Module 1 – Wine production: grape, vessel, ingenuity
- Grape: composition and uses
- Winery: basic operations, equipment, flow diagrams
- Ingenuity: basic principles of vinification, storage and bottling.
Module 2 – Wine appreciation: beyond sensory analysis
- Tasting and the senses: neuronal mechanisms of sensory perception
- Perception variability and cross modal interactions
- Olfaction as an emotional sense
- Conventional tasting: analytical and synthetic descriptors
Module 3 – Grape production: from genes to bunches
- Grape varieties: origin, dissemination and breeding
- Vineyard management: from conventional to organic and biodynamic production methods
Module 4 – Quality: concepts and assessment
- Sensory analysis and wine tasting
- Commodity wines and fine wines
- The different degrees of expertise: perceptual, conceptual and aesthetic
- The cognitive biases in wine appreciation
- Preference and aesthetical evaluation
- Halo effect in wine appreciation: trends and fashions
Module 5 - Wine origin: in time and space
- The historic and heritage sustainability of grape and wine production
- The concept of terroir
- Denominations of origin: historical background, geographical denominations and present regions
Module 6 – Wine manipulation: meeting consumer demands
- Aromatization and smoothening
- Oak aging and terroir dissipation
- The case of sweet wines, sparkling wines and vermouths
Module 7 – Wine off-flavours: faults or forms?
- Concept and definitions: distinguishing between detection and spoilage
- Most frequent off-flavours
- How to deal with off-flavours
Module 8 – Wine and food: antagonisms and synergies
- General principles of food and wine pairing
- Wine service: glasses, temperatures and decanting
Practical sessions
All modules include practical tastings of at least 6 different wines in each session.
Wines will be selected among Portuguese and foreign wine regions.
The off-flavours’ tastings include determination of recognition, and preference individual thresholds.
Food pairing including appropriate combinations of food and wines.
