Multi-isotopic dilution QQQ-ICP/MS for high geographical discrimination of origin and quality assessment in wine: developing a world database and demonstration of its potential of applications

Abstract

Trace elements in wine are primarily markers of the soil in which the vine grew (e.g. Rb, Sr, Ba, …), other elements are markers of agricultural practices (e.g. Cu, B, …) and others are markers of anthropogenic contaminations (e.g. Pb, As, …). The multi-elemental signature can therefore be used for traceability purposes in wines. We have selected a set of 23 elements, highlighting the combination of these different types of signatures to establish the elemental profile of the wines with a high analytical resolution. A new method based on multi-isotopic dilution has been optimized in order to improve the precision of the measurement. This approach allows us to have the best traceability of measurements with reference to the SI system. This new method was then applied to generate an original database of more than 500 wines collected worldwide, that could be treated by combined advanced statistics and artificial intelligence. The presentation will demonstrate that we can discriminate with high precision the origin of these wines at different spatial scales, from the national down to small plots of land covering a few square kilometers. These results demonstrate their exceptional potential for addressing traceability issues such as counterfeiting but also elemental content variation in wine linked to climate changes. We will also highlight the first approaches that we are developing for combining trace elements’ content in the wine and its taste properties. The comparative results obtained between the elemental profile and the wine classification (Grand Cru versus traditional) will be presented. Particularly, the results of a blind study aiming at attributing the wine classification will be shown. All these examples have been extracted from the global database, with examples selected in different countries and highlighting the potential of information of this world data bank (still in dynamic development).