Flavor is the overall taste impression of a wine, combining the tongue's basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty) with the vast range of aromas perceived retro-nasally as we taste. Because smell dominates, most 'flavor' is really aroma — fruit, spice, earth, oak. Flavor intensity, complexity and persistence are key quality markers, and they evolve as a wine ages from primary fruit to tertiary nuance.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR COLLECTORS
Flavor is the sum of where a wine grew, how it was made and how it aged. Judging flavor means weighing intensity, complexity and balance together — a simple, clean wine can be enjoyable, but layered, evolving flavor marks greatness.
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