DEVELOPMENT OF A QUANTITATIVE SENSORY METHOD FOR THE DESCRIPTION OF YOUNG RED WINES FROM RIOJA ALAVESA

A quantitative sensory method was developed to evaluate young red wines from Rioja Alavesa and find the most suitable attributes to describe them. Twenty-four attributes (including appearance, aroma, flavor, taste and mouthfeel attributes) were chosen. Combined quantitative references were developed for these attributes aiming to lower the total number of references to be tasted. Nineteen wines were evaluated at four different times (every 2.5 months after bottling) by a panel trained in the use of this methodology. Attributes were compared in terms of overall intensities, and discriminative power of the attributes was assessed by analysis of variance, considering both sample and time effects. Appearance, taste and mouthfeel attributes revealed to be the most important to describe and discriminate the wines. “Red berry,”“floral,”“aroma intensity” and “dark berry” were the most important aroma attributes to discriminate among the wines, whereas “alcoholic” and “herbaceous” were the most important in flavor. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This work provides three main practical applications. First, a list of terms for sensory description of wines from Rioja Alavesa is provided. There are no scientific reports using sensory panels to describe young red wines from the Rioja region. Attributes that describe and/or discriminate among these wines are also determined. All this information may be useful for a better understanding of these wines and for being used in future studies. Second, a methodology to describe young red wines and to evaluate them is described, which may be useful for further studies concerning wines from this area or other areas. Third, the development of combined references is used as a practical way to present all the references to all the panelists in the booths, although more studies are necessary before recommending this sensory practice.