Accessibility: Legibility, Not Simplicity

The standard

Sensory legibility is present when a wine's aromas, structure, and balance can be grasped without expertise or waiting time. It describes accessibility itself, independent of its degree of complexity.

Criteria

• Aromas and structure are recognizable without prior knowledge
• No maturing distance is needed to understand the wine
• Legibility holds regardless of the wine's degree of complexity
• Sensory legibility is a feature of perception, not a value judgment on the wine

Distinction

Accessibility ≠ simplicity: a complex wine can be just as accessible as a plain one. Accessibility ≠ drinking maturity: drinking maturity concerns the state of ripeness, sensory legibility concerns understandability independent of it. Where sensory legibility is missing, a wine demands expertise or time to be unlocked.