Comparison of Canonical Variate and Principal Component Analyses of Wine Descriptive Analysis Data

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cabernet Sauvignon wines from four regions and Chardonnay wines from three vintages were evaluated by descriptive analysis. The sensory ratings were evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA) and by canonical variate analysis (CVA) using wines (CVA‐Wine) and using regions or vintages (CVA‐Group) as classification variables. PCA and CVA‐Wine analyses provides similar results for both data sets. Whereas, the CVA‐Group analyses demonstrated significant differences among regions or vintages, the variable configuration differed from the other two methods, reflecting the differences among groups rather than among the wines overall. To understand the structure of the data, CVA‐Wine and PCA tests were superior to CVA‐Group.