Abstract
Conventional tasting sheets are widely used to evaluate wine quality in wine tasting competitions. However, the higher scores are mostly obtained by international commercial wines, resulting in lower scores being awarded to the classic European wines. We hypothesize that this is due to the tasting methodology that fails to recognize this wine style. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to show the implementation of a new wine tasting approach to overcome this drawback. The proposed training technique is based on the emotional responses of the taster after smelling two wines of clearly opposite styles. The first wine is characterized by high aromatic intensity but low in-mouth intensity, perceived as disappointing to the taster, here defined as an “easy” wine. The second wine is characterized as a wine with low aromatic intensity but that provides an unexpectedly positive in-mouth experience, here defined as a “difficult” wine. These emotions are explained by the wine sensorial characteristics. The “easy” wine has an intense, simple smell with short persistence while the “difficult” wine has a low intensity, complex aroma, and long persistence. The first style corresponds to the international commercial wines most prized in international wine challenges. The second, frequently rejected by untrained tasters, is consistent with the “socalled” classic European wines, and is characterized by light red or yellow straw colors, weak smell intensity, and aggressive mouth-feel. After no more than four training sessions and using the OIV tasting sheet, inexperienced tasters were able to score “difficult” wines equally as “easy” wines and understand their different attributes. In conclusion, this new tasting approach may be used by wine professionals to explain the characteristics of high quality wines that are not easily recognized by untrained consumers.

Quotes
p.2 The training of wine tasting is presently a fashionable leisure activity for consumers. In parallel, sensory research studies use descriptive analysis developed by experts to typify wine characteristics. Both consumers and experts have the same ability to detect wine aroma and taste (Parr, W.; Heatherbell, D.; White, K. Demystifying wine expertise: Olfactory threshold, perceptual skill and semantic memory in expert and novice wine judges 2002). The different preferences among experts and consumers are explained as a matter of personal taste influenced by culture and level of expertise. Considering these different preferences, it would be expected that when large tasting panels are used in wine challenges, the winning wines would have different styles given the number of judges preferring one or other style. However, we hope to demonstrate through this study that the methodology used in these challenges, based on the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) tasting sheet, frequently values and awards the so-called international style which is characterized by intense aroma and sweet and full mouth-feel…Therefore, the purpose of our work was to develop a new tasting methodology that could provide an efficient recognition of the classic European wines. This approach is based on differential emotional expectations. Ultimately, this work could serve to bridge the gap and facilitate communication between consumers and wine professionals.
p.8 The tasting protocol, presented for the first time in this work, does not start with a detailed visual examination as we consider that visual features bias the evaluation of smell and taste as demonstrated by Morrot, G.; Brochet, F.; Dubordieu, D. The color of odors 2001). Next, nose and mouth evaluations follow the conventional sequence of tasting protocols.
p.10 The previous steps can be performed quickly, and it becomes easier to describe the second emotional response, described as “expectations for the mouth”. Most likely, there will be a marked difference between beginners and experts as the former will likely have high expectations from a highly aromatic simple wine, whereas the latter would have high expectations from wines with a subtle complex smell.
The wines are described as “disappointing” when the wine “smells more than it tastes” or “exciting” when it “tastes more than it smells”. This emotional reaction usually provides a benchmark for beginners who become immediately aware whether they are disappointed when they taste the wines they initially preferred or agreeably surprised with the wines they had first disliked. In this manner, when they taste two anchor wines of opposite styles sequentially, they internalize the characteristics of each one and establish the extreme values of a mental scale that enables them to typify every variation that falls in between.

Reference
Virgílio Loureiro, Manuel Malfeito Ferreira, Plátano Editora, 2020, O vinho sentido, sem descrever aromas ou atribuir pontuaçǒes (The wine felt, without describing aromas or assigning scores).

AvdW, June 2021