Drinking through rosé-coloured glasses: Influence of wine colour on the perception of aroma and flavour in wine experts and novices

Publication date: Available online 15 September 2019Source: Food Research InternationalAuthor(s): Qian Janice Wang, Charles SpenceAbstractWine colour carries a myriad of meanings regarding the provenance and expected sensory qualities of a wine. That meaning is presumably learnt through association, and part of a wine taster's skill comes from being able to decode information that can be discerned in subtle variations in the colour of the wine that they drink/evaluate. However, reliance on colour means that wine tasters, especially experts, often exhibit colour-induced olfactory biases. The present study assesses how wine colour – specifically the pink hue of rosé wines – can influence both the perceived aroma and flavour in a large sample of wine novices and experts. Participants (N = 168) tasted three wines – a white wine (W), a rosé wine (R), and the white wine dyed to match the rosé (R´) – and freely selected three aroma and three flavour descriptors from a list. They also rated wine liking, flavour intensity, and description difficulty for each wine. Linguistic analysis demonstrated that those with wine tasting experience judged R´ to be much more similar to R than to W, even though R´ and W were the same. Moreover, red fruit descriptors were attributed to both R and R´, especially in terms of flavour. Quantitative ratings revealed that R´ was liked less than W or R, and participants found it more difficult to describe R´ than R. These results demons...

Source: Food Research International - October 22, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research