From perceptual to conceptual categorization of wines: What is the effect of expertise?

Wine supply in the French market is structured in an intricate system of categories based on origin. There is very little knowledge about consumers understanding of this complex category system and the sensory styles behind these categories. This study investigated how assessors with different level of expertise categorized Beaujolais wines from general to more specific levels of categorization (grape variety, appellation, and “lieu-dit”) in both perceptual (wines) and conceptual (wine labels) conditions. Based on the literature on expertise, we expected a stronger effect in the perceptual condition, in particular for the most specific levels of categorization. For each wine categorization level, three sets of 12 wines were tasted by three panels of 60 assessors: a panel of unfamiliar novices with no much exposure to Beaujolais wines; a panel of familiar novices with regular exposure to Beaujolais wines; and a panel of experts from the Beaujolais. In both perceptual and conceptual conditions, assessors were asked to perform a binary sorting task, followed by a verbalisation task. Data were analysed using DISTATIS. At each level, with a few exceptions, a clearer separation was observed between the two categories in the conceptual condition than in the perceptual condition. Although the experts categorized the labels by grape variety, they did not spontaneously categorize the wines in that way. Finally, we observed a clear expertise effect only in the conceptual condition. This result will be discussed in terms of expertise acquisition and categorization processes.     

Olfactory priming for eating behavior – The influence of non-conscious exposure to food odors on specific appetite,food preferences and intake

Sensory food cues in our surroundings, such as odors, trigger decisions that may lead to (over)eating. These cues occur mainly outside of people’s awareness. Therefore, it is crucial to better understand the effect of (non-consciously exposure of) food odors on behavioral responses. Moreover, sensory-specific appetite suggests that food odor exposure may enhance appetite for products with similar properties in taste and calorie content, inferring that we can detect nutrient content of the food through our sense of smell. Our previous research showed that conscious exposure to macronutrient-related odors influenced specific appetite but not food preferences or intake. However, eating behavior responses may differ depending on the level of awareness of the odor cue. Therefore, in our current study, we aimed to determine the influence of non-conscious exposure to macronutrient-related odors on specific appetite, food preferences and food intake. 34 healthy, normal-weight and unrestrained Dutch females underwent four sessions where they were non-consciously exposed to odors representing food high in carbohydrates, protein and fat, and low-calorie foods. Eating behavior was assessed through a specific appetite questionnaire, a computer task on macronutrient and taste food preferences, and actual food intake by means of a salad bar which included toppings representing the different macronutrients. Results show that non-conscious exposure to macronutrient-signaling odors does not influence congruent appetite, food preferences nor food intake of a main meal. Follow-up research should focus on different odor exposure (intensity and exposure time) and outcomes measures to have a better understanding of olfactory priming on eating behavior.     

Additive trees for the categorization of a large number of objects,with bootstrapping strategy for stability assessment. Application to the free sorting of wine odor terms

In the field of clustering techniques, little attention has been paid to the recovery of a set of clusters from the structure of an additive tree. To bridge this gap, this work presents an original partitioning technique which aims to reveal clusters from an additive tree that represents a large set of objects. Specifically, an algorithm that splits a tree into successive subtrees was developed, based on a ratio of the lengths of edges. The stability of the clusters obtained with this technique was then evaluated using measurements of cohesion and isolation that were generated using a bootstrapping strategy. Finally, the degree of association of each object to clusters was analyzed to gain insight into their internal structure. This analysis was performed on the results of a sorting task conducted by 156 subjects, who were asked to sort 96 terms associated with the odor of wine. The methodology developed in this paper represents an innovative way to highlight groups of terms within a large set of wine odor attributes, with the ultimate goal being to improve the structure of the lexicon.     

Influence of culture on social representation of wines produced by various methods: Natural,organic and conventional

The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the social representation of wines produced by various methods of wine production, in particular in relation to the concept of Distance to the Object (DO). The DO concept postulates that some participants will have a greater knowledge of the object (wine), feel more involved with it, and develop more practices related to wine, than other participants. We compared the social representations of French and New Zealanders of two levels of domain specific expertise (wine professionals; wine consumers) concerning three wine types, natural wine, organic wine, and conventionally-produced wine. Via a preliminary study, we validated our DO questionnaire. In the main analysis, results demonstrated French participants to have a higher level of involvement in wine than New Zealanders, and professionals to have higher levels on involvement, personal identification and capacity for action than consumers. New Zealanders expressed more knowledge and levels of practices than the French, and professionals more than consumers did. Results also showed that organic wine produced the most structured representations (i.e., participants more often quoted the same words) followed by natural wines, with conventional-wine representation the least structured. French participants’ representations were more structured than New Zealanders, and consumers’ representations more structured than those of professionals. Finally, by drawing on data concerning the frequencies, rank and valence of the words evoked by participants, we demonstrated differences in the content of participants’ social representations as a function of wine-production method, culture, and level of domain-specific expertise, demonstrating how these variables influence wine representation.     

Crossmodal correspondence between color,shapes, and wine odors

Crossmodal correspondence is of scientific and commercial interest in regard to the packaging of food and beverages. Research has shown that colors and shapes can be associated with certain aromas, but these interactions have been less extensively studied with authentic visual stimuli (i.e., packaging), or with complex food odors in a matrix. This study investigated odor-color-shape crossmodal interactions with complex odor stimuli (wine odors) and wine labels. The present research used projective mapping with 3D shapes and colors, along with a wine label matching study, to test whether chardonnay odors of different character (buttery, citrus, floral, smoky, and vegetable) were associated with certain colors and shapes. In the projective mapping experiment, most chardonnay odors were grouped similarly; however, the vegetable-forward wine was more associated with sharper shapes. In the label experiment, yellow labels tended to be better matched with all odors, except the vegetable-forward wine, which was matched equally to all colors. These findings indicate that, regardless of odor character, chardonnay is mostly associated with a yellow colored label. Interestingly, results also indicated that not all correspondences aligned with the most common color association of an odor character’s (i.e., vegetative was not strictly associated with green, nor smoky with brown, etc.). Significant correlations were found between stimuli liking and matching scores, speaking to the role of hedonics in correspondences. Overall, the present research demonstrates evidence for odor-color-shape correspondences in complex odors and realistic visual stimuli, but not as strongly as in controlled environments and simplistic stimuli.     

The role of congruency in taste–odor interactions

The present study investigated the role that congruency between tastes and odors plays in two types of taste–odor interactions: retronasal odor enhancement by taste and retronasal odor referral to the mouth. In the first experiment, subjects rated (1) the intensities of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and specific odor of aqueous samples of 3 tastants (sucrose, citric acid, caffeine) and 2 odorants (citral, coffee odor), both alone and in taste–odor mixtures, and (2) the degree of congruency of all possible taste–odor pairs. The results showed that only sucrose significantly enhanced the perceived intensities of citrus and coffee odors (Tukey’s test, p < 0.05), while citric acid and caffeine failed to enhance or even suppressed the odors. In the second experiment, the returning subjects were asked (1) to report the perceived locations of the odors after inhaling 3 odorants (citral, “sweet” and “bitter” coffee odors) through the mouth alone or in the presence of either water or various tastes in the mouth, and (2) to rate the degree of congruency between tastes and odors. The data showed that a highly congruent taste or taste mixture significantly increased localization of odors to the mouth (χ², p < 0.05). These findings suggest that taste–odor congruency is a necessary but not sufficient condition for retronasal odor enhancement. In contrast, taste–odor congruency is a critical component for retronasal odor referral, and the degree of congruency modulates the degree of odor referral to the mouth. The results and implications of the study findings are discussed in terms of cognitive and perceptual factors of flavor perception.     

Burgundy red wines: Representation of potential for aging

This study was conducted to investigate wine professionals’ perception of aging potential of red wines. In the first experiment, 41 wine professionals assessed sixteen commercial Burgundy red wines via a binary categorization task, an aging potential rating task, and a hedonic rating task and an analytic sensory evaluation including an astringency and a bitterness rating task. The wines were also analyzed by High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography with a UV Detector (HPLC-UV) and their color was evaluated using Hue (H*), Lightness (L*) and Chroma (C*) measurements. Results showed that the wines were split into two clusters on the basis of aging potential judgements indicating that the wine professionals had a collective representation of the characteristics of a wine with a potential for aging. Wines with a potential for aging were characterized by low L* and H* and high C* values, a high astringency and a higher concentration of anthocyanins and polyphenol. In a second experiment, 34 wine professionals performed three potential for aging binary sorting task based on (1) visual assessment only, (2) olfacto-gustatory assessment only and (3) overall assessment (visual plus in-mouth). Results showed that the sensory modalities tested were complementary and that visual or olfacto-gustatory assessments alone were not sufficient to explain overall judgments of aging potential.     

The influence of product knowledge on the relative importance of extrinsic product attributes of wine

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of product knowledge, both subjective and objective, on the relative importance of four extrinsic product attributes of wine, namely price, age, brand and region of origin. The relative importance of four product attributes is evaluated comparative to consumers’ self-reported and objectively measured knowledge of wine, using the conjoint analysis technique. The results suggest that product knowledge does influence the relative importance of extrinsic wine attributes in product evaluation, with the price of wine shown to be the dominant attribute regardless of the level of product knowledge expertise. Brand, age and region of origin received differing rankings of importance. Across all four levels of product knowledge, consumers navigate their evaluative product decisions according to the midpoint between most and least expensive wines in their consideration set. Price sensitivity appears to heavily impact consumer evaluation strategies, which serves to inform wine pricing strategies.     

Culture and odor categorization: agreement between cultures depends upon the odors

This study evaluated the effect of culture on the relationship between psychological dimensions underlying odor perception and odor categorization. In a first experiment, French, Vietnamese and American participants rated several perceptual dimensions of everyday odorants, and sorted these odorants on the basis of their similarity. Results showed that the three groups of participants differed in their perceptual judgments but agreed in categorizing the odors into four consensual groups (floral, sweet, bad, and nature). Three dimensions––pleasantness, edibility, cosmetic acceptability––discriminated these groups in the same way in the three countries. In a second experiment, the participants sorted only fruit and flower odors to evaluate whether a consensus emerges at a finer level. Results showed that French and American participants clearly separated fruit from flower odors whereas this separation was nonexistent for Vietnamese participants. This difference could arise from cultural differences in odor functions.     

Extrinsic attributes responsible for red wine quality perception: A cross-cultural study between France and Spain

Understanding quality perception requires focusing both on product proprieties and consumers’ representations. The goal of this study was to access the representations of perceived extrinsic wine quality of consumers from two different wine regions in two European countries with an important wine tradition: La Rioja-RJ-(Spain) and Côtes du Rhône-CdR-(France).Twenty commercial red wines (ten from RJ and ten from CdR) were evaluated in terms of quality by means of a categorization task. Ninety-five French and 93 Spanish consumers had to categorize the 20 wines according to four levels of quality going from very low to very high quality.Three clusters of French and two of Spanish consumers have been identified. Country-of-origin of wine arises as the most important extrinsic cue for less-involved French and Spanish consumers, while more-involved consumers with higher knowledge in wine are able to interpret and use a wider range of cues. Consumers’ knowledge, involvement and nationality appear to be good predictors of quality perception.These results are relevant for the field of sensory analysis in that they help understanding the construction of quality perception. The wine industry can benefit also from these results, especially when exporting wines. This cross-cultural study may help them to develop marketing strategies able to enhance the quality perception of wines and to make use of different extrinsic factors.     

Visual aesthetic perception of handwoven cotton fabrics

We revealed the factors that govern the visual aesthetic perception of handwoven fabrics by performing two psychological experiments to determine the effects of cotton hand-spun yarn on the perceptual and cognitive responses to woven fabrics. First, a free sorting task followed by multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis explored the effect of yarn type (hand-spun, machine-spun, and slub-yarn) on the woven fabric. Visual categorization of the fabrics depended on yarn type. Second, functional and aesthetic perceptions that produced the differences among yarn types were investigated by semantic differential scaling method that collected subjects’ ratings for the fabrics from 17 bipolar adjective pairs. Generalized linear mixed-effects modeling revealed the association between the yarn type and perception expressed by functional and aesthetic words. Visual aesthetic perception of fabrics was also affected by the consumers’ background. Our method and findings can be applied to examine the visual aesthetic of other textile products.     

Exploring the nature of wine expertise: what underlies wine experts' olfactory recognition memory advantage?

To source the locus of the recognition memory advantage demonstrated by wine experts in a previous study [Chem. Senses 27 (2002) 747], we investigated recognition of wine-relevant odours as a function of wine expertise and type of encoding of the to-be-remembered odorants. Fourteen wine experts and 14 wine novices participated in tasks measuring olfactory threshold, odour recognition, and odour identification. Odour recognition memory was investigated as a function of type of encoding task, namely whether participants were required to identify an odorant or to judge an odorant in terms of its pleasantness. Wine-relevant odorants were sampled orthonasally by each participant in the semantic (identification), hedonic (pleasantness rating), and episodic (recognition) memory tasks. Results showed superior olfactory recognition by expert wine judges, despite their olfactory sensitivity, bias measures, and odour-identification ability being similar to those of novices. Contrary to a prediction that wine experts' recognition memory would not be influenced by type of odorant-encoding task, while novices' recognition memory would be inhibited by forced naming of odorants, both groups' olfactory recognition was facilitated by identifying odorants relative to judging odorants in terms of pleasantness. Ability to recognise odours and ability to name odours were not positively correlated, although novices' data showed a trend in this direction. The results imply that the source of superior odour recognition memory in wine experts was not due to enhanced semantic memory and linguistic capabilities for wine-relevant odours, but perceptual skill (e.g., olfactory imaging).     

Impact of ethanol on the perception of wine odorant mixtures

Several studies have focused on perceptual interactions in binary odor mixtures, but few on more complex mixtures. The aroma of wine is an example of a complex odor mixture. Our aim was to assess the impact of ethanol on the perception of mixtures of Woody (whiskey lactone) and Fruity (isoamyl acetate) odorants commonly found, physico-chemically and perceptually, in wine. Physico-chemically, reduced whiskey lactone volatility was observed in hydro-alcoholic solutions. Perceptually, a synergy effect by the Woody on the Fruity odor was observed in aqueous solutions, which disappeared with the addition of ethanol. Conversely, the Woody odor was masked in both aqueous and dilute alcohol solutions. In addition, mixed Woody and Fruity odors were found to mask the so-called Alcohol odor. These results underline the importance of perceptual interactions in the perception of wine bouquet.     

A preliminary study of the relationship between Australian wine consumers' wine expertise and their wine purchasing and consumption behaviour

Few Australian wine companies have the resources to acquire consumer relevant information to assist their strategic decision-making. This exploratory study examined the relationship between Australian consumers' wine expertise and their self-reported wine related behaviours, such as wine purchasing and consumption. A measure of consumer wine expertise developed specifically for the Australian consumer, comprising a wine knowledge test and an aroma identification (sensory) test, was used to segment 61 wine consumers into three expertise levels. A large positive correlation between wine expertise and formal wine training was demonstrated. Data showed that females dominated the low and males the high expertise groups, respectively. The high expertise level consumers spent more on wine, purchased more bottles and fewer casks per month and consumed more wine in a week than the low and medium expertise groups. Analysis revealed significant differences between the styles of wine consumed by the various expertise levels. A combination of Factor and Cluster analyses generated three distinct consumer segment profiles based on wine purchase drivers. These preliminary data indicate that wine consumers' wine behaviour may be influenced by their wine expertise.     

Do wine experts share the same mental representation? A drawing elicitation study with wine makers,sellers, and critics

Wine experts’ mental representations have often been studied by comparing experts and novices without differentiating between the types of experts. Yet, it seemed that experts developed skills through their training and practice, and thus may have different wine representations. The first objective of this study was to examine the effect of experts’ background and actual occupation on their wine representation. Beaujolais was used as a case study as this vineyard was in constant evolution with the emergence of new mentions such as Pierres Dorées. The second objective was to evaluate how new information was integrated in experts’ mental representation. Three panels were recruited: wine makers, wine sellers, and wine critics. To access their mental representations, a drawing elicitation method was combined with an interview. The results highlighted a common structure in the representations of experts based on two poles: the first pole was linked to the environment and the vineyard, and the second pole was linked to the intrinsic aspects of wines. This universal mental representation of wine would be based on the experts' long-term memory knowledge acquired during training. Some differences linked to the experts’ profession, experience and exposure were also observed. These differences could be explained in terms of perceptual learning. Through shared experiences and exposures, experts with similar occupations and backgrounds developed similar mental representations (e.g., wine makers or wine sellers). Conversely, despite a common occupation, experts with a different experience, practice and background developed idiosyncratic wine representations (e.g., wine critics).     

Expertise and memory for beers and beer olfactory compounds

Do beer experts have better recognition memory for beers than novices? And can recognition memory for beers be predicted on the basis of recognition memory for beer odor compounds? We compared the memory performance of “beer experts” and novices in two recognition tasks. The first task was performed ortho- and retronasally with beers, and the second orthonasally with beer odor compounds. As a control we also compared the performance of “experts” and novices on an identification task and a same/different discrimination task. “Beer experts” outperformed novices in both the identification task and the recognition memory task with both beers and odor compounds, but only for beers they had been trained on (familiar beers), and regardless of the type of odors (familiar vs. unfamiliar). “Experts” were only marginally superior in the beer discrimination task. This suggests that the experts’ advantage in recognition memory is likely to have its source in more efficient coding and retrieval in long-term memory, rather than in better perceptual ability. No significant correlation was found between odor and beer memory performance, which suggests that, during training, “experts” might develop independent memory structures for odor compounds and for beers.