black wine racks

According to popular wisdom, low yield vines produce better wine than higher yield vines. In a recent
survey held at Davis, California in 2000, 50% of California winemakers agreed that “low grape yields
produce higher quality wine”, whereas 19% disagreed. Scientific evidence that this is true is lacking,
perhaps because quality is so difficult to define. For this reason, the authors set out to study what is the true
impact of different yie lds on the sensory characteristics of a Cabernet sauvignon wine.
· Yield was manipulated either through 1) winter pruning, or through 2) cluster thinning at veraison. In
the first case, the authors studied 6 treatments pruned to different bud numbers: 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 48
buds/vine. In the second case, they studied 8 treatments thinned to different numbers of clusters: 12, 24, 36,
and 48 clusters/vine, superimposed to a winter pruning of 24 buds/vine; and 48, 64, 72, and 96
clusters/vine, superimposed to a winter pruning of 48 buds/vine. Their goal was to cover a reasonably wide
range of final crop yields, and then study the effects of these various yields on wine sensory characteristics.
· Before proceeding, the researchers verified that the treatments had the intended effect on yield reduction.
This is an extremely important, often forgotten, step in viticulture trials. They were able to confirm that the
treatments that had received different pruning levels showed yields that varied 3-fold in 2000, and 2.5-fold
in 2001 (from 6.1 t/ha to 22.2 t/ha). Similarly, they confirmed that the treatments that had received the
different thinning levels showed yields that varied 4-fold (from 4.3 t/ha to 17.5 t/ha).
· To evaluate the wines, they used a technique called descriptive analysis. The first step involved the
rigorous training of a panel of tasters (13 judges in 2000, 17 judges in 2001). This type of panel, called an
analytical panel, has the task of measuring the intensity of different attributes in wine, not unlike how we
would use a highly calibrated and reproducible instrument.
· To ensure the objectivity of their sensory results, the authors took care of every possible detail to avoid
introducing errors, such as coded glasses, triplicate presentation of samples, water-rinsing between different
attributes, randomized order of presentation, and single -sample presentation for flavor attributes (to avoid
carry-over effects from aroma attributes). Each judge tasted no more than 4-5 wines per session, to avoid
fatigue. Each judge performed 3-4 sessions per week, for a period of 6 weeks.

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