Sensory profiles of tropical wines produced in the São Francisco River Valey (Northeast Brazil).

Given the lack of available information on the subject, this study aims to characterize and evaluate the sensory stability of the experimental wines made from Vitis Vinifera - Syrah, Petit Verdot, Tempranillo, Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo and Viognier - grown in the region of Vale de São Francisco in the northeast of Brazil,where the climate is tropical and semi-arid. Samples ofthe wines were analyzed after 3, 6, 9 and 12-months of storage by means of Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) and the data were submitted to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The application of multivariate analysis resulted in a satisfactory differentiation of the wines in relation to grape variety, storage durationand in identifying the attributes most pronounced in the wines. It was observed that the red wines gradually became softer in flavourwhile the whites remained refreshing. All wines showed a perceptible decrease in sensory characteristics throughout storage