Whitepaper: Elemental profiling of Malbec Wines for geographical origin using an Agilent 4200 MP-AES

Red wine produced from the Malbec grape is increasing in popularity in the United States. However, the US is a relatively small producer of the wine compared to Argentina, where it is the most extensively planted grape variety in the country. With rising imports into the US from Argentina there are growing concerns relating to the validation of the geographical origin of this wine.

Typically ICP-MS is used to distinguish between wines originating from different regions by comparing the relative concentrations of mineral elements, which are characteristic of the soil composition of the region of production. In this study, a cost-effective approach has been taken using Microwave Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (MP-AES) to measure 6 elements (Sr, Rb, Ca, K, Na and Mg). Agilent’s Mass Profiler Professional (MPP) integrated chemometrics software and another data analysis package were used to model the MP-AES results to distinguish the geographical origin of 41 Malbec wine samples produced in Argentina and the USA.