Use of Production Practices and Sensory Attributes to Characterize Loire Valley Red Wines

Quality wines are typically the product of soil, climate, and wine production practices. Sensory attributes are increasingly used to distinguish among protected designation of origin (PDO) wines. Since 2010, the International Organization of Vine and Wine has taken all such parameters into account in an official definition of terroir. However, links between production practices and sensory attributes in geographically circumscribed PDO areas had not been investigated until now. Production practices and sensory attributes of distinct PDO wines within the same area were assessed. The production practices of producers of 33 commercial PDO wines from the Loire Valley, France, were surveyed, including vineyard training systems, viticulture, harvest timing, winemaking, and aging practices. Descriptive sensory analysis was conducted to characterize the significant sensory attributes of these same wines. PDO wines were separated from one another by classical statistical analyses. About 25% of the analyzed production practices and less than 50% of the analyzed sensory attributes could differentiate PDO wines produced in the same area: percentage of Cabernet franc, time of leaf removal, harvest date, yield, duration of fermentation, duration of aging and use of oak, color intensity, viscosity, cloudiness, blackcurrant, prune, spicy, moldy, animal, bitterness, and astringency. Relationships between some production practices and sensory attributes were identified. Results demonstrate that, under similar climatic conditions and soil characteristics, production practices and sensory attributes can distinguish PDO wines in well-defined geographic areas.