Multivariate data analysis in classification of must and wine from chemical measurements

A chemometric study was carried out; based on measurements of chemicals present in musts and wines from the Tacoronte-Acentejo Designation of Origin area (Canary Islands, Spain) obtained in an artisanal winemaking procedure. Univariate and multivariate data analysis was used to distinguish between two different harvest years (1987 and 1988) in both musts and wines. The data was examined using the statistical techniques of discriminant analysis, principal component analysis, biplot analysis and factor analysis, which allowed the study of the underlying structures of the data and the characterization of the wines. This methodology was able to differentiate between musts and wines according to traditional variables used in wine analysis. However, no clear differentiation was found with respect to the year of vintage.