Understanding Regional Sensory Profiles of White Wines in Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Donohue, Marielle
- Graduate Program:
- Food Science
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 20, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Helene Hopfer, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
John Hayes, Committee Member
Kathleen Marie Kelley, Committee Member
Robert F Roberts, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Pennsylvania
White Wines
Descriptive Analysis
Free Sorting
Sensory Science - Abstract:
- There has not been much research on the sensory properties of commercial Pennsylvanian (PA) wines, despite the region’s history in wine production. Changes to the state’s liquor laws in 2016 allow grocery stores and other convenience stores (such as gas stations) to sell wines, necessitating further research in order to set PA wines apart from their regional and international competitors on a grocery shelf. One way to build trust with consumers is establishing regions of origin – sensory profiles unique to specific locales. Regions of origin are beneficial to all producers and brands that fall in the regional designation, and thus could help the PA wine industry both differentiate themselves from competitors and improve the overall recognition of PA wines. Therefore, this thesis explores the viability of sensorially distinct wine regions within Pennsylvania. The first part of this research explores the sensory distinctness of Pennsylvanian wine regions as they stand, using commercial samples of Riesling and Vidal blanc wines from wineries across the state. Using a trained descriptive analysis panel, differences were found mainly in basic tastes, most likely a result from post-harvest processing (back-sweetening, for example), showing that stylistic winemaker decisions influenced the final state of the wine. The northwest region of the state, by Lake Erie, was characterized by sweeter wines in both Riesling and Vidal blanc varieties, and a more consistent sensory profile. This could be due to the geographical proximity of wineries in this region, which would encourage and necessitate interactions between winemakers and industry professionals. The southeast region was characterized by a semi-distinct profile in their Riesling wines, which were much drier than the northwest, however this was not mirrored in the Vidal blanc wines from this region. Based on these findings, it became apparent that wine professionals should also be tested, to see if these regional sensory profiles (such as those from the northwest) can be identified by the wine professionals themselves, and if they acknowledge these regions when tasting their wines. Wine professionals from across the state were invited to participate in a free-sorting task of the same Riesling and Vidal blanc wines in order to understand their perceptions regarding similarities and differences without lengthy training. This sorting task found similar results to the descriptive analysis, showing that the wine professionals perceived similar patterns to the trained panel. However, these professionals did not acknowledge the different regions when asked to describe their groupings, meaning more work should follow to understand if wine professionals can group wines based on region if explicitly prompted. The sorting task did enable the south-central region, which was previously not acknowledged by the panel, to be shown as a semi-distinct region mainly trending towards drier wines. This body of research has found wine regions to be a potential marketing technique for the Pennsylvania wine industry and presents novel research into an emerging fine wine region in the United States.