How Blending Affects the Sensory and Chemical Properties of Red Wine

Abstract

Three monovarietal wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet franc) were used to produce 11 two-wine blends and four three-wine blends to study the changes in the sensory perception of the blends using descriptive analysis. In addition, chemical analyses (solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, polyphenol composition, titratable and volatile acidity, and pH) were performed to evaluate whether the sensory perception of the wine blends was matched by chemical parameters. A comparison of all data sets was performed with multifactor analysis and revealed that the overall results of both sensory and chemical analyses were very similar to those obtained from the sensory analysis alone, but none of the chemical analyses provided the same results as descriptive analysis.