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There is an important movement in the wine industry towards the production of alternative and more sustainable wines. Natural wine (NW) is a controversial category of alternative wines, which needs to be further explored. Given the role of technical experts as opinion leaders, the present work aims to explore the attitudes of Spanish winemakers towards NW and their relationship with their overall environmental awareness. Therefore, 307 Spanish winemakers completed a questionnaire to evaluate: 1) their attitudes towards NW by scoring their agreement with 31 statements, 2) their ecological awareness by evaluating 11 items, 3) their frequency of consumption and interest towards NW, and 4) their sociodemographic profile and general information about wine production. PCA with varimax rotation calculated on 28 of the 31 statements related to their attitudes showed six independent dimensions. Further hierarchical cluster analysis calculated with the six dimensions showed five clusters of wine experts with different attitudes towards NW. Results show that there is a major negative attitude towards the flavour of NW, their ageing capacity and their quality-price ratio, but a positive one in terms of economic impact for the wine industry. Aspects related to the role of NW in tradition, social identity, ecology, health, artisanal production and economic feasibility mark differential attitudes. Interestingly, the dimension related to winemakerś attitude towards tradition, social identity, and ecology of NW was positively correlated with their overall ecological awareness and thus their life style. This paper sheds light in the understanding of the behaviour of Spanish winemakers regarding ecological transition and provides tools for policymaking regarding NW certification.

The definition of regional typicality is a determinant for the preservation of perceived wine quality and protection of wine origin. This work firstly aims at evaluating the sensory diversity of young Tempranillo Tinto wines in the three subregions of DOCa Rioja (Alta-RALT-, Alavesa-RAVS- and Oriental-RO-) and secondly aims to explore the capacity of voltammetric signals to measure sensory differences. Thirty young Tempranillo Tinto wines, ten from each subregion, were sensory-described using a free sorting task followed by a free description task with 32 well-established Rioja winemakers. The sorting task evidenced that the salient sensory differences perceived were between RO and RALT/RAVS, attributed to differences in perceived colour intensity, body/structure and liquorice aroma. The free description task highlighted the core and shared characteristic of the young Tempranillo Tinto Rioja wines, a fresh fruit aroma, but also the unique and specific sensory profiles attached to the three regions. The RALT region presents ripe fruit and spicy and balsamic/mint aromas with powerful tannins, while RAVS’s wines are mainly characterised by their gummy candy, fresh fruit, lactic and floral aromas, with a silky and mellow mouthfeel. The characteristic profile for RO was linked to jammy fruit, with spicy aromas and a light perception in the mouth. The signals derived from linear sweep voltammetry were able to measure the main sensory differences between RO and RALT/RALV, as did the sorting task. This is the first time that scientific research has established the typical regional character of young Tempranillo Tinto Rioja wines, which includes a common and shared profile combined with the specificities linked to each subregion, contributing to a better understanding of the notion of regional typicality in wine.

The present study analyses the sensory effects associated with the interactions between different woody aroma compositions and a simple fruity ester vector in red wines. The semi-synthetic wine models contained a fixed aroma composition, the dearomatised non-volatile fraction of red wine and 21 different combinations of ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity vector) plus 1 out of 3 woody aroma compositions (woody vectors) at 3 possible levels of concentration each. Woody vectors imitated a highly toasted American oak (HAO—elevated levels of whiskylactones and furaneol), a highly toasted French oak (HFO—low levels of whiskylactone and vanillin levels, high levels of eugenol and guaiacol) and a medium toasted French oak (MFO—low levels of whiskylactones, eugenol, guaiacol and furaneol and high levels of vanilla). Models were sensorily assessed by a sorting task and by descriptive analysis. The increase in woody notes causes a concomitant decrease in fruity notes by a competitive perceptual interaction. HAO models are richest in coconut and woody notes and poorest in fruity notes, while HFO models keep strawberry and apple notes. At certain specific fruity-woody vector ratios, particularly in the MFO model, blackcurrant notes emerge, which can be considered a creative perceptual interaction.

Encouraging consumers to reduce their meat consumption is imperative in mitigating climate change effects related to the food industry. For some, transitioning away from meat may be facilitated by meat substitutes. However, these are not always accepted as suitable alternatives to meat due to a combination of psychological, situational, and sensorial aspects. The influence of factors such as cooking ability on hedonics and sensory discrimination of meat and meat substitutes is currently under-researched. The present study investigated such effects. Consumers (N = 101) of varying cooking ability and food neophobia (measured using questionnaires) tasted and evaluated six mince products (one beef and five meat substitutes - three soybean-based, one mycoprotein-based, and one oat-based) prepared in a Bolognese sauce. They rated liking for overall, appearance, aroma, taste/flavour, and texture, and profiled the products sensorially using check-all-that-apply (CATA). It was found that meat substitutes can be liked just as much as, if not more than, beef in the application of Bolognese sauce. No main effects of cooking ability were found for any modality of liking, though an interaction between cooking ability and sample was found for liking of flavour/taste. Consumers' ability to sensorially discriminate between the Bolognese sauces was not dependent on their cooking ability. Several attributes that contributed to (dis)liking were identified. An additional online sample (N = 288) completed only the cooking ability and food neophobia questionnaires. A negative relationship was detected between cooking ability and food neophobia for the combined consumer and online datasets (total N = 389).

In experiential literature there is a collective accord that consumers’ experiences should be conceptualised in a multi-dimensional configuration. From the sensory science viewpoint, the recent focus on consumption experience is gaining momentum but more findings are still needed. This study aims to reveal the dimensions shaping the wine drinking experience as well as their saliency and predominance among consumers with different levels of involvement and expertise. Six contextual focus group interviews were performed with 43 Spanish wine consumers and professionals stratified into groups based on levels of involvement and expertise. The main findings indicate that in all groups, the dimensions of sense, affect, and cognition operate to shape the drinking experience but at different levels. Low involved consumers (LI) privilege sensory and emotional dimensions, while experts attend closely to the sensory and cognitive dimensions. High involved consumers (HI) have an intermediate behaviour between LI and experts relying similarly on sensory, cognitive and affective cues. Results are put in perspective with findings in experiential literature spotlighting the application of the multidimensional experiential framework in sensory and consumer wine science.

Encouraging consumers to reduce their meat consumption is imperative in mitigating climate change effects related to the food industry. For some, transitioning away from meat may be facilitated by meat substitutes. However, these are not always accepted as suitable alternatives to meat due to a combination of psychological, situational, and sensorial aspects. The influence of factors such as cooking ability on hedonics and sensory discrimination of meat and meat substitutes is currently under-researched. The present study investigated such effects. Consumers (N = 101) of varying cooking ability and food neophobia (measured using questionnaires) tasted and evaluated six mince products (one beef and five meat substitutes - three soybean-based, one mycoprotein-based, and one oat-based) prepared in a Bolognese sauce. They rated liking for overall, appearance, aroma, taste/flavour, and texture, and profiled the products sensorially using check-all-that-apply (CATA). It was found that meat substitutes can be liked just as much as, if not more than, beef in the application of Bolognese sauce. No main effects of cooking ability were found for any modality of liking, though an interaction between cooking ability and sample was found for liking of flavour/taste. Consumers' ability to sensorially discriminate between the Bolognese sauces was not dependent on their cooking ability. Several attributes that contributed to (dis)liking were identified. An additional online sample (N = 288) completed only the cooking ability and food neophobia questionnaires. A negative relationship was detected between cooking ability and food neophobia for the combined consumer and online datasets (total N = 389).

During the early months of 2020, the world experienced a novel, violent, and relentless pandemic era. By the end of the year more than seventy-seven million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the globe. Due to it being a highly contagious disease, the recommended measures adopted by most nations to prevent infection include social distancing and quarantine. How did these measures affect people's relationship with alcohol consumption in cultures where alcohol plays an important social role? A questionnaire-based study, designed to follow the drinking behaviour of people before and during lockdown was applied to two different cultural groups impacted by the pandemic during the strict phase of lockdown. These are the British and Spanish populations (179 participants from each country were interviewed). Considering the frequency of consumption of the alcoholic beverages evaluated (wine, beer, cider, whisky and spirits), the results showed that a significant lockdown*country interaction was observed. Overall, Spanish participants consumed alcoholic beverages less frequently during lockdown than before, while British participants reported no change in their consumption habits. Spaniards’ decrease in alcohol consumption is related to the absence of a social contexts while Britons seems to have adapted their consumption to the modified context. Results suggest that, alcohol consumption is a central core of the British culture, while for the Spanish, socialization is more a cultural characteristic than the alcohol itself.

The coronavirus outbreak in December 2019 completely changed the dynamic of consumption in different sectors of industry. The food and beverage industries have been profoundly affected, from production, to modifications in consumers’ choices. Among the different reasons behind those modifications is confinement, which forces consumers to stay at home for an extended period and just go out to perform essential tasks, such as going to the supermarket. We hypothesized that this new dynamic of consumption could create a situation of fear that changes food choice. To test this hypothesis, two studies were conducted in three countries with a different degree of confinement: Mexico (flexible), Spain (strict), and Peru (hard). Study one consisted of a free association task with 60 participants in each country with the inductor word “coronavirus and food”. The different associations served as the basis to build a structured questionnaire, which was used in the second study focused on fear and food choice. The second study was applied to 450 participants in the same three countries. Results showed that fear can be separated into nine dimensions: social, emotional, food supply, government, basic needs, food-delivery, overeating, immunity, and family conflicts. The participants could also be clustered into four different groups that differ in their country of origin and sex, but also in their food choice. Overall, the results showed that fear influenced consumer’s food choices during a confinement period.

Estudio transcultural colaborativo entre 4 grupos de investigación europeos, We aim at studying consumers’ Perceived Sensory Quality (PSQ) concept. We manipulated a priori both familiarity (contrast local vs. foreign cheeses) and quality level (contrast PDO or traditional cheeses vs. their non- PDO and/or industrial counterpart). The study was run in four European countries. Thus, eight cheeses (one PDO or traditional cheese and one non-PDO cheese from each of the four European countries) were assessed by a total of 438 consumers (from 100 to 120 consumers from each region) in terms of PSQ and liking. The cheeses were also described by a trained panel. PSQ depended on both consumers’ and cheeses’ origin. The main finding is that in the three countries with PDO culture, consumers identified domestic PDO cheese as having a significantly higher PSQ than its non-PDO counterpart, whereas they were not able to differentiate PDO and non-PDO cheeses from other countries. Overall, sensory drivers of PSQ were similar across consumers of different origin but, the relationship between PSQ and liking is higher for non-local cheeses than for local cheeses. Overall, the results support the idea that PSQ is related to liking but is also modulated by product familiarity.

Using data collected at a world wine trade fair, we study how the country-of-origin impacts wine traders’ mental representation about wines. In the analysis we use traditional exporters in Old (France) and New (Argentina) world wine countries in comparison to non-traditional exporters in Old (Switzerland) and New (Brazil) world wine countries. Three main findings are reported. First, the country-of-origin of wines was more important on guiding participants’ representations, than the category of countries the traders came from. Second, participants’ evocations were more precise and specific for traditional wine-exporting countries than for less traditional wine exporting countries. Finally, the lack of traders’ knowledge of wines from non-traditional wine-exporting countries produced associations and beliefs related to the image of the country itself. Our findings have important implications for the marketing and export activities of the wine industry.

Aroma contribution of individual esters has been studied in complex mixtures mimicking red wine models. A mixture containing 14 ethyl esters at concentrations found in wine (V1) was prepared and kept as reference. Isointense and qualitatively similar aroma vectors with a reduced number of esters (V2-V7) were prepared. Those vectors were introduced in two reconstituted wines to assess whether simpler vectors could replace V1 without compromising wine quality. In the simpler young wine model, V1 could be replaced by a vector containing just 3 odorants (ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, ethyl butyrate and hexanoate). In the oaky model, a vector containing just ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (V7) could replace V1 without any discernible sensory change. Results also reveal that sub- or perithreshold odorants play outstanding roles on the overall odour intensity of the mixture and that aroma simplification concomitantly implies an increase in the amount of odorant required to keep the intensity of the aroma vector.

Do consumers know what organic processed food is and are they able to correctly identify it? This article aimed to address these questions in Brazil. We used the snowball methodology to disseminate the questionnaire (1,690 answers) containing 21 questions regarding: 1. frequency of consumption, 2. self-assessment of knowledge regarding organic processed food, 3. ability to identify the organic label, 4. knowledge regarding the organic processed food identity standards, 5. socioeconomic profile. Participants' self-assessed knowledge showed positive associations with both the knowledge regarding identity standards and the ability to identify organic labels. Younger, more educated participants who were responsible for domestic purchases were more likely to correctly identify organic processed food. No compelling evidence was found that frequency of organic processed food consumption affected the performance on the questionnaire. We also found evidence that regions of residence affect the level of knowledge and ability to identify organic processed food.

Do consumers know what organic processed food is and are they able to correctly identify it? This article aimed to address these questions in Brazil. We used the snowball methodology to disseminate the questionnaire (1,690 answers) containing 21 questions regarding: 1. frequency of consumption, 2. self-assessment of knowledge regarding organic processed food, 3. ability to identify the organic label, 4. knowledge regarding the organic processed food identity standards, 5. socioeconomic profile. Participants' self-assessed knowledge showed positive associations with both the knowledge regarding identity standards and the ability to identify organic labels. Younger, more educated participants who were responsible for domestic purchases were more likely to correctly identify organic processed food. No compelling evidence was found that frequency of organic processed food consumption affected the performance on the questionnaire. We also found evidence that regions of residence affect the level of knowledge and ability to identify organic processed food.

Do consumers know what organic processed food is and are they able to correctly identify it? This article aimed to address these questions in Brazil. We used the snowball methodology to disseminate the questionnaire (1,690 answers) containing 21 questions regarding: 1. frequency of consumption, 2. self-assessment of knowledge regarding organic processed food, 3. ability to identify the organic label, 4. knowledge regarding the organic processed food identity standards, 5. socioeconomic profile. Participants' self-assessed knowledge showed positive associations with both the knowledge regarding identity standards and the ability to identify organic labels. Younger, more educated participants who were responsible for domestic purchases were more likely to correctly identify organic processed food. No compelling evidence was found that frequency of organic processed food consumption affected the performance on the questionnaire. We also found evidence that regions of residence affect the level of knowledge and ability to identify organic processed food.

Do consumers know what organic processed food is and are they able to correctly identify it? This article aimed to address these questions in Brazil. We used the snowball methodology to disseminate the questionnaire (1,690 answers) containing 21 questions regarding: 1. frequency of consumption, 2. self-assessment of knowledge regarding organic processed food, 3. ability to identify the organic label, 4. knowledge regarding the organic processed food identity standards, 5. socioeconomic profile. Participants' self-assessed knowledge showed positive associations with both the knowledge regarding identity standards and the ability to identify organic labels. Younger, more educated participants who were responsible for domestic purchases were more likely to correctly identify organic processed food. No compelling evidence was found that frequency of organic processed food consumption affected the performance on the questionnaire. We also found evidence that regions of residence affect the level of knowledge and ability to identify organic processed food.

The present study investigates the role of sensory interactions and the level of expertise of consumers on the perception of bitterness and astringency in a red wine complex matrix. In the first experiment, a commercial red wine was spiked with quinine sulphate to produce two levels of bitterness. Seven samples with high and seven with low bitterness were further spiked with one of the following aroma vectors: vegetal, herbal, spicy, roasted, animal, dried fruit or with tartaric acid to modulate sourness. In the second experiment, the wine was spiked with an astringent proanthocyanidin fraction to produce two levels of astringency and with one of the seven vectors used in the first experiment or with quinine sulphate to modulate bitterness. Fourteen and 16 spiked samples of experiments 1 and 2, respectively, were sensory evaluated together with control samples to assess the intensity of the six aroma vectors, sourness, bitterness and astringency. Evaluation was performed using a descriptive analysis technique based on intensity rating by three groups of participants with different levels of expertise. The effect of the addition of one aroma vector, sourness or bitterness on bitter or astringent intensity was evaluated by ANOVA. No significant effect of aroma, sourness or bitterness was observed for astringent intensity, confirming that in these red wines, cross-modal interactions are not relevant in astringency. Bitter-aroma interactions were demonstrated for animal aroma just for less-experienced consumers (novices) attributed to a hedonic synergism. Significant decreases in bitterness due to sour vector were observed regardless consumer expertise. This could be explained in terms of interactions at both cognitive and receptor level.

The absence of reference materials with defined mouthfeel properties makes it difficult to progress in finding the chemical compound or group of compounds responsible for such properties in complex foods or beverages such as wine. The present work aimed at developing a chemo-sensory strategy providing different odorless fractions with consistent mouthfeel properties. Three wines with different mouthfeel properties were separated in six different odorless fractions per wine by semipreparative liquid chromatography and Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE). Fractions were sensory analyzed by sorting task, repertory grid, triangulation and Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) with wine experts. In parallel, fractions were chemically characterized by spectrophotometrical strategies, UPLC-MS and MALDI-TOF-MS. A list of 23 terms related to in-mouth properties (18 to mouthfeel) was generated and successfully employed in the description of wines and fractions by RATA analysis. Fractions containing oligomers of flavanols (from tetramers up to decamers) were mainly coarse, grainy, dry on the tongue and dry on the palate. More surprising was the sensory properties of a fraction containing anthocyanin-derivative pigments, which was especially dry, bitter and persistent as was the original wine. This fraction did not contain either oligomers or polymers of flavanols or flavanol-anthocyanin pigments, but a series of trimers of anthocyanins tentatively identified by MALDI-TOF MS. Further separation strategies are being developed to isolate anthocyanin-derived compounds to further confirm their sensory impact in wines.

The goal of this work was to evaluate the effect of vineyard position on the minerality of wines and to establish relationships between minerality scores, sensory descriptors and chemical composition. Sensory analyses included minerality rating and free description performed by wine professionals under two conditions: orthonasal olfaction alone and global tasting. Chemical characterization included analysis of major and minor volatile compounds, volatile sulphur compounds, mercaptans, metals, anions and cations. Results showed a significant effect of the river bank on wine minerality scores only in the orthonasal olfaction condition, samples from the left being more mineral than those from the right bank. Methanethiol, involved in shellfish aroma, was significantly higher in wines from the left (more mineral) than from the right bank. Contrary, copper levels, related to lower levels of free MeSH, and norisoprenoids, responsible for white fruit and floral aromas, were higher in wines from the right bank (less mineral).

Wine is a complex product, which had moved from a nutritional food to a hedonic beverage in consumer representation. This fact has increased the demand of quality products in the market. In this context, it is of high interest for wine producers to understand the underlying indicators of consumers’ quality perception as well as the relative importance they attach to these cues when inferring quality in wine to reach the alignment of consumers’ expectations, needs and wants. This chapter is aimed at giving an overview of the current state of knowledge of the indicators of wine quality perception from a sensory point of view. For this purpose, the factors driving perceived quality of wine as a product, the characteristics of the consumer and the consumption situation are firstly reported. Then, the methodologies most usually employed to evaluate hedonic perception of consumers are discussed. Finally, wine properties linked to quality perception are reviewed.

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The effect of evaluation condition on quality judgements of wine experts was evaluated. Quality perceived by wine experts was investigated under the assumption that this construct is built from multimodal sensory inputs. Twenty-one wine experts from Rioja (Spain) scored the intrinsic quality of 16 Spanish red wines under four conditions: (i) visual stimulation only, (ii) orthonasal olfaction alone, (iii) in-mouth sensations only (wearing a nose clip) and (iv) global tasting. Agreement among judges and the effect of evaluation condition were evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA) and ANOVA, respectively. In parallel, a trained panel described aroma, taste and in-mouth sensory properties such as astringency, global intensity and persistence. CIELab colour coordinates were also obtained. These descriptive data were submitted to regression analyses to explore their relationship with quality scores derived from the four evaluation conditions. Common mental representations of wine quality under visual, olfactory and global conditions were confirmed, while there was not a clear quality construct based exclusively on taste and mouthfeel properties. Wine taste and mouth-feel quality concept is suggested to be built only in combination with aroma and/or colour stimuli, and thus within a wine context. Global quality judgement integrated information provided by visual and olfactory cues, even if olfactory stimuli were suggested to have more importance on the construction of the global quality concept of wine experts. Significant interactions between wine and evaluation condition revealed significant differences in quality scores dependent on the stimuli received during tasting and on the wine judged. Sensory cues driving quality, especially visual and in-mouth properties varied depending on the evaluation condition, which suggested that global wine quality concept would be the result of the integration of perceptual and cognitive information rather

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. In recent years the sensory evaluation field has been moving from the traditional sensory descriptive methodologies towards consumer based methodologies. Sensory descriptions are not confined to sensory evaluation. In everyday life, people use also descriptions to communicate about products sensory properties. The theory of social representation offers a new approach for studying the meaning of the terminology used in these everyday life descriptions. One implication of this theory is that meaning is created through a system of social negotiations rather than being a fixed and finite code. The goal of the present study was to understand the meaning of the concept of wine minerality in different social groups, through the social representation theory. For this purpose, we worked with 40 winemakers from Chablis, France, and 47 wine consumers from burgundy. We used a verbal association task with the word minerality as a prompt. Participants had to write down all the words that came to their mind when they heard the word minerality and to rate both the importance and the valence of these words. Data were subjected to a prototypical analysis to identify the core and peripheral areas of experts' and consumers' social representation. Results showed that winemakers and wine consumers have a different way to represent and conceptualize minerality. The central core of winemakers' social representation is formed by terms that give an idea of minerality coming from >a place> (Chablis, geology and terroir) and having a specific sensory characteristics (Shellfish, chalky and freshness) linked to this place. This representation is comforted by the elements of the first periphery (stone, acidity, gunflint and salty). For wine consumers, both the central core and the first periphery consist of only one term each (terroir and stone respectively). Sensory characteristics linked to this idea of terroir appear only in the third and fourth peripheries indicating that

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. There is a lack of studies focusing on the chemical compounds involved in quality perception. The present work combines both sensory and chemical approaches with the final goal of evaluating the sensory-active compounds influencing wine experts' and consumers' perception of red wine quality. Perceived quality was categorised by 108 consumers and 119 experts according to four levels going from very low to very high quality. In parallel, samples were described by a descriptive trained panel and volatile and non-volatile chemicals with known sensory activity were quantified. Wines with higher concentrations of eugenol, E- and Z-whiskylactones and 4-ethylphenol (discussed in terms of matrix effect) are perceived higher in quality by consumers, while fusel alcohols and astringent-related compounds such as PAs, cis-aconitic acid, certain flavonols and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives are linked to lower quality samples. In contrast, experts perceived wines with lower levels of whiskylactones and volatile phenols while higher levels of norisoprenoids to be higher in quality. These results increase the understanding of wine quality perception and can give the wine industry knowledge of the main sensory-active compounds driving quality for different wine consumers.

Colour, aroma or in-mouth properties have been confirmed to play an important role on intrinsic quality judgments of wine. However, little is known about the relative weight the different stimuli have on the global quality perception. In this context, the present work is mainly driven for further understanding the strategy used by experts when evaluating wine quality. More specifically, the first aim is to evaluate the contribution of the different sensory stimuli to global quality evaluation and then to relate wine attributes (appearance, aroma, in-mouth) to expert responses towards global quality perception. Therefore, a panel of 21 established wine experts were asked to score the wine quality (10cm-anchored line scale) of 16 Spanish red wines in four sessions under different conditions: (1) in dark glasses: experts evaluated wine attending exclusively to orthonasal aroma properties (Quality aroma-Qa-); (2) in clear glasses: experts scored quality based on exclusively visual stimuli (Quality visual-Qv-); (3) in dark glasses: experts had to taste each wine with a nose clip, to avoid aroma and visual interactions, and scored quality based on perceived in-mouth properties (Q in-mouth-Qm); (4) in clear glasses: participants had access to visual, aroma and in-mouth cues for evaluating the global quality (Quality global-Qg-) of wines, as in conventional tastings. In parallel, a trained sensory panel formed by more than 40 participants described the orthonasal (frequency of citation method) and in-mouth sensory properties of the wines. Wine colour properties were measured by CIELab model system. The panel of experts shows a good alignment in the quality concept based on orthonasal aroma and visual cues, having both of them an important weight in global quality assessment. On the contrary, experts have a heterogeneous in-mouth quality concept and three clusters were identified. Quality mapping has been further applied for disclosing the specific sensory drivers (aroma, in

A complex problem in food product is to identify what are the parameters driving consumers’ liking. The main goal of this study was to apply the technique classically used to understand consumer preference, internal preference mapping to the quality assessment of twenty-nine red wine by eighty-five regular consumers. The wines were subjected to a sensory descriptive analysis by trained panelist and to a categorization task by consumers’ preference. Quality assessment was performed by means of a categorization task which was subsequently correlated to the aromatic wine sensory space obtained. The PCA carried out on the wine*consumers matrix showed a wide dispersion in quality perception among consumers. The HCA indicates the presence of three well defined groups of consumers (QC1, QC2 and QC3) Pearson correlation coefficients show no significant correlations between the three groups of consumers indicating a quality concept different between them. The concept of quality of the three groups of consumers when they evaluate wines aged in oak barrels is directly related to the presence of "toasted/wood” and the absence of the veggie/animal attributes. It is noteworthy that only the consumers QC2 considered positive the concept of fruity and floral aromas as quality in a wine barrel aged. Mouthfeel attributes described for these wines were considered in a different way for the quality assessment carried out by the three consumer groups.

Background and Aims: The use of minerality as a wine descriptor has increased in the last few years. Minerality always suggests high quality and evokes a link between wine and the soil. The sensory meaning of minerality, however, is not yet clearly understood. The present study was designed to understand how wine experts conceptualise minerality and to explore whether they can judge wine minerality in a consensual way. Methods and Results: Experts carried out an orthonasal free sorting task on 16 Chardonnay wines. Afterwards, they rated their mineral character according to two conditions: orthonasally and on the palate while wearing a nose-clip. The experts also answered a questionnaire in which they defined minerality. A trained panel independently performed a sensory description of the samples. The wine experts showed strong disagreement in their minerality judgements under both conditions. Three groups of experts emerged for each condition. Each group considered as mineral wines with quite different sensory characteristics which prevents any generalisation concerning the sensory meaning of minerality. Surprisingly, definitions of minerality by the experts showed some commonality despite the use of idiosyncratic terms. Conclusions: Minerality is an ill-defined sensory concept, despite the apparent consistency emerging from verbal definitions by the experts. Significance of the Study: Minerality is nowadays a popular term in wine marketing. Some attempts to understand its chemical origin have been made; however, this study has shown that a sensory definition of minerality should first be developed., Funding agencies:Region Bourgogne-Franche-ComteGerman Research Foundation (DFG)National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia