Transcript Slide 1


Why Aren’t “peak experiences” consistent?

Why can’t we vinify by recipe?

Why does 10 ppt TCA cause astringency?

Is subjectivity arbitrary?
Contemporary
Wine Sensory Assessment
Consumer focus groups
 Difference testing
 Quality scoring

– Davis 20-pt criteria sum
– Parker 100-pt subjective scale
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Criterion-based descriptive scaling
– invented attribute “drivers”
– linear modeling
– Factor analysis mapping
Contemporary
Wine Sensory Assessment
Measures behavior rather than cognition
 Low R2’s: Who says “drivers” drive?
 Group statistics are a blunt instrument
which obscures shared experience
 Weak non-linear modeling
 Alpha testing
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– high Type II Error (false negatives)
– very limited granularity for “tuning”
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No sensory standards for holistic drivers:
– Harmony, grace, mood, aggressivity, etc.
What is wine ???????
Sunshine held together by water
-Galileo
“...bottled poetry.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
“It puckers your mouth.” –Art Buchwald
An expression of place
“the beverage of moderation”
The blood of Christ
A fate worse than death!
The most gentle and
efficaceous of medicines
Louis Pasteur
Susan B. Anthony
“Wisdom and wit to the wise”
-Archimedes
“Wine is proof that God loves us and desires us to be happy.”
Benjamin Franklin
Apollonian
vs
Dionysian
German Mosel
fresh
pure
focused fruit
delicious
crisp
clean
lean
deep
energized
beautiful
loves sunlight
Oz Shiraz
mature
sexy
integrated voice
profound
round
mysterious
plush
broad
muscular
visceral
loves fire & moonlight
Winegrowing is just a
specialized type of cooking!
Our Goals are the same as those of fine cuisine:
– Visceral enjoyment of flavors integrated into a
refined structure.
– Memorable taste expression from careful farming
in living soil.
– Science is just a tool.
Organized knowledge is not our goal.
Our work is always fundamentally mysterious.
What is GrapeCraft?
“The practical art
of touching the human soul
with the soul of a place
by rendering its grapes
into liquid music.”
In a nutshell:
Less theory…
more technique!
Shared attributes of
wine and music
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Strong visceral appeal
– Revenues from music exceed pharmaceuticals
– There are no $100 beers
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Non-linear consonance and dissonance
(sweet spots)
1999 CSU Fresno Syrah:
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26% of the wine was reduced to 10.1% for blending
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0.1% alcohol increments
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31 wines between 15.5% and 12.5% v/v EtOH
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n = 22 judges.
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Acclimation voting preference frequencies (Figure 1)
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Four points of harmonious balance obtained
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Free associations descriptive analysis (Table 2)
10
5
0
15.5
15.4
15.3
15.2
15.1
15.0
14.9
14.8
14.7
14.6
14.5
14.4
14.3
14.2
14.1
14.0
13.9
13.8
13.7
13.6
13.5
13.4
13.3
13.2
13.1
13.0
12.9
12.8
12.7
12.6
Judge (n=22)
free choice
frequency
Figure 1
"Sweet Spot" Tasting of 1999 Syrah
reduced from 18.0% ethanol
Syrah % v/v ethanol
*** P2 analysis of observed vs. expected:
" < 0.1 % (Very Highly Significant)
Table 2
Judge descriptors for Syrah “sweet spots”
18.0% (untreated)
Hot, astringent,
low fruit expression
15.0
Rich, alcoholic, leathery, complex,
Chateauneuf-du-Pape
14.35
Jammy, black pepper, smooth
13.75
Elegant, balanced, long finish
13.3
Clean, blueberry, tart
Shared attributes of
wine and music

Strong visceral appeal
– Revenues from music exceed pharmaceuticals
– There are no $100 beers
Non-linear consonance and dissonance (sweet spots)
 Strongly shared sense of harmony
 Broad disparity of stylistic preference
 Emotion mapping
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– resonance demonstration
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Simultaneity of immediate, proximate and root
influences
MUSICAL APPRECIATION
Performer
Composer
STYLE
Listener’s
background
expectation of
musical genres
Instrumental
Composition
WINE APPRECIATION
Winemaker
Origin
STYLE
Taster’s
background
expectation of
historical genres
Varietal
Composition
Clinical Tools for
Cognitive Musicology
Behavioral studies of brain injuries
 Magnetic Resonance Imaging
 Electro Encephalography
 Positron Emission Tomography
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Music Cognition neurological
process mapping identifies the
following distinct mental systems:
Logical processing
 Sensory processing
 Motor processing
 Visualization

– (daydreaming)
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Emotional processing
– Pleasure system
– Aversion system
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Memory
Logical processing
Music
Pitch recognition
 Timbre identification
 Meter determination
 Melody processing
 Lyrics processing
 Tonal context (pitch “as”)
 Fault listening
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Wine
Aroma notes
 Terroir distinction
 Swirling rhythm
 Anticipation / sip
 Winemaking story
 Genre context
 Defects
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Bakine, Edeline and Weinberger, 1999:
Neuron tunings in the auditory cortex of
guinea pigs can be re-tuned by a few
minutes’ training.
 Patterns endured for two months.
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Implications for winemaking:
 Consumers trained for panels may not reflect
preferences of untrained consumers
 Winemakers trained to detect defects may
develop enhanced perceptual sensitivity
Motor Processing
Rhythm recognition and reproduction
 Instrument operation
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– Learning
– Reproduction from memory
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Swirl, sip, spit
Memory Functionality
Aroma
 Short term
DEFECTS
&
Flavor
– Experiential
– Computational
Swirl,
 Long term Implicit sniff,
spit
– Procedural
– Perceptual Priming
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Long Term Explicit
– Episodic
– Semantic
I.D.
EVENT
RECALL
sense
of
place
Emotional Processing
 Temporal
melody emotional progression
– anticipation leading to resolution
 Intrinsic
mood (underlying theme)
N.M. Weinberger’s case subject “I.R.”:
Separate functionality of
melody vs intrinsic mood
Bilaterial damage to temporal lobes,
auditory cortex
 I.Q. and general memory normal
 No language difficulties
 No melody recognition or recollection
 Emotional reactions completely normal!
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Wines don’t have melodies
but they do carry emotions!
“Blues” processing
Males
Females
Primary and Secondary Emotions
Emotional Shapes
(Sentics, Manfred Clynes)
Love
Lust
Emotional Processing
 Temporal
melody emotional progression
– anticipation leading to resolution
 Intrinsic mood (underlying theme)
 Consonance processing cascade
– Reward system
– Sympathetic nervous system (“relax”)
– Euphoria
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Dissonance processing cascade
– Parasympathetic system (alert to danger)
– Limbic system (fight or flight)
Blood and Zatorre, 2001:
PET scan imaging of subjects listening to
musical intervals
 C / E (perfect fifth)
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– orbitofrontal area (part of Reward System)
– area below corpus callosum (sympathetic?)
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C / C#
– right parahypocampal gyrus (fight or flight)
Thalamus
characterizes
stimulus
Frontal
Lobes
(Reward
System)
0.1% Alcohol Difference!
Thalamus
characterizes
stimulus
HARMONY
DISSONANCE
Limbic
System
(danger)
14.1%
14.0%
13.9%
13.8%
13.7%
13.6%
13.5%
13.4%
13.3%
13.2%
13.1%
13.0%
Chardonnay Preferences
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Preferences
Winemaking Implications
Borrow from musical approaches to quality
 Exploration of wine cognitive processing
 Map wine style emotions through music
resonance
 Consumer targeting based on cognitive stage
 Increased reliance on trained experts and small
groups to “tune” finished wines
 Greater emphasis on aesthetic training and
crosstraining to evaluate holistic quality
imperatives
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Thank you
for your kind attention.
www.grapecraft.com
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