Evaluation of the sensory profile of doc douro red wines through sensory traditional single-point techniques and temporal dominance methods

Abstract

No other agricultural product has a stronger relationship with the soil than wine. This study aimed to characterize the sensory profile of red wines from the Douro Demarcated Region (RDD) certified as DOC Douro, through the application of Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA®) and Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) sensory methods. QDA® provides a complete word description for all a product’s sensory properties. The TDS, which is relatively recent in the sensory field [1], allows to evaluation and description of the evolution of the dominant sensory perceptions during the tasting of a food product.Eighteen commercial wines from different producers were evaluated, six different samples representing each of the three sub-regions of the RDD. The panel had eighteen tasters, divided into trained and specialists. The statistical treatment was done using tools such as CATPCA and SEM for ADQ®, MANOVA, and ANOVA for TDS.The results showed that, in both methods, the wines from the three sub-regions have profiles with very corresponding characteristics in visual, olfactory, and taste aspects. The results also pointed to a more expressive relationship to the characteristics of the sub-regions and Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, and Tinta Roriz varieties than to the oenological practices. The olfactory profile was characterized by aromatic Fruity, Floral, and Balsamic notes, on the other hand, the taste was highlighted by Astringency and Acidity and again Fruity as the main mouth-aroma. In the second-order factorial analysis of SEM, carried out on ADQ®, the taste attributes showed greater weight in all models [2], reinforcing the results of the CATPCA [3], where the analyzes pointed out the taste attributes as those with the greatest contribution to the characterization of the sensory profile of wines. The integrated use of CATPCA and SEM techniques proved to be robust. As for TDS, the expert tasters were at ease in carrying out the evaluations, both concerning the suggested evaluation protocol, as well as the interface of the data acquisition software. Moreover, the use of MANOVA followed by ANOVA revealed statistically significant differences for the highest rate of maximum dominance. The Factor Analysis indicated homogeneity of the panels, presenting high factor weights. For trained tasters, the factor explains 89.716% of the total variance, for experts, 92.163%. The value of individual commonality is high, revealing that the component is adequate to describe the latent factorial structure among the tasters.