Pattern recognition analysis applied to classification of Galician (NW spain) wines with Certified Brand of Origin Ribeira Sacra

In 39 red wines from Galicia (NW Spain), some trace elements were determined by atomic spectroscopy. Data were processed using multivariate chemometric techniques involving principal component analysis, discriminant analysis and K nearest neighbours to develop a typification for wine samples of Ribeira Sacra origin. The wines with Certified Brand of Origin (CBO) Ribeira Sacra can be differentiated from the wines of two other CBOs from Galicia: Ribeiro and Valdeorras. The latter CBOs make wines with the same grape variety; hence they are possible substitutes for falsification of Ribeira Sacra wines owing to their similar organoleptic properties. By means of multivariate techniques of data exploration, two main groups of samples (Ribeira Sacra and non-Ribeira Sacra wines) were observed. Exploratory analysis results were confirmed using supervised procedures of data classification. Using lithium and iron content as key features, a satisfactory classification was achieved. (C) 1999 Society of Chemical Industry.