Geographical Origin Traceability of Red Wines Based on Chemometric Classification via Organic Acid Profiles

Abstract

A preliminary study on the chemometric classification of red wines produced from different grape varieties and geographical origins was performed based on their chromatographic profiles of organic acids. Tartaric, malic, citric, lactic, acetic, and succinic acids in wines were detected via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Employing multivariate statistical methods including principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA), pattern recognition models were built for the classification of the investigated wines regarding the grape varieties and geographical origins. The PCA clearly grouped the wines according to variety, and the LDA further offered 100% classification ability toward geographical identification of the wines and the leave-one-out cross-validated assignments were 100%, 86.7%, and 100% correct for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir wines, respectively. The results reveal the potential of using chromatographic profiles of organic acid as the characteristic indices for chemometric classification of red wines.