Elemental Patterns of Wines, Grapes, and Vineyard Soils from Chinese Wine-Producing Regions and Their Association

Twenty-eight trace elements and 16 rare earth elements were analyzed through ICP-MS in soils, grapes, and wines from seven wine-producing regions in China. Analysis of variance showed that almost all elements in the grapes and wines and approximately half of the tested elements in the soils existed in statistically significant different amounts on a regional basis. Stepwise linear discriminant analysis (SLDA) revealed 22 parameters (Cr, Co, Ni, Ga, Se, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Pd, In, La, Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tm, Yb, Au, Tl, Th, U) to evaluate soils with 93.5% accuracy, 17 parameters (Li, Co, Se, Sr, Zr, Mo, Pd, Cd, In, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Eu, W, Pt, Au) to assess grapes with 96.5% accuracy, and 10 parameters (Sc, V, Cr, Ga, Se, Sr, Pd, Sn, Tl, U) to distinguish the origin of wines with 100% accuracy. Pearson’s r correlation analysis showed a good correlation between grapes and soils and between wines and grapes but a weak correlation between wines and soils in terms of multielements, as only two elements (Se and Pd) were common SLDA descriptors to the three classes of material analyzed. Discrimination of grapes by soil descriptors and wines by grape descriptors suggests that differences in multielement patterns of wines among different regions are largely due to variations in soil geochemistry.