2.4. Sensory Evaluation

Four wine sensory assessments were carried out over the study period, each one approximately 15 days after the performance of the gas chromatography determinations. The panel consisted of 6 to 10 professional enologists (25–50 years of age, 25% females and 75% males), most of them from the wineries that supplied the wine samples. All wines were tasted in the same session, but the sessions were not replicated due to the availability of the tasting panel. The wines were served in standard tasting glasses coded with random numbers and covered with a watch-glass to minimize the loss of volatile compounds. Testing temperature was 10 °C and room temperature was 20–22 °C. A card of 7 aromatic attributes (floral, fruity, grass, spicy, woody, sulfurous, and caramel) accompanied by a scale from 0 to 10 to rate the intensity of each nuance in each wine sample, where 0 indicated that the descriptor was not perceived and 10 indicated the highest intensity. In addition, panellists must score the global quality of the wine sample both at the aroma (olfactory) and taste (mouthfeel) levels, as well as provide a global mark for the wine overall quality.