THE IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN ON SENSORY PROPERTIES OF VITIS VINIFERA CV. MENCÍA MAR VILANOVA 1,3 and BEATRIZ SOTO 2 1 Misión Biológica de Galicia (CSIC) Apdo. de Correos 28 38080, Pontevedra, Spain 2 Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Ribeira Sacra Rúa Pescaderías s/n Monforte, Spain Accepted for Publication September 27, 2005 ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to establish the aromatic descriptors that identify the aroma of young Mencía wines from different geographic areas of Ribeira Sacra Appellation of Origin Controlled in Galicia (NW Spain). Ini- tially, 36 attributes were identified. A multivariate analysis was carried out to evaluate this possible differentiation between the Mencía wines according to production area. Principal component analysis of sensory data permitted the differentiation among geographic areas. The wines differed significantly for seven sensory attributes. The wines from Chantada and Ribeira do Miño were characterized by higher intensities of metallic and bread odors, while Amandi and Quiroga-Bibei by balsamic, apple and phenolic characters. The wines from Ribeira do Sil exhibited a toasting character and the lactic character was present in all wines except those from Ribeira do Sil. INTRODUCTION The Ribeira Sacra is one of the wine production areas of Galicia (NW Spain). The vineyard area is planted in the valleys and gorges of the Galician rivers Miño and Sil and is divided into five subzones: Amandi, Chantada, Ribeira do Sil, Ribeira do Miño and Quiroga-Bibei. Each subzone has a different microclimate, but soils tend to be alluvial over slate bedrock. High 3 Corresponding author. TEL: +34-986854800; FAX: +34-986841362; EMAIL: mvilanova@ mbg.cesga.es Journal of Sensory Studies 20 (2005) 503–511. All Rights Reserved. © Copyright 2005, Blackwell Publishing 503