Authenticity of cypriot sweet wine commandaria using FT-IR and chemometrics

Abstract

FT-IR spectra of 65 sweet wines produced in Cyprus and other countries were determined, in order to study the authenticity and uniqueness of the Cypriot traditional wine "Commandaria" that is produced from sun-dried grapes. Different sample preparation methods such as freeze-drying and nitrogen-flow concentration and direct analysis were used. The spectra were obtained in transmittance mode from KBr pellets and by using the attenuated total reflectance technique, and analyzed statistically using multivariate chemometric techniques, involving principal component analysis, cluster analysis, linear and regularized discriminant analysis, and classification and regression trees. A nearly correct classification for Commandaria was achieved. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics were able to differentiate all the types of Commandaria (nonfortified, fortified, and commercial) from various sweet wines from other countries. © 2011 Institute of Food Technologists®.