Comparison of Conventional Profiling by a Trained Tasting Panel and Free Profiling by Wine Professionals

Abstract

In the wine industry, wine is often characterized by professional tasters. Methods commonly used in sensory analysis, or “conventional profiling,” require intensive, experiment-specific training and thus cannot be applied by a panel of untrained tasters, even if they are wine professionals. More spontaneous methods such as free profiling do not require time-intensive training sessions. This study compares wine characterizations obtained through free profiling by wine professionals with conventional profiling by a panel of trained judges. Data were analyzed by multiple factor analysis. Representations provided by the two methods are broadly similar, but reveal some disparities. Free profiling may be a good compromise to obtain meaningful results from untrained but knowledgeable wine professionals.