Sensory characterization of Hunter Valley Semillon aged in bottle

The evolution of sensory characters of white wine cellared under ideal conditions has not previously been studied extensively. The effect of 3 years of bottle ageing of 16 commercial Hunter Valley Semillon (HVS) has been investigated by sensory descriptive analysis. Overall, although primary fruit characters (lemon/lime, grassy, floral, grapefruit and pineapple) generally decreased, some attributes, particularly lemon/lime, remained important features of the wine after the ageing period. Although the grapefruit aroma decreased in all but one wine, none of the decreases were found to have been significant (p < 0.05). Developed characters such as honey, toast and orange marmalade also became more prominent. This study also provides an illustration of the sensory changes in bottled HVS with regard to previously identified HVS styles, with the most noticeable changes occurring in styles categorized by primary fruit characters.