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Winemaker’s Bookshelf


Jackson’s handbook explores a huge range of sensory evaluation techniques in explaining what a wine-tasting pro needs to know.


I


know. I didn’t dream up a pun for this column’s headline. I’m sorry about that. The title of the book said it all. Wine Tasting. A Professional Handbook, by Ronald S. Jackson. Elsevier/Academic Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-12-374181-3.


Jackson is affiliated with the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University in St. Catherines, ON.


I’ve had this book for several years but didn’t get around to reading and reviewing it until a couple of months ago. To start reading a technical book that is more than 500 pages is a substantial commitment. I wish I had read it sooner. I was impressed with the thoroughness with which Jackson covered the subject. The early chapters deal with sensory physiology. How do we interface with the world around us. What are the limitations of sight, smell, taste, and touch? How does our brain interpret the data that is sent to it?


Can these sensations be quantified? Do other people have the same sensory experiences that we do?


Are there definable experiences that can be communicated from one person to another so that the third person can accurately know what you have experienced?


The short answer to the sensory questions is “No.”


Could you accurately describe a colour so that another person could pick it out from a colour palette which contains a million shades and intensities of colour?


Could you describe an aroma to the extent that another person could choose it from a series of smells that have a range of qualities and intensities?


I like the way in which he has 32 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2016


By Gary Strachan Title isn’t catchy, but it sure works


organized the discussion of wine tasting ability. It is dependent on inherent acuity, memory, and recall. For example, the typical threshold at which we can detect a compound may be (say) 1 mg/L for a


cinnamon-like aroma. Some may be able to detect the aroma at 0.1 mg/L and others only at 5 mg/L.


Jackson has cited studies which demonstrated that memory is more important than sensory acuity for tasters who identify particular odorants. In other words, experience and training is important for wine evaluation panelists.


The third attribute is recall. How often have you been trying to identify a wine quality but it doesn’t quite come to you until someone says something like “it smells like my mother’s apple pie?”


This happens all the time in tasting rooms when a wine is described by a set of standard terms. Suddenly, all heads in the room nod when the wine is described as having notes of


raspberry, cherry, vanilla, and black currant.


There is a great deal about wine tasting that is subjective, and Jackson has explored the strengths and limitations of a huge range of sensory evaluation techniques.


One of the most interesting points was his detailed discussion of the various ways in which panels can be


organized and what kind of data you can expect to get from them. For


example, if you charge a panel


with screening


for faults, they are more likely to find fault than if you ask a panel to rank wines for overall quality. Expert panels can be employed for a great many useful tasks in assessing wines, and during wine production, but there are limitations. Panelists must be screened for reproducibility and for sensory acuity. Panels must also be


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