The Australian Wine Research InstituteThe Australian Wine Research Institute

It is essential that people who are called upon to assess the quality of wine are able to accurately recognise the common sensory wine faults and taints that occur in wines. Wine faults are defined as off-aromas or tastes that are related to the fermentation or the winemaking process. Wine taints are defined as an odour, taste or aftertaste that originate from external or foreign sources. This section includes a description of wine faults and taints that can occur in wine, including their origin, mechanism of formation and their detection threshold. Note that people vary in their sensitivity and ability to detect many wine faults and taints. It is important to know your own individual ability to detect many of these compounds when assessing wine.