terclim by ICS banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 International Congress on Grapevine and Wine Sciences 9 2ICGWS-2023 9 Typicality of Rioja wines: identification of sensory profiles for the three subregions of DOCa Rioja

Typicality of Rioja wines: identification of sensory profiles for the three subregions of DOCa Rioja

Abstract

Within the DOCa Rioja three main production areas are differentiated: Rioja Alta (RA), Rioja Alavesa (RAv) and Rioja Oriental (RO). They are three diverse territories with particular characteristics that are claimed to give rise to differentiated profiles. The present work aims at evaluating the sensory diversity of young commercial red wines in these three subregions. Therefore 30 young red wines (mainly Tempranillo and vintage 2021), ten from each subregion, were sensory described following a non-verbal free sorting task and a verbal free comment task by 32 well-established Rioja winemakers. The sorting task evidenced that the main sensory differences perceived were between Rioja Oriental and Rioja Alta/Rioja Alavesa. These differences were mainly attributed to colour intensity, body/structure and liquorice aroma, which were perceived with higher intensity in wines from Rioja Alta/Rioja Alavesa than in those from Rioja Oriental. The free description task showed shared sensory profiles but also specific sensory profiles for each of the three regions. Rioja Alta and Alavesa display a common sensory profile characterised with high colour intensity and purple-violet hue, high aroma intensity with fresh fruit and lactic aromas and high acidity. Similarly, Rioja Alavesa and Oriental share a prototype of wine described with low colour and medium aromatic intensities, grassy and fresh aroma, and powerful tannin with low acidity. Regarding specific characteristics, Rioja Alta presents a unique and typical profile with high colour intensity, ripe fruit, spicy and balsamic/mint aromas with powerful tannins. Rioja Alavesa´s typical profile is characterised by medium colour intensity, gummy candy, fresh fruit, lactic and floral aroma, with silky, and mellow mouthfeel. The characteristic profile for Rioja Oriental was moderate colour intensity with ruby-garnet hue, dried fruit, jammy fruit, alcohol and spicy aromas and light in mouth. This project is of particular importance since it is the first-time scientific research tries to distinguish between the three subregions of DOCa Rioja and attempts to provide a sensory identity, contributing at the same time to a better understanding of the notion of typicity in wine.

Acknowledgements: This project was funded by the Instituto de Estudios Riojanos (call 2022).

DOI:

Publication date: October 13, 2023

Issue: ICGWS 2023

Type: Poster

Authors

A. Iosofidis1, M. Gonzalez-Hernandez1*, C. Castillo Rio1, P. Fernández-Zurbano1, M. P. Sáenz-Navajas1

1Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino (Universidad de La Rioja-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Gobierno de La Rioja). Departamento de Enología, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain

Contact the author*

Keywords

designated origin, red wine, typicity, free description, sorting task

Tags

2ICGWS | ICGWS | ICGWS 2023 | IVES Conference Series

Citation

Related articles…

Assessing the Effectiveness of Electrodialysis in Controlling Brettanomyces Growth in Wine

Brettanomyces yeast can negatively impact the quality and stability of wines, posing a significant challenge to winemakers. [1] This study aims to develop novel management practices to limit Brettanomyces impact on wines by evaluating the effectiveness of electrodialysis (ED) technology in removing magnesium (Mg2+) from wine to prevent the development of Brettanomyces yeast. The ED technique utilizes charged membranes to extract ions from the wine, and it is considered an alternative to cold stabilization that requires less energy. [2]

Effect of soil particle size on vine water status, leaf ABA content and berry quality in Nebbiolo grapes

The root and shoot abscisic acid (ABA) accumulation in response to water deficit and its relation with stomatal conductance is longtime known in grapevine. ABA-dependent and ABA-independent signalling response to osmotic stress coexist in sessile plants. In grapevine, the signaling role of ABA in response to water stress conditions and its influence on berry quality is critical to manage grapevine acclimation to climate change.

Ultra-High Pressure Homogenization (UHPH): a technique that allows the reduction of SO2 in winemaking

Ultra-High Pressure Homogenization (UHPH) is an innovative, efficient and non-thermal technology that can be applied at different stages in winemaking in order to reduce or avoid the use of sulphites. During 2022 vintage, a batch of Xarel·lo must was processed by UHPH at 300 MPa with an inlet temperature (Ti) of 4 ºC. In order to verify the influence of the UHPH treatment in wine characteristics, alcoholic fermentations with this must (UHPH) were carried out and compared with a control batch (without SO2 addition (C)) and a sulphited batch, in which 60 mg/L of total SO2 (SO2) were added.

Exploring the prevalence of esca-induced leaf symptoms in French vineyards and the role of climate: a national scale analysis

Esca, a severe trunk disease affecting vineyards, is caused by fungal pathogens that induce wood necrosis and decay, leaf symptoms, yield losses, and potentially a rapid death of the vine. The prevalence of this disease varies across years, regions, cultivars, and plot ages. Despite its significance in understanding and predicting dieback risk in different vineyards, the role of climate in trunk diseases remains a relatively unexplored research area. While some studies have demonstrated the impact of certain climatic conditions on the prevalence of the disease, they often focus on a limited number of plots and yield conflicting results.We conducted a statistical analysis, using a Bayesian approach on a national database comprising prevalence data of esca from over 500 different plots in France, spanning the years 2003 to 2022 and encompassing various cultivars.

Reconstructing ancient microbial fermentation genomes from the wine residues of Herod, Roman king of Judea

The fortress of the Herodium, built towards the end of the first century BCE/ante Cristo, on the orders of Herod the Great, Roman client king of Judea, attests the expansion of Roman influence in the eastern Mediterranean. During archaeological excavations of the Herodium in 2017[1], a winery was discovered on the ground floor of the palace, with an assortment of clay vessels in situ, including large dolia – clay fermentation vessels each capable of fermenting up to 300-400 L of wine. Thanks to the recent progresses in the field of paleogenomics[2], we could analyse the organic material consistent with grape pomace at the bottom of these vessels, by extracting and sequencing the DNA using shotgun metagenomics and targeted capture, aiming for enrichment of DNA from fermentation associated microbes.