Free Hierarchical Sorting procedure: towards a better understanding of assessor’s perception ?

Abstract : Interviews results highlight that expert and familiar consumer panels use top-down strategies (use of concepts, knowledge) while unfamiliar consumer panel use bottom-up strategies (use of perceptions). So, for familiar consumer panel, the exposure and the familiarity to these wines contributed to the use of similar categorization processes than expert panel.➢ Conducting interviews at the end of sorting tasks provides additional informations on categorization strategies and thus a better understanding of assessor’s perception.