White wines beyond convention: Consumer acceptance and perceived sensory characteristics of skin-macerated styles by naïve, novice, and experienced tasters

The present study aims to assess consumers’ acceptance of skin-macerated white wines between naïve wine consumers, novice and experienced tasters of different degrees of expertise. The sensory panel was composed of a total of 132 subjects (Naïve = 100 consumers, Novice = 16 oenology students, and Experienced = 16 wine professionals). Individuals evaluated 7 white wines regarding intensity using a 10-cm unstructured line scale, hedonic liking and visual colour evaluations using a 9-point scale. Familiarity was assessed using a 5-point Likert-type scale. All subjects rated the bitterness intensity of PROP ( 6-n-propylthiouracil ) taste by using the general Labeled Magnitude Scale. The results indicated that the control free-run white wine (VA) was perceived as the least intense in most parameters, as compared to the other wines, and was significantly different from all those in terms of colour intensity. Familiarity played a moderating role in shaping consumers’ preferences and acceptability. VA was the most familiar and received the highest liking scores. Liking was moderately positively associated with colour. The results of this study also showed that demographic characteristics (sex and age) and wine expertise were the main drivers of wine liking. Conversely, PROP taster status did not significantly affect hedonic liking. With regard to the group comparison results, consumers being less familiar with the wines rated them higher than professionals ( p < 0.05) and students ( p > 0.05) for overall impression, colour, and taste. Meanwhile, professionals rated the wine samples significantly lower than students in the perceived intensity of colour and fruity aroma.