WAC 2022 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 WAC 9 WAC 2022 9 2 - WAC - Oral presentations 9 How do we describe wine imagery? Expertise shapes language usage and multimodal imagery for wine

How do we describe wine imagery? Expertise shapes language usage and multimodal imagery for wine

Abstract

The acquisition of wine expertise is a multi-faceted and multisensory process with implications for sensory perception, attention, memory, and language production. With the prevalence of the predictive model of brain functioning, one area of burgeoning research interest involves wine mental imagery, since the brain relies on imagined experiences to build predictions for the future. Recent evidence has shown that, for instance, those with higher imagery vividness are more susceptible to wine advertising. However, little is known about the association between mental imagery and other associated cognitive processes, such as the ability to produce words that describe such imagery. 

To answer this question, we compared the performance of 49 wine experts (WSET Diploma level or equivalent) with a control group of 82 novices. All participants completed the newly validated Vividness of Wine Imagery Questionnaire, where they rated perceived vividness of imagery in four different sensory modalities (vision, smell, taste, mouthfeel) over six different tasting scenarios. In addition to rating imagery vividness, they also wrote descriptions of their imagined experiences for each scenario and modality. 

Our results showed that experts and novices differed in both wine imagery vividness and in their use of language to describe imagined wine tasting experiences. First, wine experts experienced more vivid imagery compared to novices in all sensory modalities (smell, taste, mouthfeel) except for vision, where novices experienced a similar level of vividness as experts. Moreover, experts used more words and more source terms to describe their imagery experiences compared to novices. Linguistic analysis revealed that, when describing imagined aromas, experts used words that have a higher level of concreteness, are more strongly associated with olfaction, and are more specific in their description of odours. Finally, we found a positive relationship between imagery vividness and the length of description across all modalities. 

The present study indicates that the acquisition of wine expertise involves changes in both language usage and vividness of olfactory imagery. However, future investigation is needed to elucidate the causal relationship between vocabulary development and imagery specificity.

DOI:

Publication date: June 13, 2022

Issue: WAC 2022

Type: Article

Authors

Qian Janice, Ilja, CROIJMANS, Robert, PELLEGRINO

Presenting author

Qian Janice, WANG – Aarhus University, Denmark

Utrecht University, Netherlands | Monell Chemical Senses Center, USA

Contact the author

Keywords

mental imagery; wine expertise; natural language processing; multisensory perception; cognition

Tags

IVES Conference Series | WAC 2022

Citation

Related articles…

Climate ethnography and wine environmental futures

Globalisation and climate change have radically transformed world wine production upsetting the established order of wine ecologies. Ecological risks and the future of traditional agricultural systems are widely debated in anthropology, but very little is understood of the particular challenges posed by climate change to viticulture which is seen by many as the canary in the coalmine of global agriculture. Moreover, wine as a globalised embedded commodity provides a particularly telling example for the study of climate change having already attracted early scientific attention. Studies of climate change in viticulture have focused primarily on the production of systematic models of adaptation and vulnerability, while the human and cultural factors, which are key to adaptation and sustainable futures, are largely missing. Climate experts have been unanimous in recognising the urgent need for a better understanding of the complex dynamics that shape how climate change is experienced and responded to by human systems. Yet this call has not yet been addressed. Climate ethnography, coined by the anthropologist Susan Crate (2011), aims to bridge this growing disjuncture between climate science and everyday life through the exploration of the social meaning of climate change. It seeks to investigate the confrontation of its social salience in different locations and under different environmental guises (Goodman 2018: 340). By understanding how wine producers make sense of the world (and the environment) and act in it, it proposes to focus on the co-production of interdisciplinary knowledge by identifying and foreshadowing problems (Goodman 2018: 342; Goodman & Marshall 2018). It seeks to offer an original, transformative and contrasted perspective to climate change scenarios by investigating human agency -individual or collective- in all its social, political and cultural diversity. An anthropological approach founded on detailed ethnographies of wine production is ideally placed to address economic, social and cultural disruptions caused by the emergence of these new environmental challenges. Indeed, the community of experts in environmental change have recently called for research that will encompass the human dimension and for more broad-based, integrated through interdisciplinarity, useful knowledge (Castree & al 2014). My paper seeks to engage with climate ethnography and discuss what it brings to the study of wine environmental futures while exploring the limitations of the anthropological environmental approach.

Assyrtiko wines of Santorini produced by different autochthonous yeasts: Differences in aromatic and organoleptic profiles

Different yeasts were isolated from spontaneous fermentation of Assyrtiko grape must in Santorini Island, Greece. Molecular typing revealed the presence of three Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains (S9, S13, S24) and one strain of the yeast species Nakazawaea ishiwadae (N.i). The four isolated strains were further tested in laboratory scale fermentations of Assyrtiko must in pure inoculation cultures and in sequential inoculation (72 hours) of each S. cerevisiae strain with the strain of N. ishiwadae. All fermentation trials were realised in duplicate.

Mean polymerization degree of proanthocyanidins of grape seeds, skins and wines from Agiorgitiko (cv. Vitis vinifera): Differences among vintages

Grape phenolic compounds are very important constituents of red wine because, in addition to their antioxidant properties, they contribute to color, astringency and bitterness, oxidation reactions, interactions with proteins and ageing behavior of wines. The aim of our study was to assess the structural characteristics of grape and wine proanthocyanidins of Agiorgitiko variety and to evaluate the influence of the vintage year. Twelve vineyard locations were designated in the Nemea wine region. For three consecutive years (2012-2014), the grapes were harvested at technological maturity and the method of phloroglucinolysis was employed to determine the mean degree of polymerization (mDP) and subunit composition of the samples.

Preliminary field studies of resistance of Georgian grapevine germplasm to powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator)

Erysiphe necator Schwein is a fungus that causes grapevine powdery mildew. It is one of the most problematic pathogens attacking Vitis vinifera L. The pathogen infects all green parts of the plant and reduces grape yield and quality. The suppression on mildew-susceptible cultivars requires intensive use of fungicides against pathogen, which has negative impact on the environment and human health.

On the stability of spectral features of four vine varieties in Brazil, Chile and France

Satellite images of vineyards in France, Chile, and Brazil are used to study spectral differences between the vine varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, to verify if features of a given variety are conserved at vineyards in completely different terroirs.