Consumer mental recognition of the sensory space of dry white wines “mellowed” by aging

The purpose of the present study was (a) to assess the consumer understanding of aging among different wine types and (b) to check if consumers, using a descriptive questionnaire, recognize the “mellowed dry white wine” conceptual space. A total of 680 worldwide participants, grouped according to their involvement in the wine business, replied to an online questionnaire aiming to understand the white wine aging features and to characterize its sensory descriptors. These descriptors were selected using a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) approach, concerning wine color, aroma, taste, mouthfeel, and global appreciation. Most consumers (62.8 %) preferred old red to old white wines. Regarding age perception, 50.3 % of the consumers considered old a white wine with 6 to 10 years, while 48.1 % regarded a red wine as old with 11 to 20 years. Nevertheless, 12.2 % believed that a white wine ages better than a red wine. The involvement level did not significantly influence the sensory descriptions of aged dry white wines for the most frequently cited descriptors. Therefore, the generated tasting script was broadly characterized by (a) ‘deep yellow’ to ‘deep gold’ color, (b) aromas of ‘dried fruit’, ‘honey’, ‘caramel’ and ‘oak’, (c) ‘acid taste’, and (d) mouthfeel dominated by ‘body’, ‘length’, ‘viscosity’, ‘smoothness’ and ‘dryness’. Furthermore, global appreciation includes terms such as ‘complex’, ‘persistent’, ‘rich’, ‘concentrated in flavors’, and ‘evolved’. This overall sensory space is consistent with the metaphorical concept of “mellowed by age” wines that seem to be understood by consumers with high and low involvement levels.