Abstract
The outcomes of theme 5 fall broadly within three categories. Firstly, the project built capacity in the consumer sensory, experimental winemaking and chemical analysis domains at the NWGIC. Secondly, the project developed new methods within those same areas. Finally, the project identified wine styles that appeal to consumers, how they can be developed and possibly even how they could be marketed.
Summary
Research in this report has shown that a substantial sensory profile can be produced for young Hunter Valley Semillon (HVS) which would be suited for immediate consumption. Furthermore, one style was identified that possessed both early drinking appeal and an apparent aging potential. Further research is needed to discover the winemaking and viticultural practices that lead to each of the four styles defined, as well as consumer preference research to determine whether all styles appeal to consumers.
In addition fresh fruit characters and acid-sugar balance were found to be important drivers of preference for HVS. To a lesser extent, developed characters were important to a specialised segment of the market. An avenue for Hunter Valley Semillon to become even more approachable to consumers, with a new focus on an early drinking style, was discussed.
It is hoped that quintessential HVS, “one of Australia’s great gifts to the world of wine”, will become more popular with consumers in the long term, as they are introduced to the early drinking style and graduate to other styles.
The influence of the level of critical tasting and industry experience on sweet preference for consumer categories, reported here, has not been previously reported in the scientific literature. This investigation demonstrated that each consumer category based on knowledge, experience and involvement in the wine industry, preferred different levels of residual sugar and sweetness in HVS. Experienced consumers preferred wines with less added glucose than did the novice group and significant differences existed at high glucose additions (32.0 g L-1). Research confirmed the necessity to control for level of experience within a general consumer group, not just between consumers and ‘experts’. Results suggest that a higher than typical residual sugar level may increase consumer acceptance of HVS for novice and expert consumers alike, but may also alter winemaker’s acceptance of specific styles of this wine. The use of paired comparison tests also enabled a quantitative basis for winemakers to produce HVS with a range of residual sugars appropriate to the acceptance of the consumer. By choosing test wines that were not typically associated with overt sweetness, the most likely conditions to find differences between ‘experts’, ‘novices’ and winemaker consumers have been fulfilled. Having established differences do exist between specific consumer groups for sweet preference in HSV, future research is now required to extend this investigation to other wine styles, and broader consumer segments such as specific export markets of importance to the wine industry.
The effect of three years bottle age on HVS has been investigated using sensory descriptive analysis. Different HVS wine styles have been shown to develop at different rates. The ability of many HVS wines to retain their original primary fruit character whilst also developing desirable aged attributes has also been demonstrated.