Phenolic Extraction From Red Hybrid Winegrapes
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Cool or cold climate wine regions rely on hybrid winegrapes to produce wines and directto-consumer sales to sell wines profitably. Red wine phenolics affect wine quality by contributing to the color, mouthfeel, and ageability of wines. Improving wine techniques that will better extract these compounds can result in higher quality wines. The ability to produce high quality wines is especially important for those regions that rely on hybrid grapes for winemaking. Previous studies investigating the effect of winemaking techniques on phenolic extraction have suggested that exogenous tannin addition can improve color stability and color intensity, as well as increase condensed tannin precursors. However, other studies assessing exogenous tannin addition find no significant differences in the phenolic concentration of finished wines. Furthermore, as most of these studies examine wines produced from V. vinifera winegrapes, it is necessary to determine the impact of exogenous tannin addition in wines made from hybrid winegrapes. This study explores the ways commercial tannin addition affect the phenolic concentration of Maréchal Foch, Arandell, and Corot noir wines. Findings suggest that tannin addition timing may affect phenolic concentration; however, commercially recommended dosage may be too low to produce a difference in sensory characteristics finished wines, as previous studies have suggested. Wine sensory descriptors are used to attract consumers to a particular wine and influence their purchase decision. Consumers perceive wine purchase as a risk, not only because the product is complex, challenging, and intimidating, but also because the sensory experience is the greatest concern. The inclusion of sensory descriptors may reduce risk and help consumers with purchasing decisions, especially when they are unable to sample the wine. In winery tasting rooms, sensory descriptors are often included on tasting sheets to describe a wine's aroma and flavor to customers. Determining the impact of tasting sheet sensory descriptors on overall tasting room wine sales is important, especially to wineries that rely on direct-to-consumer sales as the primary source of sales, because the majority of their sales are made in the tasting room. Previous studies in both the food and wine industry show that sensory descriptors increase product sales and consumer appeal. Existing literature, however, focuses on retail settings that may offer a wide selection from many brands and do not, for the most part, allow sampling before purchase. This means that consumers must make choices based on brand recognition and not taste. In a winery tasting room, on the other hand, consumers are encouraged to try many different wines before purchasing. A consumer's decision when supplied with samples, as opposed to just sensory descriptors, may not be the same. There has been no research to determine the effect that sensory descriptors provided with product samples have on consumer choice. Furthermore, there have been no studies investigating the efficacy of sensory descriptors included on tasting sheets. Therefore, we conducted a study in collaboration with nine New York tasting rooms to determine the impact of tasting sheet sensory descriptors on wine sales. We found that tasting sheets without sensory descriptors increased both bottle and dollar sales, with dollar sales being statistically significant at the ten percent level. Other variables that impacted wine sales included the specific tasting room, the day of the weekend, and festivals occurring in the area.