US: OSU trains 60 wine tasters for study
US: OSU trains 60 wine tasters for study
May 28, 2012 6
(NaturalResourceReport) - Oregon’s wine industry will now be able to better understand how what it’s doing in its vineyards and vats affects the quality of its final product thanks to a new cadre of tasting experts trained by Oregon State University.
James Osborne, an enologist with the OSU Extension Service, trained 60 Oregon winemakers earlier this year with funding from a $25,000 donation from the Erath Family Foundation. The winemakers – all unpaid volunteers – learned to use a sensory method called free-choice profiling that allows them to use their own vocabulary to describe the color, aroma, taste and “mouthfeel” of wines.
Groups of tasters will gather several times a year for refresher trainings and to evaluate experimental wines made by OSU and Oregon’s commercial wine industry. For example, this summer, the newly minted tasters will put their adjectives to use when they evaluate Pinot noir made from grapes harvested at Stoller Vineyards in Dayton and Maple Ranch Vineyard in Cave Junction.
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