Analysis of selected chemical parameters in Piemontese wines

• Published in: Roczniki Państwowego Zakładu Higieny Vol. 66; no. 3; pp. 217 - 223
• Main Authors: Stępień, Agnieszka E, Stawarczyk, Kinga, Bilek, Maciej, Kędziora, Katarzyna M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Poland 2015
• Subjects: Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Flavonoids - analysis; Humans; Italy; Molecular Weight; Phenols - analysis; Pigments, Biological - analysis; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Vitis - chemistry; Wine - analysis; Italy
• ISSN: 0035-7715

Piemontese wines are well known and valued all over the world. The most popular of them are Barolo and Barbaresco wines. However, in Poland, they are still little known and only now are being gradually introduced to a wider range of consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the content of inorganic anions, minerals, sugars and glycerol of Piemontese wines from micro-region Langhe, classified as DOCG ("Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita", ie. controlled designation of origin guaranteed) and DOC ("Denominazione di Origine Controllata", ie. controlled designation of origin) products. Seven types of red wines and one type of white wine were tested. High Performance Ion Chromatography with conductometric detection (HPLC-CD) was used to measure the content of inorganic anions, ie. fluorides, chlorides, sulfates and phosphates. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS) was used to measure the content of minerals, ie. magnesium, calcium, sodium, copper, potassium, zinc and iron, while High Performance Liquid Chromatography with charged aerosol detection (HPLC-CAD) was used to measure the content of glycerol and sugars, ie. fructose, glucose and sucrose. Our studies show that although Piemontese wines are characterized by a relatively low content of minerals in comparison with the wines from other regions, they contain a lot of ingredients that have beneficial effects for human health. Moreover, we observed that the studied wines contain particularly high concentration of inorganic ions--phosphates and fluorides. Furthermore, all tested red wines show far reaching similarities in their chemical properties, which is possibly a direct consequence of using in their production locally cultivated grape varieties. Analysis of the wines from the Piemont region, classified as DOCG, DOC, confirmed that these are dry wines of a high quality.