Sensory transfer between handfeel touch and mouthfeel: A guide for developing a tool to describe mouthfeel properties of red wines

The importance of mouthfeel in the comprehensive evaluation of red wine quality is widely acknowledged; however, instruments that are capable of differentiating between wines based on this attribute are scarce. The objective of this study was to develop handfeel touch reference materials that can be used to describe mouthfeel characteristics of red wine. This was achieved through a transdisciplinary approach based on the hypothesis that sensory transfer occurs between handfeel and mouthfeel. An initial list of 44 mouthfeel terms was compiled by 193 technical experts, wine sellers and regular consumers, from which 25 terms were selected for further consideration. Applying an art-based methodology, 74 handfeel touch reference standards were developed to exemplify the 25 mouthfeel terms. First, the capacity of the tactile references to differentiate between red wines was validated through a check-all-that-apply (CATA) strategy, with 31 participants describing six red wines. Then a sorting task was conducted on the 74 references, and the 19 most discriminant references were selected for inclusion in a final set of handfeel touch reference materials. The findings support the initial hypothesis of the study, namely that sensory associations exist between handfeel and wine mouthfeel. The results demonstrate that differences in the mouthfeel properties of wines can be described by the proposed CATA-based approach involving handfeel touch references. This confirms the sensory correspondence of handfeel cues and mouthfeel sensations elicited by red wines. The study provides practical guidelines for the development of reference materials that can be used to describe wine perception and to explore the mouthfeel perceptual space of wines.