WINETECH Technical Yearbook 2019

TABLE 2. The five topmost prominent attributes for 2016 Chenin blanc wines at the two stages of sensory evaluation.

CB 2016 3 months

CB 2016 9 months

C N+S Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Passion fruit Passion fruit Passion fruit Passion fruit Passion fruit Peach Grapefruit Passion fruit Guava Yellow apple Lemon Citrus Peach Passion fruit Passion fruit Dried fruit Sweet associated Peach Guava Sweet associated Grapefruit Grapefruit Guava Grapefruit Apple Sweet associated Cooked veg Apple Guava Guava Dried fruit Peach Fresh Floral Sulphur Fruity Honey Banana Cooked veg Banana N S N+S C N S

of the treatments compared to the control were more pronounced three months after bottling than nine months after bottling. This means that with time, the treatment effects declined. SENSORY EVALUATION OF THE WINES For the sensory evaluation of the wines, a free sorting method was used. The judges were presented with all the wines (per cultivar) and asked to group them according to similarity in aroma and describe the groups. Previously, descriptive analysis (DA) has not been successful in this type of work (Juhasz, 2015), and other research reports did not mention the sensory analysis method used (Lacroux et al ., 2008; Geffroy et al ., 2016). Our results showed that the

wines could not be grouped according to treatment, and seldom two or three of the four repeats were grouped together. This can be due to the judges not being able to differentiate between the wines, because the wines were very similar in their aromatic expression. The Chenin blanc wines had ‘tropical’ and ‘rich and ripe’ aromas (Table 2). The Sauvignon blanc wines had prominent ‘tropical’, ‘passion fruit ’ and ‘grapefruit’ aromas, which are specific for the ‘tropical style’ of Sauvignon blanc wines. During bottle maturation, most fresh notes and aroma characters were maintained, but their frequency of citations (which can be interpreted as intensity of perception) decreased; this is considered normal wine development (Figure 2).

FIGURE 2. Word cloud representation for the top ten most cited aroma attributes of 2016 Chenin blanc wines, regardless of the treatment. Left: 3 months and right: 9 months in bottle.