Development of 87Sr/86Sr maps as targeted strategy to support wine quality

Abstract

This study summarizes the results obtained from a systematic and long-term project aimed at the development of tools to assess the provenance of food in the oenological sector. In particular, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios were measured on statistically representative set of soils, vine branches and wines sampled in the production district of Modena, worldwide known for the Lambrusco wines production. The obtained data were used to build strontium isotopic maps able to objectively support the Lambrusco PDO wines origin as well as other products of the Modena district. Finally, a strong relationship was found between the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios of soils and vine branches on a large scale, highlighting and confirming once more the idea that plants can also represent an optimal sampling device to support geographical traceability.

Keywords: (87)Sr/(86)Sr values; Food; Geographical traceability; Isotopic maps.