The Severe Palate
Madame Oriana Tolliver-Sjöberg
Global Head of Wine Assessment
“I have tasted eleven thousand wines and been surprised only twice. Both were errors.”
Biography
Madame Oriana Tolliver-Sjöberg has led the Wine Assessment Institute since its foundation and has personally tasted, by the Institute’s own count, 11,420 wines, of which she has described four as “acceptable.” Her assessments are delivered in a single sentence, in a level voice, and are final. She has never been observed to smile and is reported to have once frowned at a wine that was not yet open.
She is the principal architect of the Seven Pours protocol and the author of the Tolliver Standard of Finish, which measures how long a wine lingers and how long the taster wishes it had not. She trained under the legendary assessors of the Lower Ashmere Cellar Appraisal Board and holds, by her own request, no honorary degrees. She is held in an awe the Institution has described as “respectful, with an element of precaution.”
Career history
- 2012–presentGlobal Head of Wine AssessmentThe Shit Wine Guide
- 2004–2012Principal AssessorFederation of Concerned Sommeliers
- 1994–2004Chief Examiner of FinishLower Ashmere Cellar Appraisal Board
- 1988–1994Assessor, Grade OneThe Meridian Decanting Society
- 1985–1988Apprentice TasterLower Ashmere Cellar Appraisal Board
Personal philosophy
Judgement is the courage to say less than you have tasted.
Professional achievements
- Designed the Seven Pours protocol and the Tolliver Standard of Finish
- Assessed 11,420 wines; found four acceptable
- Trained 214 Accredited Assessors, of whom 190 remain on speaking terms with her
Industry contributions
- Chair of the Assessment Standards Board
- Principal examiner for Advanced Accreditation
- Author of the Assessor’s Code of Severity