's cultural background and personal experience. While experience is strictly speaking subjective, it is also an objective criterion (heartburn from acidic wines is considered "poor quality").
The chemist uses objective analyses to describe what the wine is like, the consumer or wine critic describes subjectively what it tastes like. The former produces the same result when repeated, the latter is not certain. Ultimately, the saying applies: De gustibus non est disputandum (You can't argue about taste). A qualitative wine evaluation with grading and verbal description is determined by professional wine tasting. There are attempts to determine the "tastable" quality by means of a glycosyl-glucose assay.
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Prof. Dr. Walter Kutscher
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