1. Learning About Mixture Experiments By Blending Wine
Ledi Trutna

2. Conduct an experiment to optimize the blending of four varietals.
Objective
Conduct an experiment to optimize the blending of four varietals.
The blending kit had four bottles:
cabernet sauvignon from Napa
cabernet sauvignon from Rutherford
merlot
cabernet franc
How do we conduct the experiment?
What is the measurement process or rating system?
What is the best combination?

3. Possible designs from DOE > Mixture platform are
Design Requirements
Previous experiment showed 16 combinations should be maximum size of design.
Need to taste each varietal by itself to verify the bottle was not bad.
Possible designs from DOE > Mixture platform are

4. Conducting The Experiment
The ABCD design and the Simplex Centroid most closely met the requirements.
Chose the ABCD design, and added one run for a single combination to be repeated in the experiment.
Sorted the runs so that the first four rows contained 100% of each varietal.
Added row 16 which was a replicate of row 6.
Decided to blend the wines in groups of four runs to minimize comparisons.

5. Conducting The Experiment

6. Each combination measured 100 ml in one glass (about 3.4 ounces).
Measurement Process
Each combination measured 100 ml in one glass (about 3.4 ounces).
Reference standard to compare with each combination.
Food and water to separate tastings and cleanse palate.
Each person recorded their rating individually (but discussion was allowed).
Chose a 1 to 5 scale – with the reference standard agreed as a 4.

7. The data and analysis in JMP

9. Reference standard confused the issue for this experiment.
Lessons Learned
Reference standard confused the issue for this experiment.
Larger measurement scale might be better.
Sixteen combinations is our maximum (or should be).
Blending wine and tasting is hard work.

10. The ending matrix of wine glasses

11. Questions?