Wine quality and typicity are complex concepts that can be hard to define. Wine is a product destined to not only be consumed and appreciated but also marketed, and its distinctiveness, quality and typicity are important characteristics that describe a wine’s sensory profile and, ultimately, add value to the finished product. Even though both quality and typicity are mostly assessed using a sensory evaluation, many studies have examined the feasibility of using chemical analysis methods in order to increase the objectivity of assessments. Today, the use of chemometrics facilitates the handling of big data, and outcomes from various analytical techniques can be integrated to produce more accurate results. This study discusses the existing sensory and analytical approaches, implications and future prospects for an objective measurement of quality and typicity as well as methods for the selection of appropriate data for predictive model development.

Wine differs from other alcoholic beverages due to the abundance of the presence of various groups of phenolic compounds. Phenolics are of high technological importance since they can directly affect the sensory and health-promoting properties of wines. This chapter is divided into four sections. In the first section, the phenolic composition of grapes is described along with their extraction during the various stages of wine production: processing of raw material, alcoholic fermentation, stabilization, aging, bottling, and storage. The second section focuses on the utilization of the wineries' by-products for the production of innovative and functional foods. Section three is dedicated to the description of the simple analytical methods, mainly those that are based on chromatography and spectroscopy, that can be applied to determine the phenolic composition and the antioxidant activity of the wine. Finally, in section four, the health benefits associated with the consumption of wine phenolic compounds are discussed.