Sensory profiling of Swedish white wines and a contextual analysis of Swedish viticulture

Abstract: The aim of the study is twofold, to generate a sensory profile of Swedish wine today and to investigate the opinion of both wine producers and wine experts on viticulture in Sweden and wine from grapes grown in Sweden, achieved through a contextual analysis comprising a literature study and interviews with wine producers in Sweden and Denmark and wine experts from Sweden and Germany, and a sensory analysis at the company Ipsos. ‘Mixed methods’ was the chosen research strategy as the semi-structured interviews gave qualitative results and the sensory analysis would give quantitative results displayed as spider charts. There is a lack of studies investigating how the Swedish wine is perceived by consumers and consumers might be unaware that the Swedish wine, established through ‘trial and error’, is increasing in quality every season, creating a need to display the sensory profile of Swedish wine to strengthening the perception of Swedish white wine. This study shows that the Swedish white wine today is a wine with a fresh, citrusy and flowery aroma and a fresh, citrusy and green apple taste, however, a sensory analysis cannot show if the attributes are those that are desired by the customer, a consumer test is necessary to conclude that. Trends point towards locally produced products, one reason why Swedish wine has great potential, yet the future needs to be secured through job opportunities and education. Creating an approval system for Swedish wine is suggested as a future improvement, it is a common procedure in most wine regions. It is a good opportunity for Swedish wine producers as the wine sold at Systembolaget does not go through blind tests. Microclimate is of great importance for locations of vineyards in Sweden and GDD (growing degree days) gives a more fair result for sites in Sweden than LTI (latitude temperature index).