Sensory characterisation and factors influencing quality of wines made from 18 minor varieties (Vitis vinifera L.)

• Sensorial study of wines obtained from 18 local cultivars has been performed.
• Vintage, Quality Demarcation and agronomical factors influenced sensorial attributes.
• The wines were mapped according to the preference of 21 expert wine tasters.
• Sensorial attributes and agronomical parameters were correlated.
• Minor cultivar wines have strong market possibilities in changing oenological market.

One of the most important challenges in the global market of wine production is to match the preferences of consumers with both wine sensorial characteristics and the growing interest in sociological and environmental aspects. Use of minor grapevines might be strong candidates to satisfy these emerging consumer requirements. However, the potential of most of these cultivars are unknown. The wine quality is difficult to assay, nevertheless quantitative and descriptive analyses are the most used methods in wine sensory characterisation.This study presents the sensory description of wines made from 18 local cultivars, which were analysed from two vintages. The influence of vintage, Denomination of Origin (DO) and agronomical parameters over sensorial attributes were assessed by 21 expert wine tasters. Some wines made from minor varieties were better scored by experts compared to the wines made from varieties allowed in Spanish DOs, underlining the oenological possibilities of these minor cultivar wines.Wine sensory analysis showed significant correlation between sensory attributes and agronomical parameters, with vegetative and productive agronomical parameters inversely influencing aroma and taste scored by experts. Our results suggest that the management of agricultural parameters has the potential to improve the wine quality. This study also highlights the interesting possibilities of the minor varieties in the wine market.