Sensory profile and check-all-that-apply (cata) as tools for evaluating and characterizing syrah wines aged with oak chips

Aging wine in oak barrels provides more complexity to the beverage, but due to the high cost of wood barrels, alternative aging methodologies such as the use of oak chips gain interest of winemakers in the new world of wines, particularly in the tropical regions. This paper reports the sensory profile and consumer perception of Syrah wine produced in the Sao Francisco Valley, Brazil, with the addition of American and French oak chips at different stages of the fermentation process. Higher intensity of color, coffee, woody, and sweet/caramelized aromas, sweet and woody taste were observed in the age wines as compared to a control wine (no chip addition). An affective sensory test (N = 129) revealed two segments of consumers exhibiting different attitudes to the wines: one group (N = 60) rejected all samples, whereas the other (N = 69) liked them moderately. In short, the findings provide relevant information for stakeholders in the new world of wine where oak barrels impact negatively on the cost of production of wines, as is the case in Brazil.