Sensory-active compounds influencing wine experts' and consumers' perception of red wine intrinsic quality

There is a lack of studies focusing on the chemical compounds involved in quality perception. The present work combines both sensory and chemical approaches with the final goal of evaluating the sensory-active compounds influencing wine experts' and consumers' perception of red wine quality. Perceived quality was categorised by 108 consumers and 119 experts according to four levels going from very low to very high quality. In parallel, samples were described by a descriptive trained panel and volatile and non-volatile chemicals with known sensory activity were quantified. Wines with higher concentrations of eugenol, E- and Z-whislcylactones and 4-ethylphenol (discussed in terms of matrix effect) are perceived higher in quality by consumers, while fusel alcohols and astringent-related compounds such as PAs, cis-aconitic acid, certain flavonols and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives are linked to lower quality samples. In contrast, experts perceived wines with lower levels of whiskylactones and volatile phenols while higher levels of norisoprenoids to be higher in quality. These results increase the understanding of wine quality perception and can give the wine industry knowledge of the main sensory-active compounds driving quality for different wine consumers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.