Sensory–chemical integration of perceived aging potential in red old vintage wines: A cross-cultural expert study

Abstract

Today, the consumption of high quality wines with significant ageing potential has become widespread well beyond the countries that have historically produced them. Perceived wine aging potential is widely used in professional evaluation, across origins and cultures, yet it is rarely linked to measurable chemical drivers in commercial old-vintage wines. We investigated how cross-cultural expert judgments of aging potential relate to sensory language and to targeted volatile markers associated with freshness, oxidation, and wine longevity. Nine Argentine commercial red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec) spanning 1990–2022 were evaluated blind in 2025 by 140 wine experts across five locations (São Paulo, London, Bordeaux, Davis, Chengdu). For each wine, local experts rated acceptability, estimated perceived aging potential using an ordinal categorical scale and provided free sensory descriptions. Data were analyzed using mixed-effects and multivariate approaches. In parallel, sensory impact compounds (polyfunctional thiols, sulfur compounds, lactones and oxidation related compounds, volatile phenols) specific to both red and white wines were analyzed by different workflows (SPE GC–MS/MS; SPME GC–MS). We showed that most of the red wines were rated above the neutral acceptability anchor. Although perception of aging potential decreased with bottle age but did not collapse to zero for decades-old wines, supporting a gradual, sensory-driven view of aging in which perceived potential evolves rather than abruptly disappearing with bottle age. The liking score of young red wines was similar whatever the country when older wines tended to be more appreciated by the São Paulo panel compared with London. The rejection of oxidation was consistent, regardless of the panel’s origin and strongly linked with a loss in their aging potential. Multivariate chemistry (PCA) separated younger samples (high thiols levels) from older vintages characterized by higher maturation/bouquet markers (including lactones and DMS). These sensory lexical patterns were consistent with analytical trends in freshness- and aging-related volatiles, providing an integrated sensory–chemical framework to interpret cross-cultural expert evaluations of old-vintage red wines.

References

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