Linking Sensory Properties and Chemical Composition of Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon Grape Berries to Wine

Abstract

It is conventional wine industry practice for winemakers and grapegrowers to taste winegrapes to determine their fitness for producing various wine styles of different quality. However, the ability to predict wine style from tasting grapes is unverified, and the relationship among the sensory characters of grapes and wine is poorly understood. The objective of the study was to investigate the sensory properties of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and the corresponding wines, and to determine the relationships between the two data sets. Grapes were harvested between 23 and 25 Brix from eight locations across the state of South Australia over two vintages and vinified using a standardized protocol. A total of 25 samples from across the eight locations were harvested for each vintage. The grapes and wines were evaluated by a sensory panel trained in descriptive analysis. Grapes were evaluated using the berry sensory assessment (BSA) methodology previously described in the literature, and the basic chemical parameters of the grapes and wines were measured. Samples were consistently discriminated by their chemical and sensory properties within the grape and by wine data sets across the vintages. Five sensory attributes of wine were consistently modeled with moderate to high regressions using BSA attributes and berry-chemical measures. Finding berry sensory attributes that consistently relate to wine style and profile remains challenging. The basic chemical measures, including Brix, anthocyanins, and chroma of grape homogenates, were reliable contributors to wine sensory attributes for both vintages.