1. Introduction
Once viewed as a luxury good, nowadays wine is increasingly enjoyed by a wider range of consumers. Portugal is a top ten wine exporting country, with 3.17% of the market share in 2005 [11]. Exports of its vinho verde wine (from the northwest region) have increased by 36% from 1997 to 2007 [8]. To support its growth, the wine industry is investing in new technologies for both wine making and selling processes. Wine certification and quality assessment are key elements within this context. Certification prevents the illegal adulteration of wines (to safeguard human health) and assures quality for the wine market. Quality evaluation is often part of the certification process and can be used to improve wine making (by identifying the most influential factors) and to stratify wines such as premium brands (useful for setting prices).
Wine certification is generally assessed by physicochemical and sensory tests [10]. Physicochemical laboratory tests routinely used to characterize wine include determination of density, alcohol or pH values, while sensory tests rely mainly on human experts. It should be stressed that taste is the least understood of the human senses [25] thus wine classification is a difficult task. Moreover, the relationships between the physicochemical and sensory analysis are complex and still not fully understood [20].
Advances in information technologies have made it possible to collect, store and process massive, often highly complex datasets. All
1. IntroductionOnce viewed as a luxury good, nowadays wine is increasingly enjoyed by a wider range of consumers. Portugal is a top ten wine exporting country, with 3.17% of the market share in 2005 [11]. Exports of its vinho verde wine (from the northwest region) have increased by 36% from 1997 to 2007 [8]. To support its growth, the wine industry is investing in new technologies for both wine making and selling processes. Wine certification and quality assessment are key elements within this context. Certification prevents the illegal adulteration of wines (to safeguard human health) and assures quality for the wine market. Quality evaluation is often part of the certification process and can be used to improve wine making (by identifying the most influential factors) and to stratify wines such as premium brands (useful for setting prices).Wine certification is generally assessed by physicochemical and sensory tests [10]. Physicochemical laboratory tests routinely used to characterize wine include determination of density, alcohol or pH values, while sensory tests rely mainly on human experts. It should be stressed that taste is the least understood of the human senses [25] thus wine classification is a difficult task. Moreover, the relationships between the physicochemical and sensory analysis are complex and still not fully understood [20].Advances in information technologies have made it possible to collect, store and process massive, often highly complex datasets. All
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