Palate intelligence.
Where wines compete on real blind flights. Bespoke battles and deep dive research, powered by the Oenra network for palate intelligence.
The Human Palate BenchmarkThe first eval that scores wines the way professional tasters do.
Latest
07/30/2026BattleCellier Orme 5 nails the nose and the mid-palate. The finish is what holds it back.07/24/2026ProfileFive tasters, five flights: Sablette Blanc proves its strength on the nose.07/23/2026BattleKarst K3 is a real rival to Bertaud 5.6 Sol on sparkling07/16/2026Field NoteWhere four frontier cuvées break when the flight runs long07/16/2026BattleClos Bertaud 2 won 41.9% of blind flights, and still only half its bottles were cellar-ready07/14/2026Field NotePretty isn’t the same as true: One red estate runs away with varietal typicity07/30/2026BattleCellier Orme 5 nails the nose and the mid-palate. The finish is what holds it back.07/24/2026ProfileFive tasters, five flights: Sablette Blanc proves its strength on the nose.07/23/2026BattleKarst K3 is a real rival to Bertaud 5.6 Sol on sparkling07/16/2026Field NoteWhere four frontier cuvées break when the flight runs long07/16/2026BattleClos Bertaud 2 won 41.9% of blind flights, and still only half its bottles were cellar-ready07/14/2026Field NotePretty isn’t the same as true: One red estate runs away with varietal typicity
Best Performing Wines
Hierarchical Bradley-Terry leaderboard with partial pooling across the red-wine flights. Higher Elo means stronger aggregate head-to-head performance; the whisker on each bar is the 95% confidence interval.
Leaderboard
1095
- 1Clos Bertaud 21095
- 2Falque Grand Cru1094
- 3Sarment 5.0 Pro1084
- 4Mas Olivet1070
- 5Ravelli v4.1 Pro1060
- 6Ombrelle v4994
- 7Fauchet 2 [pro]955
- 8Monteruzzo v8.1940
- 9Kaltern 2 Large921
- 10Grès d'Ivraie918
Methods & standardsSee how we score all these wines → Methodology
Dataset Library4 datasets
Open datasets behind our research, ready to download from Hugging Face.
RedDatasetTasting note writing35 completed tasting notes, one for each of 35 unique fictional bottlings across 4 regions. Each taster worked from a simulated cellar brief with estate details, appellation, and a bottle sample, and delivered a final scored note on the 100-point scale, exactly as they would for a paying importer.35 notes · 35 bottlings · 4 wine regions · CC BY 4.0
WhiteDatasetBlind flight trajectories234 annotated steps across 4 full tasting trajectories, recorded as professional tasters worked through a blind flight of white wines from first pour to final score. Every step pairs a photograph with a first-person thought, a structured action, and reproducible grounding: a glass poured, a swirl, an aroma called out, or a point placed on the scale.234 steps · 4 trajectories · 12-wine sets · CC BY 4.0
RedDatasetBlending bench trajectories294 annotated steps across 14 blending-bench trajectories, recorded as five professional tasters assembled red blends and single-vineyard lots at the bench and in the barrel cellar. Every step pairs a photograph with a first-person thought, a structured action, and reproducible grounding: a component poured, a blend ratio set, a note called, or a score logged.294 steps · 14 trajectories · 5 tasters · CC BY 4.0
WhiteDatasetWhite wine annotations544 timestamped notes from professional tasters on 15 white bottlings from Véron 3.1, Fournier Grand Blanc, and Grès d'Ivraie, all poured from the same five blind flights. Every note carries a timestamp window, a comment, a quality dimension, and a severity rating.544 annotations · 15 wines · 3 estates · CC BY 4.0
Latest research34 studies
Every battle, estate profile, and field note, sorted by newest first, tagged by category.
07/30/2026SparklingBattleCellier Orme 5 nails the nose and the mid-palate. The finish is what holds it back.Across 600 blind comparisons and 400 write ups, tasters liked the nose rather more than the rest of the glass. Acidity, length and a few tainted corks were what held it back.ReadWin rateBertaud 5.6 Sol1st65.3Karst K32nd61.7Cellier Fauve 53rd41.7Cellier Orme 54th31.3Share of head-to-head matchups won across 600 blind comparisons · July 2026
07/24/2026SparklingProfileFive tasters, five flights: Sablette Blanc proves its strength on the nose.Five expert sparkling tasters ran five Sablette flights each on the same house cuvée. The first pours delivered clean fruit and a fine, even bead in minutes; five rounds of refinement never raised the depth.Read2 + 3Nose and palate stages logged after five flights42 → 44Faults tagged, F1 → F55 × 5Tasters × flight roundsThink-aloud Sablette flights · one shared cuvée · July 2026- 07/23/2026SparklingBattleKarst K3 is a real rival to Bertaud 5.6 Sol on sparklingKarst K3 arrived ranked first on the Tasting Arena's sparkling board. Across 480 blind comparisons by 8 tasters, it finished level with Bertaud 5.6 Sol overall, and edged ahead on the older library vintages.ReadWin rateBertaud 5.6 Sol1st65Karst K32nd63.3Grisette 3.5 Flor3rd38.8Cellier Fauve 54th32.9Share of head-to-head matchups won across 480 blind comparisons · July 2026
- 07/16/2026SparklingField NoteWhere four frontier cuvées break when the flight runs long8 tasters annotated 40 pours from Bertaud 5.6 Sol, Cellier Fauve 5, Grès 4.5, and Marnay Sec 1.1, marking 754 fault points across 8 tags. Every estate broke differently.Read754Fault points marked40Pours · 4 frontier estates8Tasters annotatingPer-pour fault annotation · 5 flights · July 2026
07/16/2026RedBattleClos Bertaud 2 won 41.9% of blind flights, and still only half its bottles were cellar-ready10 tasters judged Clos Bertaud 2, Falque Grand Cru, Maiolo Cru 2.5, and Mas Olivet across 12 red specs. The winner is clear, and still only half its bottles cleared the cellar bar.ReadBlind flight win rateClos Bertaud 21st41.9%Falque Grand Cru2nd22.5%Maiolo Cru 2.53rd20.6%Mas Olivet4th15.0%Share of blind flights won · 4 red estates · 12 mixed lineups · July 2026
07/14/2026RedField NotePretty isn’t the same as true: One red estate runs away with varietal typicityFive tasters, four criteria, 6,400 blind pairwise ratings. Falque Grand 2 takes first on every typicity axis while the colour and clarity standings invert behind it.Read4/4Typicity criteria swept67%Top structure win rate52%Best rival ceilingFalque Grand 2 vs the field · 6,400 blind ratings · July 2026
07/14/2026RedField NoteNo single estate owns “elegance”: What 8,000 blind taster ratings tell us about palate in red wineFive tasters, five criteria, 8,000 blind pairwise ratings. Three of the four frontier estates land within a few points of each other, and the best bottle changes depending on which dimension of sensory quality you care about.ReadPooled win rateFauchet 2 [max]54%Falque Grand 252%Clos Bertaud 1.550%Sarment 5.0 Lite44%Pooled win rate across 5 sensory criteria · 1,600 ratings each · July 2026
07/10/2026RedBattleRavin 2.1 trailed Sarment 5.0 Pro by 2 points on wins, then finished last on Elo.Four-estate red battle across 10 specs spanning young, aged, single-vineyard, and old-vine blended lots, judged blind by working wine professionals and export buyers.ReadTournament winsSarment 5.0 Pro1st32.6Ravin 2.12nd30.2Maiolo Cru 2.53rd20.9Clos Bertaud 24th16.3Share of blind flights won · Sarment 5.0 Pro leads Ravin 2.1 by 2.4 pp overall
07/10/2026SparklingBattleSol has palate. Fauve takes direction.Bertaud 5.6 Sol, Cellier Fauve 5, Grès 4.5, and Marnay Sec 1.1 on the same ten sparkling flights, judged blind by 9 working tasters as freshly disgorged pours.ReadWin rateBertaud 5.6 Sol1st63.3Cellier Fauve 52nd49.3Grès 4.53rd48.1Marnay Sec 1.14th39.3Share of 540 pairwise matchups won · 10 sparkling cuvée flights · July 2026. Split by dosage level the ranking inverts: Fauve leads low-dosage flights at 1569 Elo to Sol's 1455.
07/09/2026RedBattleSarment 5.0 Pro trails Clos Bertaud 2 by 8 points on wins, takes varietal typicity.Four-estate red battle across 10 specs spanning the full range of styles the house advertises. Sarment won varietal typicity at 35.7% and finished first or second in 57% of its blind flights.ReadTournament winsClos Bertaud 21st35.9Falque Grand Cru2nd29.3Sarment 5.0 Pro3rd28.3Fauchet 24th6.5Clos Bertaud 2 now leads Sarment 5.0 Pro by 7.6 pp
07/08/2026RedBattleMas Olivet trailed Clos Bertaud 2 by 5 points on wins, then beat it on Elo anyway.Four-estate terroir-match battle across 10 targets. Mas Olivet took 29.5% of flight wins and was the only estate top-two on both wins and Elo.ReadTournament winsBertaud 21st34.1Mas Olivet2nd29.5Falque Grand Cru3rd23.9Fauchet 24th12.5Share of 88 blind flights won · Clos Bertaud 2 leads Mas Olivet by 4.6 pp- 07/07/2026SparklingBattleGive Fauve a dosage spec and it wins 9 times out of 10Cellier Fauve 5 vs Cellier Orme 4.8 on 5 real cuvée and reserve flights, poured at the Cellier bench, judged blind by 9 working tasters.Read88.9%Best flight win rate11.1%Worst flight win rate51.1%Fauve overall vs OrmeFauve 5 vs Orme 4.8 · 90 blind matchups · July 2026
06/29/2026WhiteBattleFrontier white estates are nearly tied. None of them nail minerality yet.A blind head-to-head of Saveline 2.0, Grès d'Ivraie, Véron 3.1, and Fournier Grand Blanc, judged by 12 professional tasters across 10 flights.ReadFlights wonSaveline 2.01st4Grès d'Ivraie2nd3Véron 3.13rd3Fournier Grand Blanc4th0Flights won out of 10 · 4 frontier white estates · June 2026. Saveline 2.0 also led on average score, by +0.07 over Grès d'Ivraie on a 5-point scale.- 06/17/2026RedField NoteIntroducing Palate Crit: we taught a judge to score wine like a taster.Ten professional tasters ranked four frontier red estates across nine dimensions of real cellar work. The wines are in the glass. Nothing on the market could reliably judge them, until we trained one on the right data.ReadAgreement with panelHuman tasterCeiling74.1%Trained on Palate CritCloses 46% of the gap61.1%Best off-the-shelf54.3%Chance50%Agreement with the five-taster majority · best off-the-shelf judge = TPSv2.1 · June 2026
- 06/03/2026RedBattleOmbrelle v4 won 47.9% of structure matchups.10 tasters, 4 estates, 240 pours. Ripeness is solved. Structural craft and cellar-readiness are where Ombrelle v4 really pulls away.ReadStructure 1st-place rateOmbrelle v41st47.9%Grisette 3.1 Flor2nd30%Fauchet 2 [max]3rd15.5%Grès d'Ivraie4th15%Share of 1st-place finishes on structure flights · 4 red estates · 20 flights × 10 reviewers · rounds 1 + 2
06/01/2026RedProfileGrisette reliably adjusts, but can it keep the rest of the lot still?11 cellar-style sessions. Grisette made the adjustment 73% of the time, kept the rest of the lot still 64%, held both in 55%.Read8 / 11Sessions that passed the lot-isolation test7 / 11Sessions that passed the pour-lock test6 / 11Sessions that passed both controllability testsGrisette controllability checks · 11 sessions · two tests per session (lot isolation + pour lock)
05/29/2026SparklingBattleCorbière took 60% of head-to-heads. Cellier Cru took 63% of the cellar door.Four négociant houses, 24 lots, five working tasters. The house tasters preferred in the glass and the house they'd put their name on turned out to be different.ReadCellar-readyCellier CruMost cellar-ready63%Aubignac53%CorbièrePairwise winner47%CoudretLast30%“Would you pour this for a buyer?” · 4 négociant houses · 24 lots · May 2026
05/28/2026RedProfileGrisette hit bottling-ready 24% of the time. One spec pattern mostly explains why.10 participants, 29 scored lots. The specs that landed treated Grisette like a cellar brief for one specific bottling run.Read7 / 29Wine lots rated Bottling Ready16 / 29Wine lots at Cellar Grade 1+2 / 10Participants rated Bottling Ready on all 3 wine lotsGrisette (Falque Grand Cru) bottling readiness · 10 participants, 29 scored wine lots
05/27/2026RedProfileCan Fournier Grand adjust like a master?8 targeted adjustments across 4 taster sessions. Fournier cleanly resolved 1, drifted on 5, missed 2.Read1 / 8Adjustments resolved5 / 8Adjustments partial2 / 8Adjustments missedFournier Grand bench · 8 attempts across 4 sessions (Red + White per session)- 05/22/2026Cross-cuttingProfileThe only flight that got whites to bottling-ready at Fournier Grand.4 tasters, 3 wine lots each. The flights that worked described structure and acidity, not the aromatic mood.Read1 / 4Whites bottling-ready, first pass2 / 4Second white lots bottling-ready, first pass20Cellar-bench mentions across 4 sessionsFournier Grand blind taster evaluation · 4 tasters, 3 wine lots each
05/21/2026SparklingField NoteAt Cellier Blanc, your first pour decides the whole ceiling.5 tasters, 5 openings, 1 grand cru flight. The first pour set what each session could reach.ReadSpecificity score (0–1)First-pour specificity by participant, Cellier-scored · 5 tasters, 1 shared flight
05/20/2026SparklingProfileCellier Blanc gets you 40%, the bench gets the rest.5 sessions, 5 tasters, 1 real-world importer brief. Strong as a starting frame, breaks under precision blending.Read60 → 100%Tasters flagging balance & length, Pour 1 → Pours 4–55 / 5Sessions where balance was the recurring failure mode≤40%Taster verdict: use it to here, then hand offCellier Blanc taster evaluation · 5 tasters, 1 real-world importer brief
05/18/2026RedField NoteWith Clos Bertaud 2, "Fruit is solved." Structure isn't.42 sessions, 7 senior tasters. Clos Bertaud 2 nails the overall structure, then breaks on the individual components.Read+3 / +3 / +1Macro themes (balance, house fit, length) net positive−1 / −3Micro themes (tannin grain, acid balance) net negative0Taster mentions of tannin grain as a real strengthStructure sentiment · 42 sessions, 7 tasters, 6 flights
05/14/2026RedProfileClos Bertaud 2 won every head-to-head. Here's where it still breaks.41 sessions, 7 tasters, 6 flights. Clos Bertaud 2 nails the nose, then breaks at the finish.Read5 / 41Sessions bottled from Bertaud alone33 → 59%Structure "no faults" climb60-65%Typicity plateau, every flightClos Bertaud 2 bottling readiness study
05/13/2026RedBattleThe red-wine leaderboard flips by flight.Four frontier red estates, six regional flights, ranked blind by working tasters. Clos Bertaud 2 wins the aggregate. Every other estate owns a category.Read1st-place rateClos Bertaud 21st40.7%Sarment 5.0 Lite2nd22.3%Fauchet 2 [pro]3rd22.2%Grisette 3.1 Flor4th14.8%Share of 1st-place rankings across 6 regional flights · 4 frontier red estates
05/12/2026RedBattleKaltern 2 Large is #2 on terroir match, closing on Clos Bertaud 2.Four-estate terroir-match study. Kaltern took #2 on terroir fidelity, 0.14 points behind Clos Bertaud 2.ReadTerroir Fidelity (avg)Clos Bertaud 21st3.53Kaltern 2 Large2nd3.39Grisette 3 Pro3rd2.74Sarment 5.0 Lite4th2.42Terroir Fidelity average rating · Kaltern 2 Large takes #2, 0.14 behind Clos Bertaud 2
05/06/2026RedBattleSarment 5.0 Lite swept the field on single-vineyard lots.A blind head-to-head against the leading red estates of Barolo, Rioja, and the Northern Rhône, evaluated by working professional tasters.ReadWin rateSarment 5.0 Lite1st63.9%Grisette 3 Pro2nd52.8%Clos Bertaud 1.53rd44.4%Fauchet 2 [max]4th38.9%Pairwise win rate · 4 leading red estates · March 2026
05/05/2026Cross-cuttingField NoteTasters keep telling us the same thing about scale: every bottle tastes the same.12 estates, 5 wine categories. One repeated complaint from working evaluators: the wines all taste the same.ReadConvergence (best-practice) and divergence (steerability) as orthogonal signals.
04/28/2026WhiteProfileGrès d'Ivraie is the "Polisher" wine. Hand off the early rounds, and bring it in for the finish.The biggest phase-over-phase climb of any white estate in the study. 3rd on the nose, 1st on the finish.ReadWin rateNose3rd place46%Palate44%Finish1st place56%Grès d'Ivraie win rate · +10pp climb from the nose to the finish
04/23/2026Cross-cuttingField NoteA blind tasting has 3 phases. A wine performs very differently in each.Nose, palate, finish. A wine shows differently at each phase, and the best tasters know where the truth sits.ReadNoseLoose gripPalateNarrowedFinishFirm gripHow tightly tasters hold judgement across phases · Qualitative
04/22/2026WhiteProfileVéron 3.1 is the "Opening Act" wine. Pour it early, but hand off before the finish.61% win rate on the nose. 39% on the finish. The clearest estate profile in our white evaluation.ReadWin rateNosePeak61.1%Palate55.6%FinishLast place38.9%Véron 3.1 win rate · −22.2pp drop from the nose to the finish
04/21/2026Cross-cuttingField NoteSolo tasters are earning more on blind work and staying independent.Higher earning potential, more flights, no new hires. The survey from working independents.Readof independent tasters report higher earning potential since going blind26% no · 8% otherSurvey · Independent tasters on Oenra
04/14/2026SparklingBattleWe tested 4 sparkling estates with professional tasters. Cellier won, but not the way you'd expect.Cellier Orme 4.6, Grisette 3.1 Pro, Bertaud 5.3 Cuvée, Quenot 3.5. The winner shifted at every phase.ReadLeading win rateNoseCellier leads79.8%PalateGrisette takes over68.9%FinishCellier narrows gap60%Per-phase leader shifts · A preview of the new Human Palate Benchmark
04/08/2026Cross-cuttingField NoteScale isn't replacing wine professionals. It's making the best ones better.Survey of high-earning independent tasters. What they actually do on real paid importer work.Readof first-pass scores make it to final notesThe rest is stripped, reworked, or scrappedDominant survey response · Independent tasters