Demystifying Wine Expertise: Olfactory Threshold, Perceptual Skill and Semantic Memory in Expert and Novice Wine Judges

Abstract

We investigated recognition and identification of wine-relevant odours as a function of domain-specific expertise. Eleven wine experts and 11 wine novices participated in tasks measuring olfactory threshold, odour recognition, odour identification, and consistency of odour naming. Twenty-four wine-relevant odorants were sampled orthonasally by each participant in the semantic (identification; consistency of naming) and episodic (recognition) memory tasks. Results showed superior olfactory recognition by expert wine judges, despite their olfactory sensitivity and bias measures being similar to those of novices. Contrary to predictions based on reports of an association between odour memory and semantic processing, wine experts did not perform better than novices on the verbal memory tasks. Further, ability to recognize odours and ability to name odours were not positively correlated, although the novices' data showed a trend in this direction. The results imply that the source of superior odour recognition in wine experts was not enhanced semantic memory and linguistic capabilities for wine-relevant odours. One interpretation of the data is that wine experts were less susceptible than wine novices to verbal overshadowing. When forced to identify the odorants, experts' superior perceptual skills protected them from verbal interference, whereas novices' generated verbal representations of the odours were emphasized at the expense of the odorant itself. This has implications for training in wine-evaluation skills.

The nose knows: influence of colour on perception of wine aroma

“…Experts were defined in accordance with previous studies (Melcher and Schoeler, 1996;Bende and Nordin, 1997), using criteria outlined in Parr et al (2002). A person was defined as an expert if they fitted at least one of the following categories:…”

Finding Sensory Profilers Amongst Red Wine Composition: A Novel Nationwide Approach

“…Instead the professional wine experts were asked to fill individually the questionnaires according to their prototypical long-term memory of each PGI red wine sensory profile, this method to be considered feasible and challenging to characterize macro-zoning or nationwide spaces. A restrictive approach to Parr (Parr et al, 2002) has been made to select expert respondents. The questionnaire was designed according to the classical three-tier sensory method of assessment: visual, aromatic and gustatory/tactile attributes (Noble et al, 1987;Fischer et al, 1999;Gawel et al, 2000;Gawel et al, 2001;Hernández et al, 2009).…”

“Does a Glass of White Wine Taste Like a Glass of Domain Sigalas Santorini Asirtiko Athiri 2005?” A Biosemiotic Approach to Wine-Tasting

“…Some studies (Solomon 1990(Solomon , 1997 have shown that sommeliers surpass by far novices when it comes to associate and identify wines. Others (Bende and Nordin 1997;Parr et al 2002) have found no meaningful difference between the discriminatory performances of the expert and the novice. Though results rarely concur, most researchers readily admit that sommeliers are experts of sorts endowed with a remarkably dense lexical system.…”