Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/210765
DECEMBER NEWS Washington State University doctoral student Charles Diako collates documentation from readings of the ASTREE Electronic Tongue. Washington State Wines Set Tongues Wagging University lab uses electronic tongue device to analyze wine P ullman, Wash.—When the wine starts talking, a new $90,000 device at Washington State University's sensory evaluation lab in Pullman listens. Acquired last year, the ASTREE Electronic Tongue developed by Alpha M.O.S. of Toulouse, France, gives WSU associate professor Dr. Carolyn Ross a new tool for assessing and analyzing the components of various food products. A current project is the analysis of 60 red wines from Washington state, and the correlation of results from the e-tongue with chemical analysis and the results of sensory analysis by trained tasters. "We're trying to see how well all of these chemical parameters, taken together, explained what our trained panelists observe in the wine," she said. "People get tired…and it's hard to distinguish differences, especially if (the wines) are really astringent or they're really high alcohol." One of the first challenges, however, was to determine what kind of information the instrument could provide and how to correlate this information with other ways of understanding wine. A broad selection of red wines was chosen to give the tongue the greatest latitude of tasting experience. "We wanted differences among the wines. We were trying to find low-alcohol Merlots, high-alcohol Merlots, high-tannin/low-tannin ones that varied in the properties to see if the e-tongue could distinguish them," Ross said. "We felt it would give a good indication of the way we could group the wines together." The result was the identification of six major groups arranged around characteristics such as tannins, alcohol content and metallic character. While humans may be keen to perceive minerality, Ross said metallic notes are "part of the e-tongue profile." (A previous experiment saw the e-tongue evaluate various sweeteners from sugar solutions to agave, Stevia and Aspartame, which is known for a metallic aftertaste.) Since the device is in its infancy—one might say researchers have touched just the tip of the tongue's capabilities—Ross hopes to expand the wine program to include white wines and sparkling wines so that a better understanding of the device's use can be developed. She also wants to see if the tongue can factor in and identify the differences that saliva type make to the sensory experience of wine. —Peter Mitham 20 W in es & V i ne s D EC E M B E R 20 13