OENO IVAS 2019 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Comparing the effects of vision, smell and taste in red wine quality judgments by experts: sensory cues, mental imagery and verbal representations as drivers of consensus in the multisensory space

Comparing the effects of vision, smell and taste in red wine quality judgments by experts: sensory cues, mental imagery and verbal representations as drivers of consensus in the multisensory space

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the contributions of vision, smell and taste to red wine quality judgments by expert wine tasters. Whereas previous studies specified the modulating effects of gustatory traits [1], culture and expertise [2, 3], our objective was to gain a better understanding of the perceptual mechanisms, with special consideration of the psychological representations that predict consensus in red wine quality judgments. To this aim, we compared wine tasters’ responses in unconstrained (i.e., all senses involved) and constrained wine tastings (i.e., unisensory: “visual”, “smell” and “taste”; multisensory: “visual-smell”, “visual-taste” and “taste-smell”) over six wine tasting sessions. In each session, wine tasters rated the quality of 20 red wines from a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO, premium vs. secondary wines), starting with an unconstrained tasting and then followed by a constrained tasting. We also collated predictors based on wine tasters’ responses to self-report questionnaires that assessed vividness of mental imagery in visual, smell, taste, somesthetic and wine contexts. Using a series of vocabulary tasks, we also evaluated whether lexical capacity predicts consensus in red wine quality judgments. 

Overall, our results showed a coherent quality concept across unconstrained and constrained wine tastings, with a clear quality distinction favoring premium wines. However, principal component analyses suggested a better quality judgement consensus with unisensory vision cues compared to all other sensory conditions. Going further, regression analyses also revealed specific drivers of red wine quality judgment consensus that are based on age, vividness of wine mental imagery, lexical capacity and consensus, as well as unisensory smell consensus and to a lesser degree, multisensory visual-taste consensus and unisensory taste consensus. 

Common experiences with wine, as well as the number of years tasting might promote strong vividness for wine representations (images and vocabulary), which in turn help predict wine tasters’ inclusion to the consensus involved with red wine quality judgments. Taken together, this study gives us an insightful look at the individual knowledge base, as well as the experience and representational cues that could delineate expert status. Further research in this direction could help promote informed teaching curricula in professional training and expert wine tasting.

[1] Saenz-Navajas, M.-P., Avizcuri, J.-M., Ballester, J., Fernandez-Zurbano, P., Ferreira, V., Peyron, D., et al. (2015). Sensory-active compounds influencing wine experts’ and consumers’ perception of red wine intrinsic quality. LWT – Food Science and Technology, 60, 400–411. 
[2] Saenz-Navajas, M.-P., Ballester, J., Pecher, C., Peyron, D., and Valentin, D. (2013). Sensory drivers of intrinsic quality of red wines: Effect of cultures and level of expertise. Food Research International, 54, 1506–1518. 
[3] Valentin, D., Parr, W. V., Peyron, D., Grose, C., and Ballester, J. (2016). Colour as a driver of Pinot noir wine quality judgments: An investigation involving French and New Zealand wine professionals. Food Quality and Preference, 48, 251-261.

DOI:

Publication date: June 19, 2020

Issue: OENO IVAS 2019

Type: Article

Authors

André Caissie, Laurent Riquier, Gilles De Revel, Sophie Tempère

Unité de recherche Oenologie, EA 4577, USC 1366 INRA, ISVV, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux INP, F33882 Villenave d’Ornon France
INRA, ISVV, USC 1366 OEnologie, F-33140, Villenave d’Ornon, France.

Contact the author

Keywords

Wine tasting, Perceptual mechanisms, Mental Imagery, Vocabulary

Tags

IVES Conference Series | OENO IVAS 2019

Citation

Related articles…

Use of multispectral satellite for monitoring vine water status in mediterranean areas

The development of new generations of multispectral satellites such as Sentinel-2 opens possibilities as to vine water status assessment (Cohen et al., 2019). Based on a three years field campaign, a model of Stem Water Potential (SWP) estimation on vine using four satellite bands in Red, Red-Edge, NIR and SWIR domains was developed (Laroche-Pinel et al., 2021). The model relies on SWP field measures done using a pressure chamber (Scholander et al., 1965), which is a common, robust and precise method to assess vine water status (Acevedo-Opazo et al., 2008). The model was mainly developed from from SWP measures on Syrah N (Laroche Pinel E., 2021).

A large scale monitoring was organized in different vineyards in the Mediterranean region in 2021. 10 varieties amongst the most represented in this area were monitored (Cabernet sauvignon N, Chardonnay B, Cinsault N, Grenache N, Merlot N, Mourvèdre N, Sauvignon B, Syrah N, Vermentino B, Viognier B). The model was used to produce water status maps from Sentinel-2 images, starting from the beginning of June (fruit set) up to September (harvest). The average estimated SWP for each vine was compared to actual field SWP measures done by wine growers or technicians during usual monitoring of irrigation programs. The correlations between mean estimated SWP and mean measured SWP were at the same level than expected by the model. (Laroche Pinel, 2021) The general SWP kinetics were comparable. The estimated SWP would have led to same irrigation decisions concerning the date of first irrigation in comparison with measured SWP.

Acevedo-Opazo, C., Tisseyre, B., Ojeda, H., Ortega-Farias, S., Guillaume, S. (2008). Is it possible to assess the spatial variability of vine water status? OENO One, 42(4), 203.
Cohen, Y., Gogumalla, P., Bahat, I., Netzer, Y., Ben-Gal, A., Lenski, I., … Helman, D. (2019). Can time series of multispectral satellite images be used to estimate stem water potential in vineyards? In Precision agriculture ’19, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp. 445–451.
Laroche-Pinel, E., Duthoit, S., Albughdadi, M., Costard, A. D., Rousseau, J., Chéret, V., & Clenet, H. (2021). Towards vine water status monitoring on a large scale using sentinel-2 images. remote sensing, 13(9), 1837.
Laroche-Pinel,E. (2021). Suivi du statut hydrique de la vigne par télédétection hyper et multispectrale. Thèse INP Toulouse, France.
Scholander, P.F., Bradstreet, E.D., Hemmingsen, E.A., & Hammel, H.T. (1965). Sap pressure in vascular plants: Negative hydrostatic pressure can be measured in plants. Science, 148(3668), 339–346.

Local adaptation tools to ensure the viticultural sustainability in a changing climate

[lwp_divi_breadcrumbs home_text="IVES" use_before_icon="on" before_icon="||divi||400" module_id="publication-ariane" _builder_version="4.19.4" _module_preset="default" module_text_align="center" module_font_size="16px" text_orientation="center"...

Effects of organic mulches on the soil environment and yield of grapevine

Farming management practices aiming at conserving soil moisture have been developed in arid and semiarid-areas facing water scarcity problems. Organic mulching is an effective method to manipulate the crop-growing microclimate increasing crop yield by controlling soil temperature, and retaining soil moisture by reducing soil evaporation. In this sense, the effectiveness of different organic mulching materials (straw mulch and grapevine pruning debris) applied within the row of a vineyard was evaluated on the soil and on the vine in a Tempranillo vineyard located in La Rioja (Spain). Organic mulches were compared with a traditional bare soil management technique (based on the use of herbicides to avoid weed incidence). Mulching coverages favourably influenced the soil water retention throughout all the grapevine vegetative cycle. However, the soil-moisture variation was not the same under different mulching materials, being the straw mulch (SM) the one that retained more water in comparison with grapevine pruning debris (GPD) based-cover. The changes of soil moisture in the upper surface layer (0–10 cm) were highly dynamic, probably due to water vapour fluxes across the soil-atmospheric interface. However, both, SM and GPD reduced these fluctuations as compared with bare soils. A similar trend occurred with soil temperature. Both organic mulches altered soil temperature in comparison with bare soil by reducing soil temperature in summer and raising it in winter. Moreover, the same buffering effect for the temperature on the covered soil also remains in the deeper layers. To conclude, we could see that organic mulching had a positive impact on soil-moisture storage and soil temperature and the extent of this effect depends on the type of mulching materials. These changes led to higher rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductivity compared to bare soils, also favouring crop growth and grape yields.

Climate projections over France wine-growing region and its potential impact on phenology

Climate change represents a major challenge for the French wine industry. Climatic conditions in French vineyards have already changed and will continue to evolve. One of the notable effects on grapevine is the advancing growing season. The aim of this study is to characterise the evolution of agroclimatic indicators (Huglin index, number of hot days, mean temperature, cumulative rainfall and number of rainy days during the growing season) at French wine-growing regions scale between 1980 and 2019 using gridded data (8 km resolution, SAFRAN) and for the middle of the 21th century (2046-2065) with 21 GCMs statistically debiased and downscaled at 8 km. A set of three phenological models were used to simulate the budburst (BRIN, Smoothed-Utah), flowering, veraison and theoretical maturity (GFV and GSR) stages for two grape varieties (Chardonnay and Cabernet-Sauvignon) over the whole period studied. All the French wine-growing regions show an increase in both temperatures during the growing season and Huglin index. This increase is accompanied by an advance in the simulated flowering (+3 to +9 days), veraison (+6 to +13 days) and theoretical maturity (+6 to +16 days) stages, which are more noticeable in the north-eastern part of France. The climate projections unanimously show, for all the GCMs considered, a clear increase in the Huglin index (+662 to 771 °C.days compared to the 1980-1999 period) and in the number of hot days (+5.6 to 22.6 days) in all the wine regions studied. Regarding rainfall, the expected evolution remains very uncertain due to the heterogeneity of the climates simulated by the 21 models. Only 4 regions out of 21 have a significant decrease in the number of rainy days during the growing season. The two budburst models show a strong divergence in the evolution of this stage with an average difference of 18 days between the two models on all grapevine regions. The theoretical maturity is the most impacted stage with a potential advance between 40 and 23 days according to wine-growing regions.

Genotypic variability in root architectural traits and putative implications for water uptake in grafted grapevine

Root system architecture (RSA) is important for soil exploration and edaphic resources acquisition by the plant, and thus contributes largely to its productivity and adaptation to environmental stresses, particularly soil water deficit. In grafted grapevine, while the degree of drought tolerance induced by the rootstock has been well documented in the vineyard, information about the underlying physiological processes, particularly at the root level, is scarce, due to the inherent difficulties in observing large root systems in situ. The objectives of this study were to determine genetic differences in the root architectural traits and their relationships to water uptake in two Vitis rootstocks genotypes (RGM, 140Ru) differing in their adaptation to drought. Young rootstocks grafted upon the Riesling variety were transplanted into cylindrical tubes and in 2D rhizotrons under two conditions, well watered and moderate water stress. Root traits were analyzed by digital imaging and the amount of transpired water was measured gravimetrically twice a week. Root phenotyping after 30 days reveal substantial variation in RSA traits between genotypes despite similar total root mass; the drought-tolerant 140Ru showed higher root length density in the deep layer, while the drought-sensitive RGM was characterised by shallow-angled root system development with more basal roots and a larger proportion of fine roots in the upper half of the tube. Water deficit affected canopy size and shoot mass to a greater extent than root development and architectural-related traits for both 140Ru and RGM, suggesting vertical distribution of roots was controlled by genotype rather than plasticity to soil water regime. The deeper root system of 140Ru as compared to RGM correlated with greater daily water uptake and sustained stomata opening under water-limited conditions but had little effect on above-ground growth. Our results highlight that grapevine rootstocks have constitutively distinct RSA phenotypes and that, in the context of climate change, those that develop an extensive root network at depth may provide a desirable advantage to the plant in coping with reduced water resources.