Regional and Winery Differences in the Sensory Quality of Merlot Wines from Four Vintages in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys

Terroir effects on the character of Merlot wines produced in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys in British Columbia were evaluated for four vintage years (2004, 2005, 2012, and 2013). The wines were produced from grapes grown in six growing regions that differ in climatic, soil and topographic characteristics. Three to eight single-vineyard wines per region were acquired from commercial wineries each vintage year. When a winery provided more the one wine, each wine was made from fruit sourced from a different region. The wines were each blindly tasted twice by 10 judges who evaluated the intensity of nine aroma and nine flavor and mouthfeel characteristics. These included floral, fruit, vegetative and herbaceous flavours and aromas, tannin roughness, body, and length of aftertaste. Discriminant function analysis was used to determine the sensory characteristics that distinguished the wines of each region and each winery. Although regional and winery characteristics differed among vintages some consistencies were found. The results show that wine sensory characteristics were acquired from both terroir and winery influences in each vintage year.