AbstractProblems relating to the measurement and description of color of wines are discussed, with wines providing an example of problems of volume color specification in general. The limitations of conventional directional spectrophotometric transmittance measurements are considered for colloidal, minimally light‐scattering systems, where errors due to light lost through scatter can have profound consequences, particularly at shorter wavelengths. An alternative approach, referred to as transreflectometry, avoids the errors attributable to the directional geometry of conventional spectrophotometers. A review of its application to the colorimetry of wines considers three cases with different requirements to be met and different questions to be answered, from meeting strigent Federal Regulations in the case of very light white wines, to blending red and rosé wines to predetermined color requirements, to studying the kinetics of pigment degradation and colored polymer formation in red wines under controlled storage conditions. These studies demonstrate the versatility of a simple methodological approach which provides information relating to visually perceived color and at the same time to chemical and physical properties of the syste