Typicity is a term in wine tasting

Wine tasting

Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onwards...

 used to describe the degree to which a wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 reflects its varietal

Varietal

"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...

 origins, and thus demonstrate the signature characteristics of the grape from which it was produced, i.e., how much a Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

 wine “tastes like a Merlot”. It is an important component in judging wine competition

Wine competition

A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages or bands of wine. There are two types of wine competitions, both of which use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges....

 when wines of the same varietal are judged against each other.

In some countries, such as Austria, typicity is used as part of a qualitative hierarchy that takes into consideration soil, climate and vintage

Vintage

Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...

. A similar concept to the French terroir

Terroir

Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...

, though slightly less controversial, Austrian Qualitatswein (literally "quality wine") is tested for typicity with the classification printed on the wine label.

As a concept, typicity relies on both historical precedent and a sentiment of what the present day majority view how a certain variety should “taste”. This can be considered a subjective and unreliable way to measure wine, opening the door to elitism with what has been criticized by some, such as Sean Thackrey

Sean Thackrey

Sean Thackrey is an American winemaker based in the Marin County, California enclave of Bolinas. From a background as director of an art gallery, Thackrey has been described as an unconventional winemaker who has done pioneering work in promoting California Syrah.-Career:Thackrey studied art...

, as viticultural racism.