Development of a Tribology Method to Assess Mouth-feel Perceptions of Red Wines

We have successfully extracted and chemically characterized red wine with tannins, as well as the interactions between red wine tannins and salivary proteins by chemical methods. The effect of tannin-protein interactions on friction forces has been introduced. A tribology method has been developed to show an effect of red wine tannin on mouth lubrication. The formation of turbidity had the strongest relationship to the sensory effect of astringency.
This research has successfully chemically characterized tannins and the consequences of their interaction with saliva or proteins. The tribology experiments carried out on the two red wines with different lubricant (saliva or mucin) has also given promising results, and received much attention in the press. The research is continuing with Watrelot and Kuhl.