| Summary: | In order to maintain an optimum sugar / acid balance in a changing context, winegrowers of the Coteaux du Layon PDO, a sweet wine of the middle Loire valley, wish to know if a final alcohol content (TAV) lower than the minimum imposed by the regulation of the PDO (11% vol. today) would affect the typicality of the wines. To answer this question, a study was carried out in 4 steps. 1) To know the expected typicality of these wines, focus groups were conducted with 26 professionals. 2) In order to assess the acceptability of lower TAV wines, based on a sample of 24 wines (commercial wines and experimental wines with TAV between 8% vol. and 10% vol.), 31 professionals scored levels of exemplarity. 3) A trained panel made a fine sensory description. 4) Finally, a selection of 8 wines from these 24 were evaluated by 163 consumers, they scored levels of preference. The results of steps 1) and 2) show a strong consensus among professionals to assess the exemplarity of wines. Experimental wines obtained exemplary scores above the average of the scale and can therefore be considered as good examples. In step 3), the trained panel generated the sensory attributes to describe the wines: 21 descriptors of odors and aromas and 6 of flavors, which reveal the sensory complexity of the wines. In stage 4), in general, the 8 wines evaluated by the consumers were all appreciated. The results suggest that a sufficiently high amount of residual sugar content would enhance the acceptability of lower TAV wines by both professionals and consumers. The winegrowers of the syndicate of Coteaux du Layon PDO thus have factual elements to update the specification of the PDO (decreasing the minimum TAV threshold), in interaction with INAO (the French national institute of origin and quality).
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