Varietal Discrimination of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Pecorino and Passerina White Wines Produced in Abruzzo (Italy) by Sensory Analysis and Multi-Block Classification Based on Volatiles, Organic Acids, Polyphenols, and Major Elements

Abstract

Reliable analytical methods able to establish wine authenticity and compliance with the origin/variety denomination are essential tools for the safeguarding of consumers from fraud. In this work, we attempted the discrimination of certified monovarietal white wines produced in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy) in 2015 with Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, Pecorino or Passerina grapes, all belonging to the Trebbiano variety. A preliminary sensory analysis revealed a high similarity among the three wines. The aroma profile and polyphenol and organic acid profiles were collected by gas chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively, on 46 samples representing the three wine varieties. Eventually, the concentration of 14 elements in the same samples, determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, was considered. Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis pursued on the individual analytical responses gave unsatisfactory results in terms of varietal discrimination. A data fusion approach, Sequential and Orthogonalized Partial Least Squares Linear Discriminant Analysis, on the other hand, provided better results as it misclassified only three (out of eighteen) external samples. Tartaric acid, malic acid, Cu, Na, Ni, Sr, Ca, Fe, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl hexanoate, and 2-phenylethyl acetate were found to be the variables relevant in the discrimination of the three monovarietal wines.

Optimization of HS-SPME-GC/MS Analysis of Wine Volatiles Supported by Chemometrics for the Aroma Profiling of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo and Pecorino White Wines Produced in Abruzzo (Italy)

“…Nevertheless, because of the relatively small number of wine samples analyzed here and the explorative nature of PCA, the ability of the volatile profile for the discrimination of mono-varietal wines produced with TRE and PEC grapes has not been demonstrated. The successive development of the present investigation [ 28 ], extended to a larger number of TRE and PEC samples representing the four Abruzzo provinces, and including a third wine variety belonging to the family of Trebbiano grapes, has shown that the aroma profile alone is not capable of providing an acceptable discrimination of the wines on the varietal basis, while varietal classification improves if the volatile profile is combined with the profiles of organic acids and polyphenols and multi-elemental composition.…”

“…The main target of this investigation is the development of a method for the determination of the volatile profile of these two wine varieties. Actually, the present study was the preliminary step of a wider investigation, recently published [ 28 ], aimed at the multi-analytical characterization of TRE and other ancient wine varieties of the Abruzzo region that have been recently rediscovered, including PEC. The final goal of the multi-analytical characterization of the wine varieties was the identification of chemical markers useful for the varietal discrimination and authentication of mono-varietal wines.…”