INFLUENCE OF APPEARANCE ON THE ASSESSMENT OF AROMA IN BORDEAUX WINES BY TRAINED ASSESSORS

Abstract

Similarity‐scaling approaches and INDSCAL analysis were used to survey 1976 Bordeaux wines presented to trained assessors in four ways: (i) in clear (colourless) glasses with instructions to assess both appearance and aroma attributes; (ii) in clear glasses with instruction to assess aroma, ignoring visual cues; (iii) in clear glasses but under red illumination; and (iv) in coloured glasses, with instruction to assess similarities using aroma only. The results indicated that when instructed to ignore appearance, assessors as a whole succeeded in doing so, providing similar information to that which was obtained in red glasses or under red illumination. When differences in wines are assessed using both appearance and aroma, there is evidence to indicate that some aroma attributes are being assessed differently from when the assessors could not see the wine or were instructed to ignore its appearance. 1984 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling