Sensory Evaluation

In one of my previous posts (here) I provided the basics of tasting wine. After having had some experience making my own wine, I have learned that when evaluating a wine (like say, comparing wines or judging wines in the industry) it is recommended that one take a more scientific approach.

In one week or so, the 2011 Syrah that I made--harvested at the UC Davis Vineyards--will be carefully evaluated by professors and other classmates. (Details about my Syrah project to be posted soon!)

I have created a sample ballot--this is what I will ask judges to use and fill out during my sensory panel of the four treatments of my groups' 2011 Syrah:

As seen in the above ballot, there are several methods for the sensory evaluation of wine, both of which involve trained testers:

1. To see how the two wines differ:

Use Descriptional Analysis, where the goal is to describe the aroma and flavor profile of the wine.
This includes the paired preference and the ranking preference 


2. To see if the two wines differ:
Use Difference Tests, used to determine if two wines are reproducibly selected as different. 
     This includes the triangle test and the duo-trio
For instance, In the triange test, tasters are presented with 3 wines and asked to determine which wine is different from the other two:

              {image from enologyaccess.org}

After the testers have balloted their results, a statistical analysis is usually applied to determine if the number of times wine 359 (B) was selected as different is significant or not.





Cheers,
B

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