Detection of red wine faults over time with flash profiling and the electronic tongue

Abstract

Wine faults, often caused by spoilage microorganisms, are considered negative sensory attributes, and may result in substantial economic losses. The objective of this study was to use the electronic tongue (e-tongue) and flash sensory profiling (FP) to evaluate changes in red wine over time due to the presence of different spoilage microorganisms. Merlot wine was inoculated with one of the following microorganisms: Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Lactobacillus brevis, Pediococcus parvulus, or Acetobacter pasteurianus. These wines were analyzed weekly until Day 42 using the e-tongue and FP, with microbial plate counts. Over time, both FP and e-tongue differentiated the wines. The e-tongue showed a low discrimination among microorganisms up to Day 14 of storage. However, at Day 21 and continuing to Day 42, the e-tongue discriminated among the samples with a discrimination index of 91. From the sensory FP data, assessors discriminated among the wines starting at Day 28. Non-spoilage terms were used to describe the wines at significantly higher frequency for all time points until Day 42, at which point the use of spoilage terms was significantly higher (p < 0.05). These results suggest that application of these novel techniques may be the key to detecting and limiting financial losses associated with wine faults.