DOI: https://doi.org/10.5513/JCEA01/26.3.4508
Original scientific paper
The reliability of wine sensory analysis results tested by different correlation models: the example of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection
2025, 26 (3) p. 710-719
Ivana Alpeza, Nina Buljević, Ivan Budimir
Abstract
Sensory testing is an indispensable part of wine certification, serving as a producer and consumer legal safety tool. Therefore, monitoring of sensory assessment should be a regular laboratory activity, given that subjective biases are a permanent potential source of result errors. These errors can be caused by internal or external factors that create personality and sensory skills. This paper presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the work of eight certified wine assessors who overcame infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It can cause sensory dysfunction, and the question is whether it affects the reliability of the results in sensory testing. Two factors were taken into statistics: an equal period of work before and after the infection (different number of analyses) and an equal analyses number (different time of work). Different correlation tests showed good compliance between the assessors and panels and consistency concerning the tested parameters, observed periods, and the number of analyses. In the case of two assessors, a significant discrepancy was found in the proportion of results within the most numerous scoring qualitative range for the "working time” factor. However, it was confirmed for the factor 'number of analyses' in the case of only one assessor. This study confirmed the importance of controlling sensory testing results and selecting appropriate statistical tools, particularly in extraordinary circumstances and regardless of the assessors' level of expertise. It enables control of potential bias, reliability of results, and confidence in the testing laboratory.
Keywords
sensory analysis results, correlations, wine expert assessors, COVID-19
Download Find similar articles