Sensory Attributes and the Evaluation of Grape berries, as explained by Vallonné Vineyards’ winemaker

Sanket Gawand, winemaker at Vallonné Vineyards, Nashik, shares his thoughts on the importance of the sensory evaluation of grape berries before harvest with Brinda Gill

The sensory evaluation of berries involves checking the berries for their visual, haptic (touch), aromatic and taste qualities. Sanket inspects the colour and size of the berries; sees if any berries are shrivelling; and checks the state of their stems, skin, pulp and seeds for assessing their ripeness and maturity. Berries are randomly plucked, tasted and chewed to check their flavours as well as the balance of sugar and acid. The skin of red grapes is rubbed to see the intensity of its colour; an intense colour indicates more phenolics which are organic compounds that go on to manifest in the colour and flavour of wine. The seeds are inspected; green seeds indicate unripe fruit, brown seeds indicate ripe fruit and, the greater the crunchiness on chewing, the greater the maturity of the fruit.