Preferred Attribute Elicitation as a consumer-based alternative to Descriptive Analysis in organic, conventional, and adulterated apple vinegars: sensory–chemical convergence

Preferred Attribute Elicitation (PAE) has been proposed as a rapid consumer-based alternative to Descriptive Analysis (DA). Still, its performance in chemically complex matrices and under authenticity-relevant conditions remains unclear. This study evaluated whether PAE can discriminate organic, conventional, and adulterated apple vinegars and whether its perceptual outputs converge with DA, physicochemical markers, volatile compounds, and acceptance. Adulteration was modeled using two distinct approaches: (i) substitution of organic vinegar with conventional vinegar (5%–80%) and (ii) addition of alcohol vinegar (30%). Organic vinegar exhibited higher residual sugars (glucose and rhamnose), succinic acid, phenolics, and several aroma-related volatiles, contributing to a darker orange/turbid appearance and fruity–sweet–apple sensory notes. In contrast, conventional vinegar presented higher ethanol and acetic and tartaric acids, together with elevated ethyl acetate levels, yielding a translucent yellow appearance and more acidic and pungent sensory impressions. Substitution with conventional vinegar produced gradual chemical and sensory shifts that became perceptually salient only at high replacement levels (≥80%). In contrast, alcohol-adulterated vinegar showed higher volatile acidity and ethanol levels, resulting in a distinct pungent/alcoholic sensory dimension and lower flavor acceptance. Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) revealed strong agreement between DA and PAE (RV = 0.88). Acceptance collected within PAE mirrored that obtained in an independent consumer test. These results demonstrate that PAE can reproduce trained sensory maps and acceptance patterns and can be considered a suitable tool for screening authenticity scenarios in apple vinegar. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of DA–PAE–chemical convergence.