Evaluating Piscos

The third phase of our tasting is the sense of taste. For this, we take a sip and hold it in our palate for a few seconds. What we seek is the harmony between the sense of smell and the sense of taste, meaning that the nose sensations are present, as the more we perceive them, the better the Pisco. We must ask ourselves, "How does it enter?" and answer if it's warm, aggressive, spicy, bitter, sour, or if it's fresh. We must also discover if the alcohol is generous, oily, silky, if it has sweet, fruity, or spicy sensations. Once we swallow it, we go to what we call "persistence in the palate." How long does the taste remain after drinking? Count up to twenty. The longer the sensations take to disappear, the better the drink. We can also ask ourselves, "What do we perceive?" Bitterness? Is it unpleasant or pleasant? We can perceive spicy sensations that, for example, remind us of yellow chili peppers, and they don't necessarily have to be unpleasant. The same goes for citrus flavors, sensations of grapefruit or lime peel. What would be considered defective in taste, in this case, is a sensation of vinegar. According to the OIV sheet, the maximum score in this category is forty points.