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The smell of terroir! Olfactory discrimination between wines of different grape variety and different terroir
Foroni, Francesco Vignando, Miriam Aiello, Marilena Parma, Valentina Paoletti, Maurizio Guido Squartini, Andrea Rumiati, Raffaella I.
Foroni, Francesco
Vignando, Miriam
Aiello, Marilena
Parma, Valentina
Paoletti, Maurizio Guido
Squartini, Andrea
Rumiati, Raffaella I.
Abstract
The French term ‘terroir’ refers to the relationship between a particular wine and the specific place where it is produced. To date, no investigation has directly tested in an experimentally-controlled setting whether participants can detect different terroirs in wines, and if their level of expertise can modulate such performance. We investigated wine olfactory discrimination ability by using a computer-controlled olfactometer. Participants’ ability to discriminate two wines only based on the olfactory features of their terroir (zone and vineyard), their variety (e.g., cabernet vs. merlot) or both was tested. Olfactory discrimination performance of both novices and wine-professionals reflected whether two wines differed by terroir, variety or both. Performance peaked when wines differed in both terroir and variety, with terroir being more easily discriminated than variety. These results, obtained by controlling for the first time the precision of the olfactory stimulation, provide insightful clues in understanding the wine appreciation process, specifically with respect to the perceptual aspects of terroir.
Keywords
olfactory discrimination, wine, terroir, expertise, olfactometer, VeneTerroir project
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Food Quality and Preference
Book
Volume
58
Issue
Page Range
18-23
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled