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Adjusting the soluble solids of the prefermentation must is a tool by which winemakers can manipulate the flavor profile of a wine. Brix, a measure of soluble solids, is often modified prior to fermentation by chaptalization or the addition of water, but also can be modified in the vineyard by allowing the fruit to further mature on the vine. This work presents the effects of harvest maturity and prefermentation Brix on the flavor profile of Cabernet Sauvignon (CS) and Syrah (SY) wines. Fruit from each cultivar were harvested at three approximate maturity targets: 20 Brix – unripe, 24 Brix – ripe, and 28 Brix – overripe. Must from each harvest was first divided, and then the Brix was adjusted to match each of the target maturities, e.g. portions of the 24 Brix harvest were adjusted to 20 and 28 Brix. Descriptive analysis found 10 attributes which significantly varied among the CS wines and 14 attributes which significantly varied among the SY wines. Harvest maturity primarily impacted the CS aroma profile, as wines produced from unripe fruit showed increased green aroma, but wines produced from ripe/overripe fruit showed increased jammy berries aroma. Increasing the prefermentation Brix of the CS must increased the intensity of bitterness, hotness, and viscosity, but decreased the sourness. The SY wine flavor profile was heavily impacted by increasing the prefermentation Brix, which showed higher intensities of astringency, ethanol aroma, hot mouthfeel, jammy fruit aroma, rose aroma, solvent aroma, ethanol aroma, and viscous mouthfeel. The SY Fruit maturity showed a significant on the astringent intensity and earthy aroma, but an interactive effect between harvest maturity and Brix was found for sulfur, cabbage aroma, and bitterness.

Summary Goals: Mead is experiencing a revival in the United States, and the number of meaderies has grown significantly in the past decade. Despite this industry growth, mead sensory studies are limited and focus on experimental samples and hedonic assessments. The aim of this study was to create a lexicon to standardize the language used to describe mead attributes and to create a mead aroma wheel for use as an assistive tool for mead judges, producers, and consumers. Key Findings: A trained panel developed a lexicon of seventy-five aroma, five basic taste, and six mouthfeel sensation terms to describe commercial mead. Reference standards for each attribute were included for consistency and reproducibility. An open-access Traditional Mead Aroma Wheel organizes seventy-five aroma descriptors into a visual tool with suggestions for a standardized mead evaluation Impact and Significance: Terms used to describe mead sensory attributes vary based on industry role, experience, and, in the case of mead competitions, scoresheets. A standardized lexicon is proposed as a method of unifying terms for mead description regardless of expertise. This lexicon was adapted into a visual tool, the Traditional Mead Aroma Wheel, to aid in mead evaluation during production, at competitions, and in the taproom.

In this study, the chemical and sensory profiles of 42 different nonalcoholic beer (NAB) brands/styles already on the global market and produced through several different brewing techniques were evaluated. A trained panel (i.e., 11 panelists) performed standard-driven descriptive and check-all-that-apply analyses in triplicate to sensorially characterize the aroma and taste/mouthfeel profiles of 42 commercial NABs, a commercial soda, and a commercial seltzer water (n = 44). These beers were also chemically deconstructed using several different analytical techniques targeting volatile and nonvolatile compounds. Consumer analysis (n = 129) was then performed to evaluate the Northern Californian consumer hedonic liking of a selection (n = 12) of these NAB brands. These results provide direction to brewers and/or beverage producers on which techniques they should explore to develop desirable NAB offerings and suggest chemical targets that are indicators of specific flavor qualities and/or preference for American consumers.

Background Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) is a recently discovered DNA virus, which was demonstrated to be responsible for grapevine red blotch disease (GRBD). Its presence has been confirmed in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea in white and red Vitis vinifera cultivars, including Chardonnay. It has been shown that the three-cornered alfalfa treehopper (Spissistilus festinus) was able to both acquire the GRBV from a grapevine infected and transmit it to healthy grapevines in glasshouse conditions. Studies found that GRBD impacts fruit price, grapevine physiology, and grape berry composition and metabolism in red cultivars. This study evaluated the impact of GRBD on V. vinifera L. Chardonnay grape and wine composition and sensory properties from one vineyard during the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons. Results Grapes from symptomatic red blotch diseased grapevines were lower in total soluble solids, flavan-3-ol, and total phenolic content, and higher in flavonol content when compared to grapes from healthy grapevines. Wines made with grapes from symptomatic grapevines resulted mostly in lower ethanol content and higher pH when compared to wines made from healthy grapevines. Analysis of volatile compounds and descriptive analysis demonstrated that GRBD can impact wine style by altering aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel attributes. Conclusions The impacts of GRBD on grape composition directly influenced wine chemistry. The decreased ethanol content impacted not only the levels of volatile compounds but the sensory perception during descriptive analysis. The extent of GRBD impact on the grape composition and wine composition and sensory attributes varied between seasons. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Foods and beverage aroma results from multicomponent mixtures of volatile compounds present in the food that interact with olfactory receptors and produce a perceptual response in the brain. However, the perceptual interactions that occur when complex odor mixtures are combined are not well understood. Here we used Gas chromatography-Recomposition-Olfactometry (GC-R) to better understand the role that individual compounds have on the perceived sensory aroma of bitters. Bitters are the concentrated alcoholic extract of flavorful plant materials with a wide range of complex sensory and chemical aroma profiles that have not been extensively studied. Previously, we demonstrated that Angostura bitters are characterized by complex aroma attributes described as cola, ginger, orange peel, and black pepper and that the volatile composition of Angostura bitters is predominantly composed of terpenoids. Using GC-R to create in-instrument mixtures of the Angostura headspace extracts, the sensory attributes of Angostura extracts with linalool, α-terpinyl-acetate and caryophyllene omitted were evaluated. The omission experiments demonstrated direct and indirect effects of the individual compounds on the aroma attributes of Angostura bitters, through masking, additive, and synergistic interactions. Caryophyllene in particular, which was present in the headspace extracts at concentration only slightly above sensory threshold levels, had a large and unexpected impact on the sensory properties of the mixtures and may be most responsible for the aromas associated with the whole sample. The GC-R and statistical approaches used here provided valuable tools to reveal relationships among individual compounds and aroma attributes of foods that have not been currently theorized using existing analytical approaches.

Monoterpenes contribute to the characteristic aroma of several hop varieties and may occur as nonvolatile glycosides. Upon hydrolysis, the volatile terpenes are released from the glycoside precursors. Little is known, however, about the glycoside composition of hops. Seven pentose-hexose monoterpene alcohol glycosides from dried Humulus lupulus L. cv. Citra cones were isolated using high performance liquid chromatography separation and fractionation on a reverse phase phenyl-hexyl column. Further evaluation of each isolated fraction through HPLC qTOF MS with porous graphitic carbon (PGC) showed that the seven isolated monoterpenyl glycoside fractions could be further resolved into 20 isomers. Isolation on phenyl-hexyl followed by separation on PGC was needed to distinguish each isomer present. Additionally, the hop cones were screened for potential aroma glycosides. Using the PGC column combined with a database of over 900 potential glycosides, the identification of 21 additional monoterpene-polyol, norisoprenoid, volatile phenol, and aliphatic alcohol glycosides is reported.

Pentose-hexose monoterpene alcohol glycosides were isolated and semiquantitatively measured in dried

The impact of optical berry sorting was investigated using Grenache, Barbera, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Yolo County, California in 2016. Optical sorting parameters were adjusted to remove underripe berries and material other than grapes using color parameters. Wines were made from three treatments, control (no sorting), sort (accepted material), and reject (material rejected by the optical sorter). The rate of rejection was approximately 14.9%, 3.9%, and 1.5% (w/w) for Grenache, Barbera, and Cabernet Sauvignon, respectively. Chemical composition in the finished wines was analyzed by the Adams-Harbertson assay and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography for phenolics, and head-space solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry for aroma profiling. In general, optical sorting was successful in removing underripe berries and material other than grapes as evidenced by lower ethanol levels and higher concentrations of total phenolics and tannin (due to the inclusion of material other than grapes) in wine made from rejected material. Despite this, no difference in final ethanol content and minimal differences in phenolic composition were observed between control and sort treatment wines for the three varieties studied. Differences were observed in the aroma profiles of the reject treatments for all three varieties compared to sort and control, however, few compounds differed significantly between the sort and control treatments. Descriptive sensory analysis revealed that panelists had difficulty distinguishing aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and color parameters among wines made from different treatments for all three varieties. Thus, optical sorting had minimal impact on wine sensory properties using the varieties and vineyards studied. Optical sorting may be used to differentiate and sort for different ripeness levels using color as a primary criterion, however, the impact on the resulting wine is likely dependent on the initial variability in grape ripeness.

Forty-two commercial non-alcoholic beer (NAB) brands were analyzed using sensory and chemical techniques to understand which analytes and/or flavors were most responsible for invoking the perception of &ldquo, beer flavor&rdquo, (for Northern Californian consumers). The aroma and taste profiles of the commercial NABs, a commercial soda, and a carbonated seltzer water (n = 44) were characterized using replicated descriptive and CATA analyses performed by a trained sensory panel (i.e., 11 panelists). A number of non-volatile and volatile techniques were then used to chemically deconstruct the products. Consumer analysis (i.e., 129 Northern Californian consumers) was also used to evaluate a selection of these NABs (i.e., 12) and how similar they thought the aroma, taste and mouthfeels of these products were to beer, soda, and water. The results show that certain constituents drive the aroma and taste profiles which are responsible for invoking beer perception for these North American consumers. Further, beer likeness might not be a driver of preference in this diverse beverage class for Northern Californian consumers. These are important insights for brewers planning to create products for similar markets and/or more broadly for companies interested in designing other functional/alternative food and beverage products.

Sangiovese is the most cultivated red grape variety in Italy where it is certified for the production of several Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wines, and it is one of the most cultivated Italian red grape varieties in California. Despite the global distribution of this variety, there is a lack of international studies on Sangiovese grapes and wines. For this reason, the present study aimed to compare 20 commercial Sangiovese wines from 2017 harvest, 9 produced in Italy (Tuscany) and 11 in California, in order to evaluate the intrinsic and perceived quality. The eligibility, identity, and style properties (the intrinsic quality) of the wines were evaluated. A group of 11 Italian experts evaluated the perceived quality by rating the typicality of the wines. The experimental data showed that the intrinsic quality of Sangiovese wine samples was affected by the growing area, in particular, the wine resulted very different for the color indices and polyphenol composition. The above differences in intrinsic quality levels did not lead to a different evaluation of the perceived quality (typicality) by the wine experts. The results evidenced that Sangiovese variety is recognizable also if grown outside its original terroir, and fresh and fruity wines were considered more typical. This study expands our current knowledge of Sangiovese wines and the contribution of regional characteristics to the composition of wine.

This article traces the history of Sensory Science in America. It starts with the roots of psychophysics in nineteenth-century Germany, following from Weber to Fechner to Wundt to Titchener to Bori...

We present a Descriptive Analysis (DA) of a large representative sample (24 whiskeys) of two legally distinct types of American whiskeys: bourbon and rye whiskey (respectively distilled from a fermented ?mashbill? of at least 51% corn or rye). We wanted to determine whether a trained panel could find sensory differences between these two products. We used standard DA: 11 judges were trained for 10 hours to develop a lexicon of 24 flavor, taste, and mouthfeel descriptors for the 24 whiskey samples (15 bourbons and 9 ryes). Then, subjects rated each whiskey sample on each attribute, using unstructured line scales, in standard good sensory-evaluation conditions, and in triplicate. Results were analyzed using MANOVA, Barycentric Discriminant Analysis, and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Overall, while 10 descriptors significantly differentiated the whiskeys, no attribute or combination of attributes was predicted by mashbill: The judges did not find differences in sensory character between bourbon and rye whiskeys as categories. However, significant differences could be attributed to the producer of the whiskey and to age at bottling. These results are important because American whiskey has recently become staggeringly popular, and because there is a consistent belief that bourbon and rye whiskeys?as categories?have distinct sensory characteristics. Practical Application This research contradicts popular and expert beliefs about the distinction between the popular and important American rye and bourbon whiskeys. A comprehensive sensory DA study of 24 American whiskeys with different mashbills (9 ryes and 15 bourbons) shows that?while each whiskey is individually distinct on a number of sensory dimensions?sensory differences between rye and bourbon whiskeys as product categories cannot be predicted by mashbill. For producers, consumers, and researchers, this research points to the need for new theories on the origins of flavors in whiskey, as it is now clear that the grain content alone cannot predict sensory qualities.

Conventional descriptive analysis (DA) has been widely applied to describe the sensory characteristics of products. An analysis of the scientific literature was performed to better understand the context in which descriptive methods are utilized. When DA is used in methodological research, either to test the method itself, or to compare to new methods, is that representative of its use in application studies aiming at obtaining sensory descriptions? Web of Science was queried using “sensory profile” and “descriptive analysis” as search terms from 2010 to 2015. For each generated result, the following metadata were extracted: number and type of products, number of panelists, training and evaluation methods, and data analysis. The data were analyzed according to the goals of the study (using or developing sensory methods) and type of journal publishing the article (sensory specific journal or other). Out of 360 selected entries using DA, 20 used DA in conjunction with rapid methods, and 5 with temporal methods. 93% of DA experiments were used to obtain information about products in non-sensory specific journals. Alcoholic beverages, produce, and dairy were the top 3 categories assessed. Some product categories, such as starches and condiments/oil were only represented in application studies. Some results thus suggest a discrepancy in context between experiments designed to test methodological aspects of DA or new methods, or to obtain sensory information. Context of use should be considered when testing new methods.

Summary Goals: Reference standards for common aromas are used throughout the wine industry to align wine tasters on a shared terminology. The Wine Aroma Wheel provides descriptive terms and reference recipes for the third, most specific, tier. 1 We intended to expand the recipes to the second tier of the Wine Aroma Wheel. We wanted recipes to be easy to prepare and to only include common, edible ingredients that are available in grocery stores at low cost. We also wanted to provide preparation recommendations that enable users to exactly reproduce each recipe. Moreover, we aimed at developing a standardized process to define representative recipes for each term using a panel of wine experts. Key Findings: Using recipes, we helped define a subset of descriptive aroma terms relating to wine, allowing for more consistent discussions among wine-industry professionals that have been trained with these standards to associate the appropriate aromas with the corresponding descriptive terms. Defined a list of recipes for reference standards based on a subset of the terms represented in the Wine Aroma Wheel, by using a panel of wine experts (individuals either working or studying in the field of enology). Included preparation guidelines and storage requirements for each recipe to ensure accurate repeatability. Impact and Significance: Aroma description is a major challenge in the wine industry, as different groups of people, including consumers, winemakers, wine critics, sommeliers, tasting room staff, and others, use different terms to describe the same wines. Defining easily reproducible recipes for reference standards will help wine-industry professionals maintain a consistent terminology to describe wines by training employees with defined reference standards. We also hope other researchers will use these recipes in descriptive analyses and other sensory studies involving reference standards. Having a pool of common recipes among all studies will not only accelerate the process of making reference standards, but will also enable researchers to compare wines across studies, assuming panelists are well-trained.

Summary Goals: The California raisin industry is transitioning from tray-dry to dry-on-vine (DOV) production methods. Grapes dry more slowly on the vine compared to on trays, so the DOV method works better with raisin grape varieties that ripen earlier than Thompson Seedless. Earliness allows drying to commence during a hotter part of the summer, and affords a longer drying period. Summer Muscat and Diamond Muscat are among the earliest ripening of the newer raisin varieties, but they have not been widely planted, partly due to a lack of information about yield and quality, and also because of industry concerns that consumers would not accept their muscat flavor. Therefore, we conducted field research to document yield components and quality grades in Summer Muscat and Diamond Muscat, and we performed sensory and consumer acceptance tests to compare these varieties with Fiesta, a standard neutral-flavored DOV variety. Further, we considered whether the tray or DOV drying method affected consumer acceptance of raisins from these varieties. Key Findings: Diamond Muscat and Summer Muscat were similarly productive, with grapes that could fully dry on the vine, producing raisins with high “B or better” and low “substandard” grades. Both muscat varieties produced a high proportion of fruit from basal nodes, especially when trained to quadrilateral cordons. Fruit from basal buds is undesirable for cane-pruned DOV varieties, so bilateral cordon training is recommended. Compared to Summer Muscat, Diamond Muscat had a higher proportion of “head fruit” (clusters on renewal shoots and below the point where canes were severed), and Diamond Muscat berries were heavier and less acidic. Compared to tray-dried raisins of a given variety, DOV raisins were less brown and more homogeneous in color, smaller and less homogenous in size, had finer wrinkles, and were spicier, sweeter, less sour and astringent, and less chewy than tray-dried raisins. Grapevine variety and drying method interacted to affect consumer preference in raisins; consumers most preferred Fiesta raisins (tray and DOV) and Summer Muscat raisins dried on trays, and they least preferred Summer Muscat DOV raisins. Impact and Significance: We found that Diamond Muscat and Summer Muscat have similar and high productivity, sufficient earliness to ensure consistent and adequate drying, and reliably good quality scores, making both varieties well suited for DOV raisin production from an agronomic perspective. However, consumer acceptance of Summer Muscat raisins was strongly affected by drying method; the DOV method resulted in the least-liked raisins in the study, and the tray drying method produced the most-liked raisins. In contrast, drying method did not strongly affect consumer preference of raisins from other varieties, although drying method consistently affected many of the tested hedonic variables.

The sorting task is popular with sensory scientists because it provides rapid sensory profiles, even when product sets are complex or fatiguing. However, these sensory profiles generally cannot identify which sensory properties are driving subjects' perception of product similarities or differences—a critical task for the sensory analyst. This paper presents DISTATIS with Barycentric Text Projection as a solution that combines sorting-task and free-text data into a single-pass analysis to generate rapid, descriptive sensory profiles. This method is illustrated with a dataset generated by 25 subjects performing a replicated sorting and free-text description task in standard sensory-laboratory conditions on a set of 12 amari—bitter, herbal liqueurs that have not been previously analyzed in the sensory-science literature. DISTATIS with Barycentric Text Projection of the amari set produced sensory product maps that were readily interpretable. Using this analysis, the amari were grouped and described in ways that correspond to the available, popular literature descriptions of these products. The results of Barycentric Text Projection were compared to an independent Correspondence Analysis (CA) of the free-text data, and results were highly similar ( R V = 0.93 ). Future extensions of the method—such as analysis of descriptors in a check-all-that-apply (CATA) approach—are discussed. Overall, the successful, rapid, descriptive profiling of a set of 12 complex products using an untrained panel supports the potential of DISTATIS with Barycentric Text Projection as a sensory-evaluation tool.

The present study aimed to evaluate the sensory and chemical effects of nine cap management and maceration techniques. Extended maceration (EM) was applied to Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot for 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 wks. In addition, a punch-down treatment and two submerged-cap treatments were also evaluated, giving a total of nine treatments. Descriptive analysis, polyphenolic measures, basic wine parameters, and volatile compound analysis were used to describe these nine treatments. EM defined the astringent texture of the resulting wines, while cap management modified the bitter taste and pepper spice aroma. In total, 27 of 29 measured volatile compounds exhibited a significant treatment effect, thus demonstrating the importance of these enological practices on the final volatile profile. Correlation with EM length was shown for 15 of the significant volatile compounds. In particular, the ester profile of the wines displayed decreased variability after 2 wks of maceration. The results of this study suggest that EM may not be as impactful on astringency as previously thought, due to the fact that EM only significantly affected this attribute after 6 wks. Additionally, the results of the cap management treatments indicated that bitterness can be modified by punch-down versus pump-over techniques.

Temporal dominance of sensation (TDS) is a dynamic sensory method that aims to capture the changing sensory profile of a product. TDS returns a frequency table indicating which attribute is selected as most dominant at a given time point. This paper outlines the relationships between TDS, descriptive analysis (DA) and chemical measures taken from a single product set. Merlot wine produced using nine different wine production practices comprised the product set. Principal component analysis (PCA) applied to the DA and chemical data table showed similar treatment discrimination. The DA captured 84.0% of the variability within two components, while the chemical measures captured 91.3%. Correspondence analysis (CA) was applied to the TDS frequency table along with calculating TDS curves. CA accounted for 43.1% of treatment variability within the first two components. The resulting CA factor map provided results consistent with the TDS curves, and allowed global TDS differences to be visually displayed in a single graphic. In addition, bootstrapping followed by calculating 95% confidence ellipses showed treatment discrimination within the CA factor map. Descriptive analysis captured the increasing astringency with longer maceration, while TDS captured the bitter persistence once the astringent sensation decreased.

Wine is a globally appreciated alcoholic beverage, with complex sensory properties. Ethanol, acid and tannin play a primary role in the aroma, taste and mouthfeel perception of wine, and ultimately on product liking. This study utilized a factorial design to explore the relationship among these factors in Merlot wine. The design encompassed three acid concentrations: 5, 6, 7 g/L tartaric acid eq., three ethanol concentrations: 14, 14.5, 15% (v/v), and two tannin concentrations: low (approx. 700 mg/L CE), and high (approx. 1200 mg/L CE). The 18 wines were achieved through post fermentation additions of tartaric acid and water. Descriptive analysis (DA) and temporal dominance of sensation (TDS) were applied to profile static and temporal sensory perception. Descriptive analysis (DA) was used to asses 16 aroma, 4 mouthfeel, and 3 taste attributes. The evaluated factors showed no impact on the 16 aroma descriptors. Tannin concentration showed the greatest impact on taste and mouthfeel, significantly increasing sourness, bitterness, astringent texture, drying, and overall astringency. Acid concentration significantly increased the perception of sourness, while decreasing bitterness. Ethanol concentration was not a significant source of variation within the descriptive analysis. A novel way of analyzing TDS curves was applied, based on the factorial design, which allows for the temporal effect of specific factors to be studied. Wines were grouped by factor followed by TDS curve construction. Both normalized and standard TDS curves were constructed. Normalization captured the initial dominant perception, while standardized curves show the decline in dominance as the evaluation proceeds. Overall, the data demonstrates the dominance of astringency over multiple red wine taste factors.

Aim The complex aromas of cocktails provide a unique and interesting model system to evaluate the effects of alcohol matrix and aroma-aroma interactions on human aroma perception and partitioning and release of aroma compounds. Here, we study the interactions that occur in an Old-Fashioned cocktail when different types of whiskeys are mixed with different styles of bitters.

The responsibility of condensed tannins in the astringency sensation is well-known, even though the physical mechanism is unclear. The aims of the study are to go deeper into the relationships between the tannin structure and red wine dryness as well as evaluate the influence of the wine matrix and tannin concentration on the interaction with proteins and dryness perception. Condensed tannins were extracted from two red wines (cv. Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir) and added back to them and to a model wine at 0.5 g/L, prior to chemical characterization of their composition by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography as well as their viscosity. The physical consequences of interactions between mucin, poly-l-proline, saliva, and wines were evaluated by turbidimetry. Descriptive analysis and time-intensity evaluations of dryness were carried out by a trained panel on all wines and model solutions. The mean degree of polymerization of Cabernet Sauvignon wine with or without tannins added was higher than that of Pinot Noir wine conditions. The turbidity of saliva and poly-l-proline with tannins added to Cabernet Sauvignon was higher than of tannins added to Pinot Noir wine. Cabernet Sauvignon wines were perceived dryer than Pinot Noir by panelists, and the dryness intensity of Cabernet Sauvignon wine conditions last longer than that of Pinot Noir or model wine conditions. The dryness of red wines was related to larger tannins, higher tannin concentration, and a greater turbidity with saliva. The dryness was not affected by the addition of tannins into wine probably as a result of the aroma/taste suppression effects and the presence of other components.

Chaptalization and saignee-watering back were used to investigate the effects of modifying ethanol concentrations on sensory properties of Merlot wines made from fruit harvested at different maturities. Fruit was harvested on three dates with soluble solids concentrations of 20, 24, and 28 Brix. At each harvest, one-third of the must was fermented at the natural soluble solids concentration, and the other two-thirds were manipulated to match the other harvests’ Brix, leading to wine ethanol concentrations of 11.6, 14.0, and 16.2% for each of the three soluble solids concentrations. Both fruit maturity and ethanol concentration had significant effects on the chemical and sensory profiles of the wines. Wine physical viscosity increased with increasing ethanol concentrations, and wine color was positively impacted, with higher ethanol concentrations favoring the formation of polymeric pigments leading to darker wines. Wines made from unripe fruit (20 Brix) were characterized by green flavors and sour taste in the sensory analysis, whereas wines made from overripe fruit (28 Brix) were described as fruity and sweet. Manipulations targeting the adjustment of ethanol had a greater effect on wine sensory properties than fruit maturity: wines made from ripe (24 Brix) or overripe fruit adjusted to low ethanol concentrations were described similarly to wines made from unripe fruit, and wines made from unripe or ripe fruit adjusted to high ethanol concentrations were described similarly to wines made from overripe fruit. The results of this study demonstrate that both ethanol concentration and manipulations to achieve desired ethanol concentrations have a large influence on wine chemistry and sensory properties, and suggest that wine ethanol concentration is more important for the sensory profiles of wines than is fruit maturity at harvest.

The impact of mechanical harvesting, optical berry sorting, and their possible synergistic effect on grape and wine composition was investigated. Pinot noir grapes from the Russian River Valley American Viticultural Area were harvested by hand, by a standard bow-rod mechanical harvester, or by a mechanical harvester with a Selectiv’ Process on-board. For each harvest method, half of the grapes were unsorted and half were optically sorted at the winery. The grapes, wines at bottling, and wines after three months of bottle aging were analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for color expression and phenolic and aroma profiling. The machine-harvested grapes had higher levels of β-damascenone, linalool, β-myrcene, and α-terpinene, potentially caused by glycosidic hydrolysis triggered by berry damage during harvest or from induced synthesis as a wounding response. In general, differences in wine composition attributable to harvest method were diminished or eliminated by optical sorting. The machine harvester with the Selectiv’ Process on-board led to wines with the most phenolics, although these differences may have been decreased or eliminated had the grapes been crushed before fermentation as the wines were produced by whole-berry fermentation. Descriptive sensory analysis conducted on wines three months after bottling determined that the wines made from hand-harvested fruit had significantly greater tropical fruit aroma, while wines made from optically sorted treatments had less hue saturation. With only two significant differences among the 18 aroma, taste, and mouthfeel attributes tested, it was concluded that all treatments led to wines of similar character.

In consumer food-sensory studies, sorting and closely related methods (for example, projective mapping) have often been applied to large product sets which are complex and fatiguing for panelists. Analysis of sorting by Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) is common, but this method discards relevant individual decisions; analysis by DISTATIS, which accounts for individual differences, is gaining acceptance. This research posits that replication can improve DISTATIS analysis by stabilizing consumer sensory maps, which are often extremely unstable. As a case study a fatiguing product set was sorted: 10 American whiskeys-5 bourbons and 5 ryes-were sorted into groups by 21 consumers over 2 replications. These products were chosen because American whiskeys are some of the most important distilled beverages in today's market; in particular, "bourbon" (mashbill more than 50% corn) and "rye" (more than 50% rye) whiskeys are important and assumed to be products with distinct sensory attributes. However, there is almost no scientific information about their sensory properties. Data were analyzed using standard and aggregated DISTATIS and MDS. No significant relationship between mashbill and consumer categorization in whiskeys was found; instead, there was evidence of producer and aging effects. aggregated DISTATIS was found to provide more stable results than without replication, and DISTATIS results provided a number of benefits over MDS, including bootstrapped confidence intervals for product separation. In addition, this is the first published evidence that mashbill does not determine sensory properties of American whiskey: bourbons and ryes, while legally distinct, were not separated by consumers.

The sensorial and chemical differences among Pinot noir wines from different vineyard locations were investigated. Grapes of a single Pinot noir clone were grown on twelve different vineyard sites along the U.S. West Coast. Wines from a single vintage (2015) were made using a standardized protocol and equipment. Sensorial (i.e. aroma, taste, and mouthfeel) and chemical (i.e. polyphenolic and volatile) differences were observed among these wines at two aging time points (8- and 20- months). Vineyard location (i.e. latitude and longitude) was one of the main factors describing the major differences between the wines, while other details (i.e. soil type (60 cm), rootstock age, soil pH, rootstock type, and vines/acres) were possibly important for defining unique aging characteristics of certain vineyards. Overall, single clone Pinot noir grapes grown in different regions but made under standardized winemaking produced wines with unique chemical and sensorial profiles, which generally persisted throughout aging.

This study sought to identify sensory attributes of appropriate food and wine pairings and relate them to balance, consumer liking, sensory complexity, and expected price. A descriptive analysis panel (n = 8) evaluated four Australian Shiraz wines along with four complex food samples, yielding 16 wine and food combinations. Based on the sensory profiles, distinct food and wine pairings (n = 6) were selected for consumer preference tests, comprising a real life, pseudo-three course meal with two wines. According to American consumers (n = 108), in the most appropriate pairings, flavour intensities increased and wine taste attributes changed in relation to individual components. Appropriate pairings positively correlated with liking, sensory complexity, and expected price to pay, and negatively with balance as a slight wine dominance was preferred. Pairings had an increase in liking and sensory complexity over the individual wine but not the food component. To account for individual variability, consumers were segmented by their liking of the pairing. Key drivers of successful pairings across consumer clusters were similar to the average consumer results, however, the preferred pairings differed by cluster. The findings suggest, the quality of food and wine pairings might be better measured with a combination of direct (dominance/balance, appropriateness of pairing) and indirect methods (sensory complexity, liking), instead of a single scale, and consumer segmentation may better account for the variability of results. The outcome of this study enhanced the understanding of the relationship between consumer behaviour and food and wine pairings.

At Australian wine shows, public tastings after formal judging provide an efficient condition for consumer preference testing to identify wine styles that are both liked and innovative. The aim of this study was to devise a method to conveniently obtain that information. We developed a new method, relative preference mapping (RPM), based on projective mapping and using relative scoring, to make the task cognitively less demanding. Using wine consumers, we tested the concept of a two dimensional (2D) labelled map to identify an innovative product and determined the level of difficulty in using a map scale.. The RPM method highlighted innovative wine styles – those wines that were simultaneously liked and considered different to a reference (gold medal wine). Liking results from the RPM method were similar to results from the traditional 9-point hedonic scale, providing validity for the preference component of the new method. RPM conveniently and simultaneously identifies preferred and innovative wine styles in a 2D product map, a unique contribution that no other scale is capable of achieving.

Establishing a fine wine image through regional typicality has been of interest to New World wine producing countries like Australia, but previous research mainly involved unoaked experimental wines, which were not reflective of the retail wine market. The regional typicality of commercially available fine Australian wines (FAW) was therefore explored, based on the hypotheses that sensory and chemical composition of varietal fine wines would discriminate by region, and further nuances within region would be explained by drivers of intraregional typicality. Chardonnay wines (2015 vintage) from Margaret River (MR, n = 16) and Yarra Valley (YV, n = 16); and Shiraz wines (2014 vintage) from Barossa Valley (BV, n = 16) and McLaren Vale (MV = 15), were selected for descriptive sensory analysis and underwent profiling of volatiles by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). For both grape varieties, there was large variability in wine styles among wines from the same GI, such as fruity/crisp vs oaked Chardonnay and oaky/astringent vs savoury Shiraz. Consequently, human intervention seemed to be an important component of regional/sub-regional typicality, which therefore cannot be determined solely on geographic origin of the fruit. Using a combination of sensory markers and volatile profiles allowed the building of regional typicality models, which are promising, however, consumers may not perceive sub-regional differences based on sensory attributes. Undoubtedly, variation of wine styles emerging across wine regions, vintages, and viticultural and winemaking practices needs to be further explored, but this work created a preliminary sensory and volatile map for future research.

We present a Descriptive Analysis (DA) of a large representative sample (24 whiskeys) of two legally distinct types of American whiskeys: bourbon and rye whiskey (respectively distilled from a fermented "mashbill" of at least 51% corn or rye). We wanted to determine whether a trained panel could find sensory differences between these two products. We used standard DA: 11 judges were trained for 10 hours to develop a lexicon of 24 flavor, taste, and mouthfeel descriptors for the 24 whiskey samples (15 bourbons and 9 ryes). Then, subjects rated each whiskey sample on each attribute, using unstructured line scales, in standard good sensory-evaluation conditions, and in triplicate. Results were analyzed using MANOVA, Barycentric Discriminant Analysis, and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Overall, while 10 descriptors significantly differentiated the whiskeys, no attribute or combination of attributes was predicted by mashbill: The judges did not find differences in sensory character between bourbon and rye whiskeys as categories. However, significant differences could be attributed to the producer of the whiskey and to age at bottling. These results are important because American whiskey has recently become staggeringly popular, and because there is a consistent belief that bourbon and rye whiskeys-as categories-have distinct sensory characteristics. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This research contradicts popular and expert beliefs about the distinction between the popular and important American rye and bourbon whiskeys. A comprehensive sensory DA study of 24 American whiskeys with different mashbills (9 ryes and 15 bourbons) shows that-while each whiskey is individually distinct on a number of sensory dimensions-sensory differences between rye and bourbon whiskeys as product categories cannot be predicted by mashbill. For producers, consumers, and researchers, this research points to the need for new theories on the origins of flavors in whiskey, as it is now clear that the grain content alone cannot predict sensory qualities.

A major factor that contributes to the characteristic taste of red wine is its composition of a class of polyphenols known as tannins. Extended ripening times of grapes are known to influence the sugar and acid content of the fruit, but their effect on tannin composition is less understood. In this study, we demonstrate that a differential, cross reactive peptide-based sensing array can discriminate Cabernet Sauvignon wines made from grapes that were harvested at different stages of maturation. Linear discriminant analysis shows a clear discrimination of the wines based on their tannin content, which is in strong correlation with the harvest time. A partial least square regression model using the mouth-feel and taste descriptive sensory attributes of wine revealed a strong correlation of the sensing array to perceived astringency and bitterness, which is also well known to correlate with tannin concentration.

The combined effects of vineyard origin and winery processing have been studied in 65 red wines samples. Grapes originating from five different vineyards within 40 miles of each other were processed in at least two different wineries. Sixty-three different elements were determined with inductively coupled-plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and wines were classified according to vineyard origin, processing winery, and the combination of both factors. Vineyard origin as well as winery processing have an impact on the elemental composition of wine, but each winery and each vineyard change the composition to a different degree. For some vineyards, wines showed a characteristic elemental pattern, independent of the processing winery, but the same was found for some wineries, with similar elemental pattern for all grapes processed in these wineries, independent of the vineyard origin. Studying the combined effects of grapegrowing and winemaking provides insight into the determination of geographical origin of red wines.