The impact of geographic origin, vintage and wine estate on sensory properties of Vitis vinifera cv. Riesling wines

Abstract The official quality designation for German wines is solely based on the degree of ripeness in grapes, while most other wine producing countries in Europe rely on a geographic classification system. A descriptive analysis (DA) investigated the sensory properties of commercial Riesling wines from two vintages, five wine estates and six vineyard designations within the viticulture region Rheingau. Based on the number of significant F -ratios among 10 odor and 4 orally perceived attributes, vintage and wine estate proved to have a similar impact as vineyard designation. Principal component analysis revealed substantial variations within the same vineyard designation and demonstrated the strong impact of the individual wine estate and vintage. Hence, a classification system focusing on geographic origin alone would be rather confusing for consumers, because wines differ substantially regarding their sensory appearance within the same vineyard designation. ©

[1]  Ivo Moret,et al.  Chemometric Characterization and Classification of Five Venetian White Wines , 1994 .

[2]  J. Guinard,et al.  Descriptive Analysis of Pinot noir Wines from Carneros, Napa, and Sonoma , 1987, American Journal of Enology and Viticulture.

[3]  C. Ough,et al.  Volatile ester hydrolysis or formation during storage of model solutions and wines , 1980 .

[4]  A. Noble.  Analysis of Wine Sensory Properties , 1988 .

[5]  L. Moio,et al.  Corrélation entre les profils aromatiques et les arômagrammes de vins de Bourgogne issus du cépage Chardonnay , 1994 .

[6]  A. Rapp,et al.  Untersuchungen des Trauben- und Weinaromas , 1993 .

[7]  H. Heymann,et al.  Descriptive Analysis of Commercial Cabernet Sauvignon Wines from California , 1987, American Journal of Enology and Viticulture.

[8]  D. Doornbos,et al.  THE USE OF PATTERN-RECOGNITION TECHNIQUES IN CHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN BORDEAUX AND BOURGOGNE WINES , 1984 .

[9]  A. Noble,et al.  Profiling Zinfandel Wines by Sensory and Chemical Analyses , 1987, American Journal of Enology and Viticulture.

[10]  Pascal Schlich,et al.  Description de la typicité aromatique de vins de Bourgogne issus du Cépage Chardonnay , 1993 .

[11]  A. Noble,et al.  Wine head space analysis. Reproducibility and application to varietal classification , 1980 .

[12]  Henk Maarse,et al.  Classification of wines according to type and region based on their composition , 1987 .

[13]  L. Moio,et al.  Acquisition et analyse d'arômagrammes de vins de Bourgogne issus du cépage Chardonnay , 1994 .

[14]  M. Ramos,et al.  Classification of variety musts by statistical analysis of their electrophoretic protein pattern , 1989 .

[15]  A. Rapp,et al.  Über Veränderungen der Aromastoffe während der Flaschenlagerung von Weißweinen der Rebsorte Riesling , 1985 .

[16]  S. P. Langron,et al.  Descriptive analysis and quality ratings of 1976 wines from four bordeaux communes , 1984 .

[17]  G. Scarponi,et al.  Multiple discriminant analysis in the analytical differentiation of Venetian white wines. 4. Application to several vintage years and comparison with the k nearest-neighbor classification , 1984 .

[18]  P. Cescon,et al.  Aroma components as discriminating parameters in the chemometric classification of Venetian white wines , 1984 .