Sensory and Consumer Science for the Wine Industry

Provide cultural and scientific tools to address sensory and consumer science issues in the wine industry such as identifying the most liked products, gaining a better understanding of the factors influencing consumer preferences to develop products that are more responsive to consumer needs.
In mid- to large-scale wineries the relationships between consumer liking and wine attributes are frequently drivers in the blending process. Winemakers must understand how these data are derived and what it tells them in terms of winemaking needs.
Though most (if not all) of the students in the class will never work as sensory scientists, as winemakers they will handle sensory data and they should know how to ask sensory questions to vendors and how to interpret the information provided by these vendors, many of whom use sensory data to sell wine making related stuffs.
Additionally, they would need to be able to use the information in publications and talks on the relationships between sensory, chemical and marketing data sets.

Skills related to the understanding and appropriate use of descriptive and affective sensory methods used to explore and interpret consumer perception, choice and behavior related to the wine sector. The course will address issues related to statistical data processing in order to collaborate with the business marketing division to the implement more extensive and complete market surveys in the wine sector.