Wine : What is a Tastevin or Tastevin ?

What is its use ?

This small metal container, sometimes in money, used to taste the wine. You are certainly telling yourself that the tastevin does not seem very practical for the’visual analysis of wine and yet it is in his interest. Hollows and bumps accentuate light reflections, thanks to its shape and rounded bottom, its perimeter with reliefs and hollows called ridges and cups, and finally thanks to its metal composition.

Of course, a glass is much more convenient to use as a rule. Tastevin nevertheless has undeniable advantages over glass :

1. The tastevin reflects the light much better. In poorly lit cellars, this tool is essential
2. It is much more convenient to carry. Imagine having to carry a stemmed glass all day in your pocket… The tastevin is much more solid and easy to carry in the pocket or around the neck.

What is its origin ?

The tastevin is the ancient wine cup of the winemaker. It is offered at the baptism of the child. It seems that the use dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries.

In Greek mythology, Hygeia was the goddess of health, cleanliness and hygiene. She was none other than the daughter of Asclepius, god of medicine. She was represented with a drinking cup in her hand, without handle and sometimes with a foot. This old cup was used, in ancient times, during religious holidays and libations. They took on more importance in the 18th century when people got into the habit of having their name engraved on them. Silver cups spread from the 19th century. They featured a small cup with an ornate vertical handle or snake head pendants or a two-headed snake.

Statue of Hygeia holding a cup where a snake drinks

Since 1942, the Cup of Hygieia is used as the emblem of the pharmacy.

The Bordeaux cup

The people of Bordeaux also have a cup intended for wine tasting called the Bordeaux cup.. It is a very open and smooth truncated cone with a convex hemispherical bottom. The people of Bordeaux believe that their wine cup is the only tastevin because, without handle, it then looks like a cup of the same size and shape as that of Antiquity. We find her in the Brotherhood "Les Compagnons du Loupiac".

It has now become rare to see a professional employ a tastevin to taste. It remains, occasionally, of use in the Loire or Burgundy. From now on, the tastevin has become much more a symbol of viticulture and the Bacchic brotherhoods than a tool. Out of a hundred brotherhoods, nearly twenty wear the tastevin on their emblems. It is therefore a true symbol of the wine civilization… and certainly not an ashtray !