Explicit Sensory Training Improves the Olfactory Sensitivity of Wine Experts (original) (raw)
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Chemosensory Perception, 2000
Wine experts usually rely on chemical tracers of qualities or defects to judge wines. While part of their expertise is determined by their sensory ability to detect these key compounds, their level of sensitivity is generally unknown. The olfactory detection thresholds for 10 key odorant compounds in wine were, therefore, measured in a large sample of professionals (100 n 3 log10 units). Comparing the abilities of the experts to detect the whole sample of chemicals tested, we showed that their sensitivity profiles were very different. Detection threshold distribution asymmetries suggested specific hyposmias or hyperosmias for b-ionone, 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, diacetyl, and linalool. Interestingly, we found that academic degrees in tasting and enology do have an impact on odor detection thresholds for two compounds, diacetyl and mixed ethylphenols.
Perceptual Learning in OlfactionProfessional Wine Tasters versus Controls
Physiology & Behavior, 1997
By having professional wine tasters and controls perform olfactory tasks of absolute detection (1-butanol), discrimination (lemon and cloves), and identification (common household odors), the present two experiments studied (a) if perceptual odor learning takes place from odor experience acquired under nonlaboratory conditions, (b) if this learning generalizes to odors for which experience is limited, and (c) if generalized learning can be referred to increased general interest for odors that increases attention to odorous features. The results showed that whereas wine tasters were not better than controls on detection, they were superior to controls on discrimination and identification, the latter due to only a few odors. Ratings of experience with certain odors during professional evaluation suggest that generalized perceptual learning may take place in discrimination but not in identification. Wine tasters did not show more general interest for odorous features than did controls. The nonsuperiority in detection may be explained by the fact wine tasters have no professional experience of a detection task per se, implying that perceptual odor learning does not generalize from the olfactory tasks of discrimination and identification to detection.
Adaptation of expert wine assessors to less familiar sensory testing methods without pretraining
Glasnik zaštite bilja, 2022
Wine sensory testing is carried out by assessors who are usually selected and prepared depending on the test type, and their skills may vary depending on various factors. Expert wine assessors should have superior sensory evaluation abilities, an expert grape and wine knowledge level but even more assessment competence. The aim of this research was to test the competencies of certified Croatian expert wine assessors using a lessfamiliar descriptive sensory methodology with no preliminary training. These assessors are highly educated in viticulture and/or enology and work in this sector. They have certified sensory skills and shorter or longer experience in sensory testing wines with Geographical indications. Twenty-three assessors participated in the study, and the results were segmented by gender and age. The testing was performed in a laboratory accredited by ISO/IEC 17025. Graševina and Zweigelt wines were tested, and two groups of attributes were analyzed (main quality attributes and specific aroma descriptors). Qualitative and quantitative statistics showed that expert wine assessors had a very similar approach in the choice of descriptors and the perception of their intensity. No difference was obtained in testing any attribute and descriptor, neither for any wine nor between segmented groups concerning age. A significant difference was observed only between women and men in their perception of the two specific aroma descriptors. The results confirmed that combining expert knowledge and experience based on professional education and continuous analytical work can replace a lack of experience in some less-familiar methods.
Perception of wine fruity and woody notes: influence of peri-threshold odorants
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In order to test the hypothesis that woody odorants at sub-and peri-threshold concentrations could modify the olfactory perception of supra-threshold fruity notes in wine, three binary mixtures of fruity and woody odorants were studied. In these mixtures, a single supra-threshold concentration level, close to the one usually found in wine, was used for the fruity note whereas three perithreshold concentration levels of the woody note were tested. The ability to discriminate odour stimuli on the basis of the presence or absence of the woody odorants in the mixtures was investigated with a triangular test.
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Evaluating tastes and aromas of wine: a peek inside the “black box”
International Journal of Wine Business Research, 2014
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The odor detection threshold (ODT) of a compound is the lowest concentration at which individuals can reliably perceive a difference between a sample and its corresponding control, with 50% performance above chance. Wine is a complex matrix, and ODTs used in studies on wine can be based on inappropriate matrices and informal sensory methodologies. Formal studies confirming ODTs in wine are relatively scarce in the literature, and are complex and expensive to carry out. In this study, the sensitivity of panelists to previously published ODTs for five compounds: Guaiacol, o-cresol and 4-ethyl phenol, 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine (IBMP), and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) associated with off-flavor/taint issues in wine, was investigated. The study was carried out in partially de-aromatized young Shiraz wine (unwooded) using a simplified version of the formal sensory approach. A triangle test in triplicate was carried out with 34 panelists, at the ODT for each compound, in one day. The st...
Analytica Chimica Acta, 2012
This work explores to what extent the aroma or the non-volatile fractions of red wines are responsible for the overall flavor differences perceived in-mouth. For this purpose, 14 samples (4 commercial and 10 reconstituted wines), were sorted by a panel of 30 trained assessors according to their sensory in-mouth similarities. Reconstituted wines were prepared by adding the same volatile fraction (coming from a red wine) to the non-volatile fraction of 10 different red wines showing large differences in perceived astringency. Sorting was performed under three different conditions: (a) no aroma perception: noseclose condition (NA), (b) retronasal aroma perception only (RA), and (c) allowing retro-and involuntary orthonasal aroma perception (ROA). Similarity estimates were derived from the sorting and submitted to multidimensional scaling (MDS) followed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Results have clearly shown that, globally, aroma perception is not the major driver of the in-mouth sensory perception of red wine, which is undoubtedly primarily driven by the perception of astringency and by the chemical compounds causing it, particularly protein precipitable proanthocyanidins (PAs). However, aroma perception plays a significant role on the perception of sweetness and bitterness. The impact of aroma seems to be more important whenever astringency, total polyphenols and protein precipitable PAs levels are smaller. Results also indicate that when a red-black fruit odor nuance is clearly perceived in conditions in which orthonasal odor perception is allowed, a strong reduction in astringency takes place. Such red-black fruit odor nuance seems to be the result of a specific aroma release pattern as a consequence of the interaction between aroma compounds and the non-volatile matrix.