University study in a virtual wine cellar – Why does wine taste better on vacation than at home?
“It was an honor for us to contribute our share to the research project in cooperation with FH Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and other participating institutes.”
In vino veritas virtualis – In wine, there's truth, even virtually
We've all experienced it: we're on vacation, sitting in a nice restaurant by the sea, drinking a glass of fine wine at sunset. But for some reason, back home a few days later, the very same wine no longer tastes as unique.
The study “Wine in Virtual Reality“ (WITALITY) deals with this question and other sensory aspects of wine consumption. It is a joint study by Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences with support of Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences, Institute for Oenology (HGU), Institute for Visual Computing (H-BRS), Pieroth Wein AG (PR) and DLG TestService GmbH (DLG).
So, how do you determine whether the location you drink wine at impacts your wine experience or even its taste, without having test persons travel halfway around the world? To answer this question, we built a virtual wine cellar.
RMH MEDIA was commissioned to create four different virtual spaces for the study participants to enjoy wine in.
The first was a replica of the university's actual tasting room. In addition, there was an old wine cellar with large wooden barrels, also modeled after a real room. Rooms three and four were a cozy wine bar with a relaxed atmosphere, and an uninviting and sparsely furnished conference room.
All rooms were implemented in Unity 3D to ensure a smooth yet detailed and realistic experience in real time.
As much as we'd like to report on results of the trial already - it's currently ongoing and expected to end in 2023. As soon as there's something new to report, we'll publish an update.