Our goal in putting together this special issue was twofold: First, to honour the remarkable career of Professor Wendy Parr and her contribution to the understanding of wine tasting and wine tasters and second, to continue to raise awareness of the importance of the cognitive approach in the wine scientific literature. We present Professor Wendy Parr’s insightful reflections on her distinguished career, including her early ventures into psychology and the experiences that shaped her contributions. These are complemented by a concise historical perspective on the evolution of wine sensory science, providing context for her work. Professor Parr also shares her thoughtful vision for the future, offering inspiration for continued advancements in the field. This special issue includes 20 articles, referring to different perspectives on wine tasting phenomena. Each article was categorised into one of five wine sensory research themes, namely taster’s cognition, taster’s attitudes and representations, taster segmentation, wine-extrinsic cues and wine-intrinsic cues.