Sensory assessment and chemical measurement of astringency of Greek wines: Correlations with analytical polyphenolic composition

The purpose of this study was to measure the astringency of selected Greek red wines and to assess the relationship between sensory and chemical data. Nine red wines produced by three native Greek grape varieties (agiorgitiko, xinomavro and mavrodafni) were used and their astringency and bitterness was assessed by a trained panel. In addition, their astringency was estimated chemically employing the ovalbumin precipitation method. Their polyphenolic composition was also determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The sensory data showed that mandilaria was the most astringent variety whereas agiorgitiko was the least. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that the chemical data obtained for astringency significantly correlated with the sensory determinations. In addition, significant correlations were obtained between the sensory data and the wine polyphenolic composition.