Application of finger span cross modality matching method (FSCM) by naive assessors for olfactometric discrimination of gewurztraminer wines

A gas-chromatography-olfactometric detection (GCO) using a direct estimation of odor intensities with the finger span (FSCM) was used to establish aroma profiles of three wines of gewurztraminer from different 'terroirs' of the Alsace region. The GCO-FSCM analyses of their hydroalcoholic wine extracts were performed using a group of untrained assessors. Forty-four olfactory signals were perceived by at least four assessors out of six and their intensities were scored in triplicate in each of the three wine extracts, amongst which ten of them were found discriminant between wines. The reliability of each assessor was studied on the basis of the finger span estimation repeatability, from the number of discriminant variables and the mean finger span values found for the assessor. These untrained assessors appear to be able to achieve self-calibration from odor intensities without using any internal of external quantitative reference. The results suggest that GCO-FSCM may be performed by naive assessors to analyse and compare odor profiles of complex extracts without time-consuming training periods.