The color of wine: a historical perspective. II. Trichromatic methods

Abstract

The trichromatic theory was applied to wines at the end of the 1930s. Trichromatic co‐ordinates, dominant wavelength, purity and luminance were determined. The Munsell system and the Lovibond method, which had industrial applicability, were compared with the simplified methods proposed by the L'office Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV). These methods are official in Spanish food regulations on wine analysis. The CIE recommendations, through the weighted ordinate method, set up the colorimetric parameters for wines, such as hue, lightness, purity or saturation, differences of color, perceptibility. Lately, attempts have been made to correlate the chromatic properties of wines with composition, origin, aging and sensory evaluation. Some authors have studied the reliability of the OIV methods versus the more rigid recent CIE methods. Improved formulae for the computation of dominant wavelength and outstanding correlations among sensorial scores, chromatic parameters and anthocyanins (polyphenols) content of wines have been established.