Investigating caloric values and consumers' perceptions of Nova Scotia rosé wines

In Nova Scotia, Canada, wine production has been increasing, yet little research has been done to identify and classify the sensory properties of Nova Scotia (NS) rosé wines. The first objective of this study was to identify the attributes consumers use to describe NS rosé wines. The second aim was to identify if presenting caloric labels on wine bottles would impact consumers' sensory perception. The first trial asked consumers (n = 85) to use projective mapping (PM) and ultra-flash profiling (UFP) to describe NS rosé wines (n = 8). In the second trial, consumers (n = 260) were asked to complete a check-all-that-apply (CATA) questionnaire, using the most frequently cited attributes from the PM and UFP trial, and to score their liking on 9-point hedonic scales (n = 4). Each wine was evaluated without a label and with each of the four fabricated caloric values, low (15 Calories), normal (100 Calories), high (180 Calories), and highest (240 Calories) per one serving. The projective mapping trial found that there were two main categories of rosé wines identified by consumers, those with fruit flavour and those lacking in fruit flavour. The penalty analysis from the consumer trial demonstrated that fruit attributes drove consumer liking of rosé wine. The consumer trial also displayed no significant difference between the caloric value and liking of rosé wines, even when the results were separated based on gender. Therefore, the findings support that the disclosure of caloric values on bottles will not influence consumers' sensory perceptions of wine. For future research, complete nutrition labels and not just calories alone should be used to determine their effect on consumers' perceptions.