Wine is a complex product, which had moved from a nutritional food to a hedonic beverage in consumer representation. This fact has increased the demand of quality products in the market. In this context, it is of high interest for wine producers to understand the underlying indicators of consumers’ quality perception as well as the relative importance they attach to these cues when inferring quality in wine to reach the alignment of consumers’ expectations, needs and wants. This chapter is aimed at giving an overview of the current state of knowledge of the indicators of wine quality perception from a sensory point of view. For this purpose, the factors driving perceived quality of wine as a product, the characteristics of the consumer and the consumption situation are firstly reported. Then, the methodologies most usually employed to evaluate hedonic perception of consumers are discussed. Finally, wine properties linked to quality perception are reviewed.

Peer Reviewed