The astringency of red wine represents an important factor of quality and liking evaluation by consumers, but it is sometimes associated to a negative feature. We studied the differences in astringency subqualities of Sangiovese wines between consumers and trained assessors. Wines belonging to three denominations (Chianti Classico, Toscana, Morellino di Scansano) and a Chianti Classico specification (Chianti Riserva), from three price ranges (low, medium, high) were evaluated. Regular wine consumers and trained panel assessed the wines applying the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) questionnaire relative to six astringency attributes (silk, velvet, dry, aggressive, hard, mouthcoat). Differences between panels were more associated with the high-price wines, which were characterised by negative subqualities for consumers. Preference maps revealed that mouthcoat was the term mainly associated with consumers' liking, while other subqualities as persistent, rich, and full-body, provided by the trained assessors, may represent the drivers of liking for Sangiovese wine. This study has demonstrated that a trained sensory panel provides highly valuable information regarding the mouthfeel characteristics of Sangiovese wines and the attributes driving consumer liking.
Keywords: CATA; Sangiovese; astringency; consumers; liking; subquality; trained assessors.