Open AccessDISCREPANCIES AND CONSISTENCIES IN THE SUBJECTIVE RATINGS OF WINE‐TASTING COMMITTEES
Author(s) -
VAAMONDE ANTONIO,
SÁNCHEZ PATRICIO,
VILARIÑO FERNANDO
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of food quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.568
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1745-4557
pISSN - 0146-9428
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4557.2000.tb00564.x
Subject(s) - wine tasting , reliability (semiconductor) , wine , consistency (knowledge bases) , statistics , quality (philosophy) , psychology , concordance , certificate , actuarial science , mathematics , computer science , medicine , food science , business , artificial intelligence , power (physics) , chemistry , physics , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , quantum mechanics
Tasting committees issuing subjective scores carry out the evaluation of wines, as for many other food products. Since highly qualified experts form wine‐tasting committees, the reliability of the scores is not generally questioned. Nevertheless, statistical methods can be applied to assess the work of tasters from the point of view of concordance. Agreement degree may be used as a measurement of the reliability of subjective rating. In order to evaluate both the extent of agreement as well as the circumstances that produce disagreement, this paper examines the subjective scores assigned to white wines awarded the Rias Baixas (Spain) denomination of origin certificate using statistical analysis. It will be seen that agreement depends significantly on the variability in scoring. A statistical method is proposed, which permits an appraisal, in terms of consistency and reliability, of the committees that evaluate wines for quality and authenticity.