A new way to taste (analyze) wine?

[Robin Garr]

This just in from a pal who frequently finds and circulates this kind of material:

From the Institute of Food Technologists . . .

Research Briefs

Using taste dilution to analyze wine

We sniff and slurp wine to determine and describe its taste, but what chemicals are responsible for the perceptions we have? Researchers from the Univ. de Zaragoza in Spain have developed a new procedure for the general taste dilution of wine and tested the method using five different wines with markedly different technological and taste differences.

The taste dilution chromatograms showed that taste differences between wines are mainly related to bitterness and astringency, and that in both categories proanthocyanidins play a determinant role. The authors say their proposed method is reliable and does not seem to introduce changes in the tastant composition of wine, and could be used to compare the chemical composition and properties of different wines.

Optimization and Validation of a Taste Dilution Analysis to Characterize Wine Taste
Journal Food Science. OnlineEarly.
doi:10.1111/j.1750-3841.2007.00424.x

The story and link to the pertinent research is in last week's newsletter of The Journal of Food Science:

http://members.ift.org/IFT/Pubs/Newslet ... #research1

If one scrolls down on this website, there is an interesting piece about 'using aroma to characterise Touriga Nacional wines". Thanks boss.

Interesting stuff! It will certainly give the lab people another wine evaluation tool. I think the big limitation, though, is with the more volatile stuff that we smell more than taste. From everything I've read, those components are very important in determining one's overall impression of a wine and this particular technique won't include them. Still, it's a neat analysis.