Blind Tasting of Champagne

Dataset behind the article: "Grape Expectations: How the proportion of white grape in Champagne affects the ratings of experts and social drinkers in a blind tasting" Flavour 2013, 2:25 doi:10.1186/2044-7248-2-25 Background Champagnes (or sparkling wines that are made using the ‘méthode champenoise’) are composed of white and/or red wine grapes. Their relative proportions are thought to contribute to a sparkling wine’s distinctive flavour profile, but this has not yet been tested empirically. We, therefore, conducted a blind tasting experiment in which the participants had to report the perceived proportion of white grapes in a range of seven sparkling wines (including six Champagnes). Results The participants, including four expert, six intermediate, and five novice Champagne tasters, were unable to accurately judge the percentage of white grapes in the wines. Instead, the perceived proportion of white grape was correlated with the dosage and alcohol content of the wines. The hedonic ratings for the Champagnes did not correlate with price. Further, the more expensive Champagnes were only appreciated by the expert tasters. Conclusions Dosage and alcohol content appear to be the two attributes that tasters rely on when judging the contribution that different grape types make to the distinctive flavour of a sparkling wine. In the case of Champagne, flavour perception relies on a complex combination of factors including alcohol content, dosage, price expectancy, and experience with the product. The present results have implications for marketing Champagnes; they might be better if focused on the distinctive characteristics of each cuvee, or simplicity (blends versus non-blends), since these might be easier characteristics to detect than the proportion of white versus red grapes.

本数据集关联论文《葡萄之望：香槟中白葡萄占比如何影响盲品中专家与大众饮者的评分》，发表于《风味》2013年第2卷第25期，DOI：10.1186/2044-7248-2-25。

背景 采用香槟酿造法（méthode champenoise）酿制的香槟（或采用该工艺的起泡酒）由白葡萄和/或红葡萄酿造而成。学界普遍认为，两类葡萄的相对占比会赋予起泡酒独特的风味特征，但该假说尚未得到实证检验。为此，我们开展了一项盲品实验，要求参与者对7款起泡酒（含6款香槟）中的白葡萄感知占比进行报告。

结果 本次实验的参与者包括4名专家级、6名中级及5名新手香槟品鉴者，他们均无法准确判断酒液中白葡萄的实际占比。进一步分析显示，受试者感知到的白葡萄占比与酒液的含糖添加量（dosage）和酒精含量呈显著相关。此外，香槟的感官喜好评分与售价并无关联；且仅专家品鉴者能够欣赏价位更高的香槟。

结论 研究结果表明，含糖添加量与酒精含量似乎是品鉴者判断不同葡萄类型对起泡酒独特风味贡献时所依赖的两大核心属性。就香槟而言，风味感知受酒精含量、含糖添加量、价格预期以及产品品鉴经验等多重复杂因素共同影响。本研究结果对香槟的市场营销具有借鉴意义：品牌可考虑将营销重点聚焦于每一款特酿（cuvée）的独特特征，或是产品的简洁性（单一葡萄品种酿造与混酿的区别），因为相较于白葡萄与红葡萄的占比，这些特征更易于被品鉴者感知。