The colors of wine

Abstract

Purpose:

This work examined the color measurement and color appearance of wine under various illumination types in order to assess the importance of illumination in the sensory evaluation of wine.

Materials and methods:

Six finished retail wines were measured in 8 different spectrophotometric and spectroradiometric geometries, both in analytical cuvettes and International Organization for Standardization tasting glasses. The resulting spectral transmittance data were analyzed colorimetrically using 2 color spaces (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage L*a*b* and Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage Color Appearance Model 02) to examine the effects of both measurement geometry and viewing condition on the appearance of wines.

Results:

The results clearly indicate that measurement geometry is critical in wine color assessment and that the lighting used to view wines, as well as the lighting levels, can have significant impact on the perceived colors of wines and ultimately the judgments made in sensory evaluation procedures.

Conclusion:

Standardization of lighting type, level, spectral characteristics, and geometry are needed for careful and consistent sensory evaluation of wine color. Recommendations are made for a relatively simple way to achieve this.

Video abstract

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Keywords::

• colorimetry
• illumination
• appearance
• sensory evaluation

Acknowledgments

The author thanks David R Wyble of RIT and Avian Rochester for his assistance in setting up and executing the measurements. The staff and instructors of the New York Wine and Culinary Center as also thanked for helping to inspire this work.

Author contributions

The author selected the wines, designed and executed all the experimental protocols, completed all computations, made all the figures, wrote the paper, and made sure that the remaining wine was properly disposed of. The author contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.