The concentrations of elemental and volatile components in wine and the effect of biological, meteorological, and anthropogenic factors on their levels are important for authentication and quality assurance. Sample preparation for atomic absorption and inductively coupled plasma spectrometries for elemental analysis as well as chromatographic and electronic nose (EN) analytical methods for volatile compounds are reviewed. The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) and countries that produce and import wine developed methods and set limits on metal abundance to ensure that all metal concentrations are well below toxic threshold limits. With the use of data analysis tools, elemental analysis can enable wines to be traced back to their geographic region of origin. When paired with volatile and isotopic analysis the accuracy of this authentication greatly improves. Tracing studies are reviewed to demonstrate the capabilities of these analyses.
Keywords: Atomic emission spectrometry; Wine; chemical analysis; gas chromatography; inductively coupled plasma; liquid chromatography; metals; volatiles.