Though the gastronomic sector recommends certain wine-cheese associations, there is little sensory evidence on how cheese influences the perception of wine. It was the aim of this study to dynamically characterize 4 wines as they would be perceived when consumed with and without cheese. The tasting protocol was based on multi-intake temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) coupled with hedonic rating. In the 1st session, 31 French wine and cheese consumers evaluated the wines (Pacherenc, Sancerre, Bourgogne, and Madiran) over 3 consecutive sips. In the following sessions, they performed the same task, but eating small portions of cheese (Epoisses, Comté, Roquefort, Crottin de Chavignol) between sips. All cheeses were tasted with all wines over 4 sessions. TDS data were mainly analyzed in terms of each attribute's duration of dominance by analysis of variance, multivariate analysis of variance, and canonical variate analysis. Results showed that cheese consumption had an impact (P < 0.1) on dominance duration of attributes and on preference for most wines. For example, in Madiran, all cheeses reduced dominance duration (P < 0.01) of astringency and sourness and increased duration of red fruit aroma. Although the number of consumers was small to make extended general conclusions on wine's preference, significant changes were observed before and after cheese intake.

Abstract:The aim of this study was to identify which attributes impacted the dynamic liking of cheese and wine individually, as well as when consumed together. Three wines (one white, Pouilly Loché; and two red, Maranges and Beaujolais) and three cheeses (Comté, Époisses, Chaource) were individually evaluated by a group of 60 consumers using mono-intake Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) with simultaneous hedonic ratings. The same data acquisition screen was used for all products showing a unique list of 14 descriptors (covering cheese and wine perception) and a hedonic scale for dynamical rating of liking. The dynamic hedonic data were associated with the TDS profiles obtaining Temporal Drivers of Liking (TDL). Furthermore, the nine associations that resulted from combining each wine with each cheese were evaluated by multi-bite and multi-sip TDS. Individually, Chaource had practically no TDL; for Comté, mushroom flavor was a positive TDL, and in Époisses, salty was a negative TDL. As for wines, negative TDL were only found in the red wines: bitter, sour and astringent. Positive TDL for wines were: fruity, spicy and woody. Changes in the dynamic perception had a bigger impact on liking of wine compared to cheese. For the associations, the negative TDL were only three and mostly wine related: sour (for seven out of nine combinations), bitter (six out of nine) and astringent (five out of nine). Positive TDL were more varied (a total of 10 descriptors) and were related either to wine or cheese. As opposed to what was found in cheese alone, salty was a positive TDL in two of the combinations. It was observed that the dynamic sensory perception had a more important impact on liking in wine-cheese combinations than when consumed separately. TDS and TDL have a big potential in the study of food pairing, which should be further exploited.