Written by GARY SPEDDING, PH.D.
A BRIEF HISTORY AND USE OF
SENSORY FLAVOR WHEELS And a Move Beyond
An INTRODUCTION and a Sip of Wine— A Noble Effort
A
roma and flavor wheels have been used as important tools in sensory evaluation by consumers and, more significantly, for the training of sensory panelists for several decades now. [https://www. winearomawheel.com/ann-noble-aroma-wheel. html]. We shall see an early parallel development of such instruments aiding scientists and consumers to better gauge the profiles and qualities of beer, wine, and spirits. So follows a brief history of sensory evaluation and flavor wheels particularly in regards to an American consumer perspective. A few more technical points and definitions provided along the way will assist in the further development and understanding of sensory evaluation for the craft distiller. We begin this story with wine and its flavor wheel. For U.S. consumers, this is the most familiar one. It began in earnest in the realm of enology, and quality control perceptions of white and red wines by Ann Noble, who conducted research on wine flavor compounds in the department of viticulture and enology at UC Davis.
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Her work involved the detection and identification of varietal wine aroma compounds, and this led to more technical flavor descriptions. Until then hedonic terms were used by consumers and untrained individuals. Hedonic means relating to or considered in terms of pleasant (or unpleasant) sensations, a concept or term dating from the mid-17th century (Greek hēdonikos, from hēdonē ‘pleasure’). In other words, hedonics relates to the degree a consumer accepts and is satisfied with a product, often using their own expressive terminology — harmonious, smooth, round, harsh, balanced, etc. Such words do not qualify a product from the viewpoint of its actual aromatic composition or desirable traits. Consumers in such testing might be asked to define one or more specific attributes, provide free-choice words to profile a product, or asked about the relative importance of each of a few listed attributes, based on a product comparison along with competitor samples [http://www.attestia.com/A/serv_01_1.html]. Then line scales were introduced to determine relative “intensity” or “perception” of an attribute. For example, a nine-point hedonic scale pioneered by the Quartermaster Food Institute for the Armed Forces in
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