From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe a foretaste of somethingbe a foretaste of somethingSHOW/BE A SIGN OFto be a sign of something more important, more impressive etc that will happen in the future Two wins at the start of the season were a foretaste of things to come. → foretaste
Examples from the Corpus
be a foretaste of something• For visitors from an urban background, here is a foretaste of paradise ...• It was a foretaste of the wages-prices spiral and the increasingly futile chase after higher incomes.• Indeed, she is a foretaste of what we shall be getting in these other ships.• The violence on the streets was only a foretaste of what was to come.• This is a foretaste of what things will be like - if the polls are correct - over the next five years. 