Application of consumer sensory science in wine research

Abstract

The sensory properties of wines are a major element that will determine success with consumers. It has been only in recent times that the wine industry and research community have started to apply the principles of sensory evaluation to quantify consumer preferences. This review provides an overview of current knowledge of the sensory attributes that have been found to be important to consumer preference and liking, including taints and off‐flavours. The evidence for subgroups of consumers with different preference is considered, and the links between liking responses and demographic or psychologically based measures are outlined. The relationship between quality judgements of experts and liking of consumers has been established in several studies, and it has been repeatedly shown that generally there is no relationship between the two measures. Finally, the limitations in methodology for characterising consumer perceptions and hedonic response, the value of blind versus informed evaluations, and the linkages between consumer sensory‐based testing and marketing research are explored.

More hawthorn and less dried longan: the role of information and taste on red wine consumer preferences in China

“…For the data from consumers in Cluster 3 (28%), a poor PLS model was generated with zero optimum number of factors (Table ). It is common to observe in wine sensory preference studies with a limited number of samples that consumer liking is not well explained with the available samples (Hopfer and Heymann , Francis and Williamson ). Looking at Figure , the attributes generated in this study were insufficient to adequately define the preferences in Cluster 3.…”

“…From a sensory science point of view, increased attention has been given to the interaction of sensory and non‐sensory factors in the last decade, since in a real purchase situation people rarely choose or consume an unidentified food product (Francis and Williamson ). Packaging information, such as COO, brand and price, can raise expectations, which can prompt product choice (Deliza and Macfie ).…”

Strategies for reducing alcohol concentration in wine

“…). Across multiple consumer preference mapping studies with commercial wines, some segments of consumers react strongly to alcohol‐ameliorated sensory attributes (Francis and Williamson, ). This shows that understanding and controlling the multiple sensory properties influenced by ethanol are crucial to ensuring the production of wines that meet the needs of consumers.…”

Can a certain concentration of rotundone be undesirable in Duras red wine? A study to estimate a consumer rejection threshold for the pepper aroma compound

“…Based on a novel application of the paired preference test, the method has been applied to answer several off‐flavour questions in wine, such as 2,4,6‐trichloroanisole (Prescott et al ), phenolic substances (Yoo et al ), 1,1,6‐trimethyl‐dehydronaphthalene (Ross et al ), ethyl phenyl‐acetate and phenyl acetic acid (Campo et al ) and 1,8‐cineole (Saliba et al ). According to Francis and Williamson (), the approach provides, more generally, a valuable measure as to when consumers will respond negatively to a flavour.…”