When it comes to wine experts, some are more alike than others.
Concordia researcher Bianca Grohmann found that geographic location is a factor affecting how Canadian wine experts rate quality, as well as some of wine’s sensory attributes — things like balance and acidity.
“We discovered a ‘two solitudes’-type situation in the results between two panels of wine experts from distinct geographic areas: one panel from the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, and one panel from Montreal, Quebec,” says Grohmann, a marketing professor at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business, who co-authored the study with Camilo Peña and Annamma Joy.
“This has implications for the general public because consumers shouldn’t think of wine experts as having one voice, but as distinct and influenced by their location and tradition,” says Grohmann, co-director of the Centre for Sensory Studies.
“Our work shows how flavour profiles are perceived and received differently in two regions, which can inform marketing decisions.”
Grohmann’s findings, published recently in The Journal of Wine Research, note that Montreal wine experts detected more acidity, bitterness, oak, spice, green bell pepper, balance, vegetal and taint or “off” flavour compared to the Okanagan panel.
Oddly, both groups detected a stronger berry aroma in completely different wines. Additionally, the Okanagan panel gave higher quality scores where they detected more spicy aromas, whereas the Montreal panel put more weight on a wine’s balance.