Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

palate, frequently mis-spelt term used when describing tasting as a process and an ability. It is generally used to describe the combined human tasting faculties in the mouth and, sometimes, nose. The impact of a wine on the mouth may be divided chronologically, and somewhat loosely, into its impact on the front, middle, and back palate. The word may also be used more generally as in describing a good taster as ‘having a fine palate’. A pallet of wine is dozens of cases. Some may describe a bouquet as being composed of a palette of flavours .