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p r a c t i c a l w i n e r y & v i n e ya r d J a n U a r y 2 0 1 5 7 w i n e M A K i n G perceived complexity of 13 New Zealand (Marlborough) Sauvignon Blanc wines by sensory methods. 9 The wines were part of an innovative commercial wine- making project aimed at increasing complexity in New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wines. Perceived harmony and balance of a wine were linked positively with perceived complexity. Participants assessed each wine via two sensory methods. First, free-sorting methodology was employed where par- ticipants were asked to classify or group the 13 wines in any way that made sense to them. Subsequently, participants pro- vided three or four descriptors to each group of wines that they had formed to explain the criteria that they had employed to sort or classify the wines (for example, a faulty or fruity group). Second, participants rated each wine on perceived complexity, using a ques- tionnaire developed at the University of Burgundy specifically for this pur- pose. The questionnaire comprised eight items, an overall complexity rating along with a rating of seven assumed sub-com- ponents of perceived complexity (such as harmony and the number of identifiable flavors in a wine). The main results included that par- ticipants considered the organoleptic qualities of intensity, harmony, length (persistence in mouth) and balance to be important contributors to perceived complexity, these varying somewhat as a function of taster expertise. Most important, the data allow us to make a contribution toward current dis- cussion of the major theoretical inter- pretations of stimulus complexity from fundamental psychological science. The relevant theoretical issue pertains to whether a multi-component stimulus such as a wine is perceived as more com- plex when its components are obvious (can be separated out) or when they are not individually obvious (the individual components are perceived as blended into a single perception). 3 Our data demonstrate that participants in all three expertise groups were able to discriminate among individual compo- nents of the wines in the sorting task (sep- arate the wines produced by "standard" Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc produc- tion techniques from other, non-standard production wines). Despite this result, perceptual separability (ease of identify- ing the individual components/flavors of a wine) was not a factor positively associ- ated with perceived complexity. Conversely, perceived harmony and balance of a wine, presumably linked to degree of perceived integration, were linked positively with perceived com- plexity. From a theoretical perspective, this supports the notion that "complex" may be a single perception, while being a multi-dimensional term. Wine professionals and wine consumers structure their mental constructs of complexity differently. In other words, the integration of aro- mas in a multi-component mixture such as a wine or a perfume may be consid- ered a higher level of abstraction that can give rise to a single perception described by the word "complex." This higher level of abstraction is argued as involving configural percep- tion 3 or perceptual fusion where the multiple components of a stimulus are recognized as a whole pattern with the individual components not necessarily accessible to consciousness. That is, as dis- tinct from elemental perception where the beauty and brawn Stockton, CA 95205 • 209.944.0921 westernSquare.com Lean, Green and Made in America WESTERN SQUARE I N D U S T R I E S