Adaptation of expert wine assessors to less familiar sensory testing methods without pretraining

Wine sensory testing is carried out by assessors who are usually selected and prepared depending on the test type, and their skills may vary depending on various factors. Expert wine assessors should have superior sensory evaluation abilities, an expert grape and wine knowledge level but even more assessment competence. The aim of this research was to test the competencies of certified Croatian expert wine assessors using a less-familiar descriptive sensory methodology with no preliminary training. These assessors are highly educated in viticulture and/or enology and work in this sector. They have certified sensory skills and shorter or longer experience in sensory testing wines with Geographical indications. Twenty-three assessors participated in the study, and the results were segmented by gender and age. The testing was performed in a laboratory accredited by ISO/IEC 17025. Graševina and Zweigelt wines were tested, and two groups of attributes were analyzed (main quality attributes and specific aroma descriptors). Qualitative and quantitative statistics showed that expert wine assessors had a very similar approach in the choice of descriptors and the perception of their intensity. No difference was obtained in testing any attribute and descriptor, neither for any wine nor between segmented groups concerning age. A significant difference was observed only between women and men in their perception of the two specific aroma descriptors. The results confirmed that combining expert knowledge and experience based on professional education and continuous analytical work can replace a lack of experience in some less-familiar methods.