Origin and history of foretaste

early 14c., "act of tasting," also "sense of touch," from Old French tast (Modern French tât), from taster "to taste, sample by mouth" (see taste (v.)).

It is attested from late 14c. as "a small portion given;" also "faculty or sense by which the flavor of a thing is discerned." Also from late 14c. as "savor, sapidity, flavor; inherent property of matter perceptible by special organs in the mouth."

The meaning "aesthetic judgment, artistic sensibility, faculty of discerning and appreciating what is excellent" is attested by mid-15c. (for the sense extension, compare French goût, German geschmack, Russian vkus, etc.). Taste in English is attested by early 14c. as "the discriminative faculty" in a spiritual sense.

The sense of "fact or condition of liking or preferring something, inclination" is from late 14c. 

Of all the five senses, 'taste' is the one most closely associated with fine discrimination, hence the familiar secondary uses of words for 'taste, good taste' with reference to aesthetic appreciation. [Buck]

Taste is active, deciding, choosing, changing, arranging, etc.; sensibility is passive, the power to feel, susceptibility of impression, as from the beautiful. [Century Dictionary]

Middle English for-, fore-, from Old English fore-, often for- or foran-, from fore (adv. & prep.), which was used as a prefix in Old English as in other Germanic languages with a sense of "before in time, rank, position," etc., or designating the front part or earliest time.