Terroir 2020 banner
IVES 9 IVES Conference Series 9 Multidisciplinary strategies for understanding ill-defined concepts

Multidisciplinary strategies for understanding ill-defined concepts

Abstract

Aims: The objective of the present work is to review strategies applied to decrypt multidimensional and ill-defined concepts employed by winemakers and to illustrate these strategies with recent applications.

Methods and Results: The first group of strategies are based in acceding long-term memory of experts including description and association tasks. For example, in a recent study, Spanish experts were asked to provide a sensory description of a green wine from memory. Terms such as “vegetal aroma” and “unpleasant/default” were shared by experts from different regions in Spain, while “excessive sourness”, “astringency” and a term linked to wine phenolic compounds such as “tannin” presented an important idiosyncrasy related to the region of origin of winemakers. Previously, a word association task was applied for understanding the concept of minerality. Place-related (Chablis, geology and terroir) and sensory dimensions (shellfish, chalky and freshness) appeared to be the core of the concept for Chablis winemakers. The second group of strategies involves sensory tasting and chemical characterization. It was used for deciphering perceived quality, minerality and green wine concepts. This strategy includes two main steps, description of samples and chemical analysis of volatile and non-volatile chemicals with sensory activity by either targeted or untargeted instrumental approaches. For example, for a set of Spanish red wines and following a targeted instrumental approach, the samples evaluated by Spanish experts as highest quality were associated to high levels of norisoprenoids, and low levels of whiskylactones and higher alcohols. 

Significance and Impact of the Study: The multidisciplinary approaches involving sensory (including both mental and tasting approaches) and chemical strategies are pertinent and effective for deciphering multidimensional and ill-defined concepts. These approaches are useful for improving the understanding and communication among people of the wine sector. These approaches can also help the industry to optimize grape and wine production stages to achieve the desired sensory characteristics by feeding into practices for modulating the composition of wine at different production stages. Finally, these approaches are an important source of knowledge for everyone interested in science of wine tasting.

Download the PDF

DOI:

Publication date: March 25, 2021

Issue: Terroir 2020

Type : Video

Authors

M.P. Sáenz-Navajas1*, H. Rodrigues2, D. Valentin3

1Laboratorio de Análisis del Aroma y Enología (LAAE), Department of Analytical Chemistry, Universidad de Zaragoza, Associated Unit to Institute for Vine and Wine Sciences-ICVV-(CSIC-GR-UR), Spain
2Plumpton College, Centre for excellence in Wine Education and Research, UK
3Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAE, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000 Dijon, France

Contact the author

Keywords

Sensory, description, memory-based strategies, tasting, sensory-active

Tags

IVES Conference Series | Terroir 2020

Citation

Related articles…

Natural magnetic levitation for the storage of wine bottles

Wine storage ensuring the quality and correct aging is one of the issues that wineries, wine traders and consumers encounter after wine bottling.

Read More

Simplifying the measurement of different forms of cu in wines and strategies for efficient removal

Copper (Cu) is known to substantially impact wine stability through oxidative, reductive or colloidal phenomena. Recent work has shown that Cu exists predominantly in a sulfide-bound form, which may act as a potential source of sulfidic off-odours in wine and hence contribute to reductive flavours

Read More

From vineyard to bottle. Rationalizing grape compositional drivers of the expression of valpolicella aroma ‘terroir’

AIM: Valpolicella is a renowned Italian wine-producing region (Paronetto, 1981). Wines produced in its different sub-regions are anecdotally believed to be aromatically different, although there is no systematic study addressing the chemical bases of such diversity

Read More

Vitis v. corvina grapes composition and wine sensory profile as affected by different post harvest withering conditions

Context and purpose of the study – In Valpolicella area (Verona – Italy) Vitis vinifera cv. Corvina is the main wine variety to obtain, after grape withering, Amarone wine: this study was carried out in order to compare two different grape dehydration conditions with the aim of verifying the final composition of Corvina dried grapes and the organoleptic profile of corresponding Amarone wine.

Read More

Aptitude du cépage Chenin à l’élaboration de vins liquoreux en relation avec certaines unités terroirs de base de A.O.C. Coteaux du Layon

Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.Massif and the first sedimentary formations of the western aureole of the Paris Basin. If it is found all over the world (California, Israel, South Africa), it is in this region that it best asserts its identity. It is one of the most interesting grape varieties due to the variety and complexity of the wines it can produce. It can give very dry or very sweet, still or sparkling wines, fresh when young and sublime when ageing, expressing the characteristics of each vintage as much as those of the terroir. The Chenin is a faithful witness of its geographical, geological, pedological and climatic environment; he is the foil of the land. It has strong aptitudes for the production of sweet wines conditioned by overripe grapes often botrytised in the AOC Coteaux du Layon.

Read More