The compositional authentication of wine is of great interest, as the geographic origin of the grapes is often associated with quality, uniqueness, and authenticity. Previous elemental fingerprinting studies mainly discriminated wines from different countries or regions within a country. Here, we report the use of element profiles to distinguish commercial Pinot noir wines from five sub-regional appellations or neighborhoods within one American viticultural area (AVA). Fifty-three single cultivar wines were collected over two harvests and analyzed using microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Of 62 monitored elements that were quantified with fully validated methods, 24 and 32 elements differed significantly across the neighborhoods and vintages, respectively (p < 0.05). Targeted canonical variate analysis (CVA) explained 85%-90% of the variance ratio across the two vintages, indicating persistent and stable elemental fingerprints of wines at a sub-regional level. A sixth, newly founded neighborhood was correctly grouped separately from the others using a Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA), indicating the potential of elemental fingerprints for wine authenticity.

Sangiovese is the most cultivated red grape variety in Italy where it is certified for the production of several Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wines, and it is one of the most cultivated Italian red grape varieties in California. Despite the global distribution of this variety, there is a lack of international studies on Sangiovese grapes and wines. For this reason, the present study aimed to compare 20 commercial Sangiovese wines from 2017 harvest, 9 produced in Italy (Tuscany) and 11 in California, in order to evaluate the intrinsic and perceived quality. The eligibility, identity, and style properties (the intrinsic quality) of the wines were evaluated. A group of 11 Italian experts evaluated the perceived quality by rating the typicality of the wines. The experimental data showed that the intrinsic quality of Sangiovese wine samples was affected by the growing area; in particular, the wine resulted very different for the color indices and polyphenol composition. The above differences in intrinsic quality levels did not lead to a different evaluation of the perceived quality (typicality) by the wine experts. The results evidenced that Sangiovese variety is recognizable also if grown outside its original terroir, and fresh and fruity wines were considered more typical. This study expands our current knowledge of Sangiovese wines and the contribution of regional characteristics to the composition of wine.