Sensory architecture explained
The sensory radar is a chart that makes the build of a wine visible: along ten axes, properties such as fruit, tannin, acidity or richness are plotted so that a profile emerges. It is not a score and not a rating, but a description of the wine’s make-up.
The idea behind it: you should be able to read a wine’s structure before you drink it.
Wine descriptions often sound like poetry – undergrowth, cassis, saddle leather. Such images reflect a taster’s associations but say little about how a wine behaves on the palate. The radar translates this perception into a form: proportions, tension and texture become readable without relying on metaphors.
Two halves, ten axes
The model divides perception into two areas. One half describes the sensual and accessible: fruit, richness, volume and warmth. The other shows the framework: tannin, oak, spice, minerality, acidity and complexity. Together, the ten axes give a picture of where a wine stands between immediate enjoyment and structure.
In practice, this helps with comparing and planning. Anyone who lays two profiles side by side sees at a glance which wine is more approachable and which is built more tightly – useful for a blind tasting as well as for the question of which wine suits now and which still needs time.
Structure instead of ranking
A common form of orientation is the score – 90, 95, 100. It condenses a lot into a single number but says little about character: a highly rated wine can contradict your own preferences, a supposedly simple one can hit exactly the balance you were looking for. The radar takes a different path and shows not how “good” a wine is, but how it is built.
On the plateau of drinking maturity
The profile depicts a wine not in the fermentation cellar, but on the plateau of its drinking maturity – that is, when it is meant to show itself. A cool year emphasizes the acidity somewhat, a warm one the fruit; the underlying architectural idea of a cuvée remains recognizable across the vintages.
How we see it
For us, the radar is a tool of transparency, not of advertising: we supply the structural facts, and leave the judgment to those who drink the wine. It does not replace enjoyment but prepares the ground for it – so that the wine can speak for itself.