Computer‐aided Optimization of Wine Blending

ABSTRACT An objective method was developed to blend wines for standardizing flavor quality. Aroma volatiles of varietal and white stock wines, and the target wine were analyzed by equilibrium gas headspace chromatography. Similarity of the aroma profiles of the varietal and stock wines to the target wine was calculated from GC peak areas. The simplex optimization program carried out computational bleeding to determine the ratios of the varietal and white stock wines that would be required to simulate the aroma of the target wine. For two blending experiments, the computer optimized blend could not be differentiated from target wine by a sensory taste panel.