Giorgio Volpi

The main purpose of this study was to characterize Freisa red wines from Piedmont (northern Italy) according to their volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and elemental composition. Moreover, the authors investigated whether it was possible to distinguish among the five different DOCs produced in Piedmont on the basis of these chemical parameters. The VOCs profile of Freisa wines was very similar, and the most abundant species detected were isoamyl alcohol, phenylethyl alcohol, ethyl octanoate, and diethyl succinate. Conversely, elemental composition allowed us to partially distinguish one Freisa DOC with respect to the others. Multivariate statistical analysis applied to elemental composition revealed differences among Freisa wines and other red wines from different regions of Italy. In particular, Freisa wines featured higher concentrations of Cr and Ni metals, which are strongly correlated with the composition of the soil of Piedmont. These two elements are hence good candidates as chemical markers for Freisa wines from Piedmont.

Background The characterization of a typical red wine from Piedmont (north‐west Italy), Pelaverga, was performed by means of headspace solid phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Two different kinds of Pelaverga are known, hystorical and Verduno, which differ with the area of production. The main volatile compounds of the wine were identified and semi‐quantified. Principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to identify possible clusters among the different samples analyzed. Results Forty‐eight volatile compounds were unambiguously identified in the wines sampled. The two types of Pelaverga analyzed displayed a very similar volatile profile. The most abundant volatile compounds were two esters, ethyl octanoate and diethyl succinate, and two alcohols, isoamyl alcohol and ethyl phenyl alcohol. Few varietal compounds were detected, probably due to their low concentration; among these, we were not able to detect rotundone, which is reported to impart characteristic spicy notes to this kind of wine. Application of PCA did not allow to differentiate between the two types of Pelaverga on the basis of their volatile profile. Conclusion The present work is, to the best of our knowledge, the first complete report about the volatile profile of Pelaverga wines and represents the first step of a research project aiming at characterizing food products from Piedmont on the basis of chemical parameters. Differentiation between the two types of Pelaverga will likely require the determination of different chemical parameters in conjunction with volatile compounds.